EaseVision.com – News and gossips of vision care and optical industry

GIA, Global Industry Analysts, the reputed publisher, recently announced that the eyeglasses market by 2015 will reach US$95.66 billion, a pretty positive forecast for the industry.

Eyeglasses has transformed itself from vision corrective necessity to fashion items the same as jewelry and fashion clothings. Eyeglasses market used to be resilient at any economic conditions, but now, as a part of the fashion industry, eyeglasses sales become vulnerable in the time of financial downturn. In addition, as the eyeglasses are sold at a considerably high markup, the high price also serves as the biggest hurdle. In the past two years, many consumers drift to low-price eyeglasses to avoid the high prices charged by most of the optical stores.

The most worth-mentioning point in the coming years is the dramatic rise of eyeglasses sales sold through e-commerce channels. This contributes to the continuous sale increase. The rise of the Internet as a potent vehicle for selling eyeglasses is additionally expected to expand the retailing reach of eyeglasses worldwide. Thanks to the growing popularity of E-commerce and Internet based sales transactions, the revenue inflow for eyeglasses from cyberspace is increasingly on the rise.

In the history, US and Europe are the major revenue contributors of eyeglasses sales. In the past two years, and also in the foreseeable future, Asia Pacific and Latin America will be acting as the major source of revenues.

As the baby boomer accounts for a big part of the population who is over 45, the demand for reading glasses and bifocal or progressive eyeglasses is on the steep rise. This is believed to be turbo-charging the sales of eyeglasses and prescription sunglasses in the coming years.

For the sunglasses market the fairly-priced quality sunglasses will be the major contributor to the acceleration of sales revenue. In addition to this, plastic frames will further add momentum to the consecutive demand as shown in the previous years.

Major players and manufacturers and distributors of eyewear products are still unchanged.

Another new optical product, but actually it is not new. As early as March 2003,  in the Commercialisation Forum and Fair of Ideas in Sydney, this LED light glasses were displayed to the public for the first time.

Australian Researcher from Flinders University developed this  special LED light glasses designed to adjust people’s biological clocks and address the circadian rhythm problems like insomnia and jet lag, as well as problems from workers of night shifts. And this LED light glasses is being commercialized by Flinders Technologies Pty. Ltd. of Australia.

The mechanism of the special glasses arises from the bright light therapy of treating diseases like insomnia and mental disorder like depression.  Traditionally strong lights are deployed to tinker body’s response to light, and put people’s biological clock to an appropriate status. Comparing with the bulky and immobile light devices, the LED light glassed utilize 9V battery to power the LED light installed in a pair of special eyeglasses, providing blue light directly to the eyes, making the wearers easily reset the body clock to the proper time.

This product hopefully can address a market which is not small at all. Based on statistics, insomnia only has a $5 billion market, while 94% of the long distance travelers have the jet lag problems. In addition, the population of seasonal depression reaches 70-80 million in US and Europe only.

Founded by James Chen and Oxford University Professor Josh Silver in 2004, the Oxford-based technology company Adlens aims to develop and commercialize the new-invented liquid-filled adjustable eyeglasses to the developing countries. Adlens strives to address the unmet need for refractive vision correction and pursuing commercial applications of the adaptive lens technology. Today over 1 billion people around the world need but actually lack the access to affordable eyeglasses. Seeking to provide for this need, Adlens has created a set of specs affixed with fluid-filled lenses whose magnification can be adjusted with just a simple turn of the dial! See the photo!

A clever invention for eye vision and well being, the ingenious lens could prove to be particularly useful in the developing world, where resources for vision care are scarce or priced beyond the ability of the consumers. Some people suggest it is also very helpful for youngsters whose vision worsens quickly within a short period of time, to eradicate the chance of buying new rx eyeglasses too constantly.

Adlens make the stock of a large amount for a unique lens for different RX obsolete, and the creative liquid lenses can be adapted to thousands of different prescriptions. Since very little expertise is required for adjustment, this makes the sharing a pair of glasses with others possible and without harming anyone’s eye health.

The first actual consumer vision-correction device in this concept and tech is an adaptive reading glasses. A US private company called Adlens Beacon Inc, in 2008 was granted the sole license in marketing this product.

Present version of adjustable reading eyeglasses only address the needs from people with the same RX in both eyes, as we see from the photo there is only one dial at the side of the frame.

Essex Woodlands Health Ventures invested the 2007-startup QSpex 12 million dollars at the end of 2009. This is an amazing new technology enabling the optical stores to finish casting the lenses for the eyeglasses in 30 minutes. According to the in introduction on its website, the in-house lenses making machine is able to make Anti-glare, photochromic, polarized lenses in one integrated process. The surface quality of the lenses can be comparable with the lab-ground lenses, with accurate and precise prescription acuity. And it requires no special skills for the operators. It is heard recently QSpex finialized another round of capital financing from GE. All these venture capitals help to commercialize the patented technology and bring the novelty technology lenses to final users. QSpex plans to test the market in the southeast before the end of 2010, and then rollout through the country in the coming 3 years.

