Dry Eye Disease (DED) by definition is a compromise to the ocular surface’s tear film quality or quantity, with Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) being one of the leading causes. Patient education, early diagnosis, intervention and compliance with at-home treatments have been some of the greatest challenges for both the practitioner and the patient. With the development of a disposable, soothing and relaxing Warm Eye Mask, ZEISS has afforded patients the opportunity and convenience to execute the therapy prescribed to them routinely.

It’s undeniable that we live in an age of digital natives—children who have only ever grown up in a world replete with technology. While the phrase has always seemed a little strange to me (it sounds like an alien species from one of the cheesier episodes of the original run of “Star Trek”), it describes a real phenomenon. A recent survey found that 60 percent of parents said their children had begun using smartphones before they turned five, speaking to a next generation that has almost literally had tech from the cradle. Even moving beyond that, 93 percent of adolescents ages 8 to 11 are online in some form almost 14 hours a week. By the time they reach ages 12 and up, 99 percent are online a staggering 20.5 hours a week. The result of this is a new challenge facing optometrists and opticians: the standard model of single-vision lenses used to correct myopia for over the last 100 years is no longer a viable option in such a digital age.

Once upon a time, one size didn’t fit most. While today, we are used to strolling into department stores and grabbing something off the rack that’s more or less our size, there was a time when clothing was tailored for the wearer. Although tailored is more arduous and expensive, it is a more fulfilling experience resulting in better fit and comfort. Rather than cinch our belts or end the day with impression marks from a pair of pants that’s a 34 when we really wear a 35 (but they don’t make 35), people had clothes that fit their particular needs and lifestyle. With the dawn of mass manufacturing, we accepted convenience and price over efficiency and ease of use, settling for acceptable. While we may not have the option of better fitting off-the-rack clothing, we have the option of better fit and comfort with ZEISS ClearView™ single vision lenses. ClearView lenses are freeform-optimized stock and semi-finished single vision lenses (SFSV) that provide better peripheral vision and visual comfort over old standard stock and SFSV lens blanks.

For over a century, ZEISS has been pioneering excellence in the optical industry with cutting-edge technology and innovation to improve the patient’s visual experience and satisfaction with their eyewear. Now they have set a new and higher standard for finished single vision (FSV) and semi-finished single vision (SFSV) lenses with the introduction of ClearView. ClearView is a breakthrough technology in stock and semi-finished single vision lenses that optimizes the lens blanks using freeform technology applied to the lens mold, vastly improving peripheral lens optics.

Being an optician may be a profession, but it’s so much more than that—it’s a calling, a vocation and a way of life. While anyone can frame style and sell glasses, it takes a special person with a special calling to be a true optician. Anyone who bears the title should be proud not just of their job and the work they do, but their role in providing a key service and making the world a better place.

VISUSTORE users are able to initially filter lens options by selecting the material, design, color, AR treatments, and other features required by the patient, seamlessly narrowing the field to only those choices that fit the criteria. As a further safeguard to prevent accidentally ordering an improper or inappropriate lens, VISUSTORE has revolutionary native intelligence built into its back end, so not only are the latest lens and treatment choices immediately available to order, but it’s also impossible to place an order with incompatible elements or create an order that cannot be made. Integrating a unique visual component to lens ordering, ODs and opticians are able to see what lenses will look like as a finished product, with actual size lens representations depicted in 3D graphic visualization to anticipate lens thickness and suitability for a given pair of frames, with advance corridor simulation further allowing you to confirm PAL fittings. Utilizing plug-and-play technology, VISUSTORE allows you to plug your tracer directly into the program so that lens shapes populate automatically in the software.

ZEISS DriveSafe is the lens specially engineered to ensure the safest, most visually unimpaired driving experience while also providing wearers crystal clear vision once they step out from behind the wheel. Multiple factors go into this unique lens tech: ZEISS Luminance Design™ Technology (LDT), which takes into account different light conditions and pupil sizes for natural vision at all times and provides clearer vision for wearers especially in low-light conditions, drastically improving vision for those drivers for whom night driving is an issue. This is buttressed by ZEISS’ DuraVision® DriveSafe Coating, a new and unique AR treatment which partially reflects the wavelengths responsible for unclear vision, discomfort and irritation, resulting in less perceived glare up to 64 percent. The coating is especially efficient at reducing glare and strain caused by oncoming LED and Xenon headlights, which are particularly responsible for night-driving issues (indeed, 40 percent of all road accidents take place after dark).

Ever since its humble beginnings as an optical department in founder Carl Zeiss’ shop, from which he sold microscopes, thermometers and loupes, the company has had a steadfast dedication not only to providing patients with the highest possible quality in lenses but also in making innovations in the field of opticianry. Almost every leading-edge addition to the optical field over the last century can find its source in ZEISS. It was Ernst Abbe of ZEISS who first calculated the values of optical clarity that gave the current system his name, and in 1911, employee Allvar Gullstrand, who received the Nobel Prize for his work on the dioptrics of the eye, invented the slit lamp that has become an indispensable component in optometry and ophthalmology. It was ZEISS that just a year later changed the very foundations of opticianry with the invention of the Punktal lens, which helped to move our profession out of the jewelry stores and glass shops into the dispensary. That breakthrough provided the basis for every modern prescription lens.

ZEISS PhotoFusion self-tinting lens technology utilizes patented photoactive molecules that deliver more of what the consumer wants: faster darkening and faster fade back speed. Complementing this enhanced light-reactive performance are fashion options, including a wide portfolio of colors, flash mirrors, and materials that now include the clarity, thinness and strength of Trivex Lens material. ZEISS PhotoFusion, ups the photochromic “cool factor” by offering lenses with fashion tints and flash mirror coatings, making this a high style fun lens option for those who want both fashion and performance in their eyewear. In this course, you will learn about ZEISS PhotoFusion photochromic lenses and ZEISS DuraVision flash mirror coatings that transform the practical and functional photochromic lens into a standout fashion accessory.

PhotoFusion has always been one of the premier photochromics on the market, but its new availability in Trivex and with flash mirrors is a potential game changer in the field, allowing ECPs to provide their patients with the ultimate eyeglass lens. Originally developed by PPG for use in helicopter shields, Trivex lenses are the highest quality available to patients today, offering them 100 percent UV protection coupled with extreme impact and scratch resistance 60 times higher than FDA standards and optical clarity nearly as high as glass. Indeed, Trivex quickly became the material of choice for the U.S. Armed Forces’ helicopters, jet canopies and safety glasses, offering you the unique opportunity to tell patients that their lenses are military grade hardware. Coupled with its extremely light weight and thinness, Trivex is something approaching the perfect lens material, suited to the needs of all patients.

During 2020 and continuing today, use of digital devices at work, school and home has increased dramatically. Along with that increase, eyecare professionals have seen an increase in complaints of decreased visual comfort, asthenopic symptoms such as blurred vision, burning, painful or tired eyes, and eyestrain. The relatively high levels of energy inherent in the comparatively short wavelengths of blue light have been shown to impact metabolic processes in retinal cells. It is quite possible that excessive exposure to blue light can lead to retinal damage, in particular long-term and degenerative processes. It is still part of medical research to better determine what dose and what specific light sources have a significant damage-causing potential.

November 17 is a historic milestone and a rich legacy simply unmatched in any industry. Since the early days when Carl Zeiss created his first microscope, ZEISS has played a leading role in advancing the field of optics. From pioneering surgical microscopes and slit lamps, to developing optical glass and precision eyeglass lenses featuring point-focal imagery, ZEISS has continuously been at the forefront of optics. ZEISS continues to pursue innovations that change the world and how we live in it. But how did this story begin and how did ZEISS become the optical giant it is today?

Indoors is another matter because it’s impractical to wear sunglasses, and 7 out of 10 clear eyeglass lenses sold in the U.S. fail to offer full UV protection up to 400 nm. In fact, the most commonly sold lens material—polycarbonate—only fully blocks wavelengths that account for 60 percent of total UVR. That’s why ZEISS has created a new standard of care by including full UV protection up to 400 nm in all ZEISS clear plastic lenses. ZEISS’ clear eyeglass lenses with UVProtect technology can now offer the same UV protection as premium sunglasses, something no other lens manufacturer is offering. ZEISS has equipped all its clear plastic lenses with UV absorbers, which can filter out UV radiation up to 400 nm. These provide the most effective protection for the anatomic structures behind the eyeglass lens. An additional back UV anti-reflective coating on the reverse side of ZEISS lenses comes standard, as do the absorbers in the material. They help protect eyes and eyelids from all UVA and UVB indoors and outdoors all day, every day.

A unique behavior produced by smartphone use is texting while walking. We are no longer stationary while reading. So drawn are we to these tiny screens that we do not break the connection even while walking or climbing stairs. ZEISS refers to this new visual behavior as “dynamic connectivity.” To address the effects of this dynamic connectivity on lens use, ZEISS scientists developed the SmartLife lens portfolio, a culmination of research, consumer studies and wearer trials to measure and understand the impact of these devices on vision and lens use. The result: lenses that accommodate our unique mobile interaction with our smartphones and personalize the lens for age and device adapted vision requirements, for both single vision and progressive wearers.

If there’s anything we’ve learned in recent months, it’s to have a greater awareness of what we touch and how often. Not only do high-touch surfaces harbor germs, but touching other surfaces afterward transfers the microbes to those surfaces as well as to ourselves. Some of the surfaces we touch the most are smartphones, smartwatches and tablets. In fact, recent research by a global tech care company found that Americans check their phones about once every 10 minutes. That’s a significant opportunity, not only to transfer germs but for annoying smudges and smears to accumulate. There’s a solution for cleaning devices too. ZEISS Pre-Moistened Smartphone wipes are specially designed to provide convenient, safe and effective cleaning for digital devices. The fast-drying pre-moistened alcohol-free wipes remove fingerprints and dirt from your smartphone, smartwatch or tablet. The individual packets provide streak-free, safe and gentle cleaning for a smartphone, tablet, LCD-display, laptop and similar devices.

Claude Monet, the father of impressionism, spent years studying the effects of light and color, then recreating those effects, rather than the objects, in his art. At about age 65, Monet noticed a change in his perception of color. Colors appeared less intense, and he began to replace whites, blues and greens with yellows and purples. These two paintings show the change in detail and palette. At age 72, Monet was diagnosed with bilateral cataracts. Terrified of the results of surgery, he did not consent to an operation on the first eye until ten years later.

PhotoFusion lenses are well known for their outstanding combination of technology, performance and reliability. With a quick reaction time and equally fast deactivation time, the lenses have excellent photochromic performance. While clear indoors, the lenses readily respond to various levels of UV, even achieving some activation behind the windshield of a car. What’s more, the lenses are available in a wide array of colors, allowing wearers to customize their glasses for both fashion and function. While grey is a reliable standby, PhotoFusion brown has warm red undertones that are relaxing for the eye and provide excellent contrast. An array of “party” colors round out the assortment of lens colors with their blue lens being phenomenal: It’s bright and exuberant, a real showstopper high fashion lens while also being dark enough to provide a high level of comfort in bright, sunny conditions