QSpex will market its lenses through the independent doctor’s offices, and then spread though national chain stores. This new tech will greatly the increase the profitability and efficiency of the independent stores.

The major members of the QSpex team are with perfect background in the industry of eye-care products. Stephen M. Martin, the CEO of QSpex Technologies. Is a veteran contact lens manufacturing executive, and he founded Ciba Vision in 1980 and Ciba Vision Ophthalmics in 1990. Dr. Kai Su, originally from Taiwan China, is the founder, Chairman and CSO of QSpex.

Dr. Kai Su’s (PHD) background is particularly worth mentioning. He Founded QSpex Technologies Inc., and serves as its Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Su has been in the vision care industry for over three decades and is an expert in the field of polymer chemistry. Before QSpex, he was the President & CEO of Technology Resources International (TRI). Before this, Dr. Su spent 21 years leading research and development groups at Ciba Vision, Alcon Laboratories and Bausch & Lomb. During all these years, Dr. Su has invented over 100 eye care patented products and published many scientific papers in the area. Dr. Su’s the technologies have been used in a number of successful vision care products, such as Alcon’s Opti-Clean contact lens cleaning solutions and Softcolors line of colored contacts lenses within the CIBA brand. In 1996, he was awarded the Contact Lens Manufacturers Association Trailblazer Award for his excellent achievement in product development to the enhancement of the industry. Dr. Su gained his Ph.D. in polymer chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in New York, and owned a BS in chemistry from Taiwan’s Tamkang University before he came to United States to further his study.

This new technology, if proves to be workable soon, will surely transform and reshape the business model of the optical industry, and this will greatly impact the current participators, especially in the eyeglasses lens manufacturing industry.

From: Yahoo Finance

Writer of Wall Street Journal Brett Arends recently appugns the high-priced sunglasses and eyeglasses in the high-end optical stores. The argument is around whether these fancy eyewear is worth that much except the names and logos that are bearing on the frames. Considering the major function of a pair of eyewear, general consumers need to make a smarter decision. In this articles, the author includes lots of quotes from experts like ophthalmologists and optometrists.

Are designers worth that much? Maybe not. For starters, most shades are made by the same company. Here’s what you need to know before buying.

1. Most sunglasses are made by the same company. Do you prefer the “quality” of Ray-Ban to Oakley? Do you think Bulgari is better than Dolce & Gabbana, or Salvatore Ferragamo is better than Prada? Wake up. They’re all made by one company, Italian manufacturer Luxottica (NYSE) — one of the biggest consumer companies that consumers have never heard of. Luxottica also makes sunglasses branded Burberry, Chanel, Polo Ralph Lauren, Paul Smith, Stella McCartney, Tiffany, Versace, Vogue, Persol, Miu Miu, Tory Burch and Donna Karan.

“We manufacture about 70% of those brands in our factories in Italy, and the balance in America and China,” says Luxottica spokesman Luca Biondolillo. “We do the design, the manufacturing, and the marketing,” he adds. The company makes most of those brands under license, working closely with designers at the relevant fashion houses. But it owns several brands itself, including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Oliver Peoples and REVO.

2. In many cases, the same company is also selling you the glasses. Luxottica also owns LensCrafters, Pearle Vision and Sunglass Hut. This is extreme vertical integration. The eye doctor telling you that you need a new pair of glasses, the sales people helping you choose them, and the people who design and make the glasses all work for the same company. Make of it what you will. But if your financial advisor was actually employed by the mutual fund company that he recommended for your portfolio, you’d at least want to know.

3.The markups are as big as they seem. Whenever I have bought a new pair of regular eyeglasses, I have always reflected on how little I seem to get for my money. I can sort of understand why lenses are so expensive, as the material has to be made and ground precisely. But $100 or $200 for frames? These are bits of metal or molded plastic. Once I bought tiny slivers of hollow titanium that weighed considerably less than the bills I was handing over.

The cost of a new pair of glasses will of course reflect materials and labor. But the price will also reflect brand values and marketing — and how much consumers will pay. Luxottica says it makes a gross profit of 64 cents on each dollar of sales. Even after deducting sales and advertising costs, overhead, and brand licensing royalties, it’s still making 52 cents. That’s some margin.

While the company’s return on equity has fallen since the global economy turned down, last year it still managed a respectable 11%, according to data from FactSet Research Systems. A few years ago that number was as high as 20%. And investors are confident on the company’s future. The stock has jumped from $13 to $25 from last year’s market lows. It’s about 20 times likely earnings, an optimistic rating.

4. Those expensive sunglasses may not be any better for your eyes, either. “Three-hundred dollar sunglasses don’t do anything better than $100 sunglasses, except maybe look better and have a brand name associated with them,” says Dr. Jay Duker, chair of ophthalmology at Tufts Medical Center.

“A significant chunk of what you pay for isn’t the quality of the lenses, it’s the brand,” adds Dr. Reza Dana, director of the cornea and refractive surgery service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He notes that making lenses that offer protection against harmful ultra-violet rays “isn’t very expensive technology.” And while spending more may get you better quality frames, here, too, there are laws of diminishing returns.

For about $40, says Dr. Duker, you can get a pair that offers 100% protection against ultra-violet rays. If you spend maybe $70, you should be able to get a pair with decent quality polarizing lenses that cut out glare. Beyond that, the medical benefits tail off pretty fast.

5. An inexpensive pair of sunglasses from the pharmacy isn’t the worst thing in the world. They may be fine for most people in most circumstances, Dr. Dana says. “The main reason people wear sunglasses is to block out (regular) white light,” he says, “and from that point of view, cheaper glasses work pretty well.” And they will probably block most UV rays, even if not all of them, he adds.

6. Those fancy glasses are really costing you a lot more than you realize. If you make your shades last for many years, that would be one thing. But who does that? The people who want designer items want the latest fashion each year. And then there are the pairs that get lost. Scratched at the beach. And sat on. Personally, I have come to consider sunglasses a disposable item, and I suspect I am not alone.

Over a lifetime these things add up. Indeed they compound. Even at, say, 4% interest, $200 a year over 50 years adds up to $30,000.

If $30,000 really do good to our eye health, it is still worth. All in all, after above analysis, it is surely not worth. Now people can buy cheap yet brand name sunglasses at FramesDirect.com at half price or even lower, of course the quality is 100% secured and guaranteed. So why buying $500 fancy sunglasses again? Going online maybe will be the best answer. Many of the onliners are selling accurate custom-made prescription sunglasses at a fraction of $500.

Contact the author of WSJ Brett Arends at brett.arends@wsj.com

Bausch & Lomb is recalling a number of lots of its ReNu Multi-Purpose Solution and ReNu MultiPlus MPS in Europe and other countries.

B+L explained that the recall does not necessarily mean safety and efficacy problems. After routine test by the company, it is found the recalled batches are safe and effective if used as instucted, but it does not meet the expectations of quality control process of B+L. This shows B+L is a responsible company.

Though there were no reports about the adverse effects from above recalled solutions, the stability monitor programme aims to eliminate any possible problems that may occur months later.

B+L also stated that they are going to withdraw a single batch of (AA120) of 120ml ReNu MultiPlus MPS in Croatia, Dubai, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. This only represents 0.1% of the batch. B+L has informed the eyeglasses retailers and eye care providers the specific steps to return these batches.

In the history,  B+L recalled ReNu MoistureLoc in May 2006. The reason for the recall was its formulation. It was found that its formation, if combined with certain use patterns, will likely to cause an increased risk of eye disease of fusarium keratitis.

Headquartered in Ramsey, Minn., Vision-Ease Lens on June 15 announced the launch of online portal facilitating ECP to order stock lenses online through Vision-Ease website. There are instructions of how to get to start to order.

Before the online facility was launched, independent opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists used to order lenses from Vision-Ease via telephone and fax. This new portal allows ECP to arrange their inventory of stock lenses simply with a click of button in the screen.

In addition to its own company website, ECPs can also order VEL’s lenses via another earlier centralized VisionWeb. ECPs can simply add Vision-Ease as the new supplier and place orders via VisionWeb, which was used by eye care providers to order spectacles lenses, contact lenses and frames from various vision products suppliers.

The two online portals help professionals to greatly streamline the process of buying stock lenses, offer the best possible customer service to its customers, said Barry Resnik, director of marketing, Vision-Ease Lens.

Here is the new thread I publish in OptiBoard.com.

I guess this article “Greedy Optometrists Don’t Like Competition” will make most of the professionals jump up and scream out. To be fair, as a one year OptiBoarder since my first show-up last September, I would like to say optometrists are not greedy, they are just helpless and angry facing the tidy wave of online deregulation and increasing share of online businesses.

On the surface, it seems that the local optical stores are making crazy money on selling prescription eyeglasses, but in fact all the optical stores are only making fair and reasonable markup comparing with all other professions in the United States. The reason why brick and mortar stores are charging hundreds of dollars for a pair of eyeglasses is due to the extreme in-efficiency and very small amount of customer traffic and daily order quantity. We know all the professionals need to live a decent life by choosing optical as their career. So optometrists are not greedy at all.

Of course nobody loves competition, but nobody can evade competition, on the contrary we need to embrace it. And we also need to get prepared for possible future advancements. OptiBoarders all hate those onliners, but actually do not have intimate and direct experience with online glasses. I hope some of us here to have an experience soonest.

To enable you to have this chance, I would like to offer certain quantity of Free RX eyeglasses to people in this forum (I also pay for the courier charge, 3-7 days for most of US cities). Better use your own RX or family members’ of friends’. One pair for each, at the value of USD50 roughly. Any interesting professionals can send me private message(frame#, frame color, RX info etc). You may negatively or positively comment after you receive the eyeglasses.

Thanks.

With the help from MIT professor Steve Mann, who is an expert of cyborg technology (a tech that blends natural and artificial system), Rob Spence from Toronto replaces his right eye with a miniature video camera. This camera is not connected to the brain (this is a much more complicated tech), therefore this could not help restore the vision of his lost eye, it only helps recording the conversations with other people without letting other people notice they are being recorded.

Rob Spence is a 36-year-old film maker in Toronto Canada. He lost his right eye during a shooting accident when he was only a child on his grandfather’s farm. He has been thinking of installing a mini camera in his fake eye for a couple of years. He finished the first prototype last year, which was named by a magazine as one of the biggest invention of 2009. And Rob is proud to call himself Eyeborg Guy.

The weird device is a wireless electronic equipment with the function of recording video, and can record exactly as Rob sees. The present version is pretty initial, and the resolution of the image is not clear still. But as Rob explained, they are working on a better version with higher resolution and more powerful transmitting capability.

According to what Rob said, this device aims to recording the most natural conversation and most natural behavior of people, which will normally be distorted when facing a hand-held camera or video camera.

Rob has the second version of his false eye, which is a red LED light. This exactly looks like the robot from the film Terminator.

Eyeglasses or spectacles aren’t merely the components which offer aid to people’s vision however they are also the best ways to make a fashion declaration. Truly possessing the most exceptional pair of eyeglasses is a must for many individuals. You will find there’s vast range of men’s eyeglasses and women’s eyeglasses advertised by different world renowned eyeglass brands. You could discover a complete array of sunglasses and eyeglasses from Ray Ban. Ray Ban Eyeglasses have turn into a synonym of excellence eyewear in the course of the previous decades. Their brand name draws attention of designing-conscious purchasers.

Offering a huge array of the optical eyewear, Ray-Ban eyeglasses always offer something special for everybody. Having strong charisma in eyeglasses and sunglasses industry, this manufacturer remains updating their product series according to fashion trends. With fashion altering every day, designing components and elements are continually being explored for keeping up with the most up-to-date designs and fashion trend. When you are purchasing your Ray Ban eyeglasses you could be guaranteed regarding the superiority of designer glasses, at most reasonable prices.

Bigger Ray-ban eyeglasses model RX 6121 have an amazingly sleek look, proffered in 2 colors 2502-Gunmetal (Transparent) and also 2511-Brown (Transparent), obtainable in various sizes and styles. Likewise diversity styles and colors are available for Ray Ban RX 8613. These glasses are obtainable at all reputed and dependable dealers. You might order your pair with an web dealer with just one or two clicks. When you are paying for your eyewear don’t forget to overlook and check the certificate of authenticity and make certain you are paying for a 100% from the brand owner.

A Ray Ban brand reflects top quality and also dependability. As a design-loving individual you’ll probably love Ray Ban for its brand name value, and Ray Ban has been experiencing growth in field of eyeglasses industry. Normally a branded sunglasses or eyeglasses can provide you with a sense of self-assurance and comfort as well as it will turn into an indivisible part of your persona.

The best advice in buying some eyeglasses will be offered by the local dealers of Ray Ban, which undoubtedly the retail leader in optical business ever since the year of 1937. A pair of polarized Ray Ban Eyeglasses would not just appear trendy and stylish but also extremely effectual to block the unsafe UV rays from sunshine.

Diversified models and styles, lots of varieties plus 100% protection from the ultra violet radiations at 400 nm that eliminates rays from sun, Ray Ban produces just the very best class of shades along with best Ray-Ban Eyeglass Frames. Minimizing strain on eyes, these polarized aviator eyeglasses are obtainable in a variety of colours in addition to overall visual acuity.

With another advantage in water activities over normal land ones, for the fishermen as well as the folks who like boating, Ray Ban Eyeglasses would be the best alternative as they are hugely helpful to protect the eyes from extended contact to bright sunlight and glare from the water.