OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation and EssilorLuxottica recently hosted an event with 14 other eye care-related organizations on Parliament Hill to meet with key policymakers to discuss upcoming optical legislation, known as Bill C-284, intended to enact a National Eye Care Strategy.

Rick Gadd, President of EssilorLuxottica Canada and Essilor Instruments North America, and Kris Kelm, Head of OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation for Canada, hosted a group of NGOs and professional associations from across the industry, who met with members of parliament and senators to share about the current eye care ecosystem in Canada and the needs of its population. The key elements of these discussions revolved around access to eye care, awareness building, pathologies, and also the growing public health issue that myopia progression is becoming. The discussions were in direct support of the efforts to create a  National Eye Care Strategy.

Representatives from NGOs Operation Eyesight Universal, CNIB, Fighting Blindness Canada, Canadian Council of the Blind, the optometry departments of the universities of Waterloo and Montreal, the University of Ottawa ophthalmology department, Humanware, tech companies Lightx Innovation and Diagnos, The Northwest Company, the Ontario Opticians Association, the Canadian Association of Optometry, and the Opticians Association of Canada were also in attendance.

Rick Gadd, President of EssilorLuxottica Canada and Essilor Instruments North America:

“As a world leader in vision care, it is EssilorLuxottica’s responsibility to play a leading role in the industry. With cutting-edge innovation and resources to help eyecare professionals provide the highest quality of care and impact the lives of adults and children, we are proud to offer optometrists a full range of tools and resources to better serve Canadians. We are grateful to MP Judy Sgro for introducing bill C-284 and giving us the opportunity to create this event that allowed a broad spectrum of stakeholders to meet with Parliament to discuss the optical industry, the important innovations created now by doctors and researchers, and the public need.”

Since 2019, the Foundation team and its partners have performed school vision care pilots across Canada. Through these pilot programs:

1. More than 26,000 underserved children were provided with vision screenings or eye exams across Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, and British Columbia
2. 40% of children screened were identified as potentially needing vision correction
3. Of the children who were examined by an optometrist, more than 27% required prescription glasses
4. During a one-week clinic at Ahkwesahsne Mohawk School in Cornwall, Ontario, 148 children and seniors were examined by an optometrist
5. 100 of these patients required glasses, representing a need rate of 67.5%

Kris Kelm, Head of OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation for Canada:

“As the philanthropic arm of our corporation, OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation is committed to our mission to eradicate uncorrected poor vision in a generation. Sight does so much more than help us see clearly. It helps us perform better in school, connect more deeply with one another, and develop our full potential in life. We’re creating a world where a lack of access to vision care is no longer a barrier to human achievement and possibility. And we won’t stop until the world can see.”

The National Eye Care Strategy will “raise awareness of the impact of vision loss and blindness, improve eye health care and support, and fund innovative research to advance new therapies for vision loss.”

Deepening its commitment to expand specialty contact lens adoption in North America and worldwide, CooperVision has added SynergEyes to its CooperVision Specialty EyeCare business unit. The Carlsbad, Calif.-based company is widely known for hybrid lens technologies and brands, which span the treatment of irregular cornea, presbyopia, and astigmatism.

This development broadens CooperVision’s already extensive range of products and services. The addition creates a complete portfolio for the treatment of keratoconus and irregular cornea in North America and beyond, plus substantial opportunities to advance care for other common ocular conditions.

“Eye care practitioners are searching for ways to differentiate themselves, with a growing number embracing specialty contact lenses for their clinical and business advantages. Combining these two specialty segment experts provides a full range of options which delivers a continuum of care for keratoconus,” said Juan Carlos Aragón, OD, President, CooperVision Specialty EyeCare.

Since the first generation of SynergEyes hybrid lenses came to market in 2005, the company has continued to improve the multifaceted technologies required for success. Its brands include Duette^®, UltraHealth^®, and SynergEyes^® iD Single Vision and Multifocal EDOF, as well as SynergEyes VS™ scleral lenses.

Over the next few years, manufacturing of SynergEyes products and materials will transition to CooperVision Specialty EyeCare’s recently opened production center in Gilbert, Ariz. GP Specialists, whom CooperVision acquired in 2021, has shared plans to move into that facility in 2023.

SynergEyes customers should continue to work with their current representatives. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Click HERE for the full press release.

The Urban Fusion full-rim eyewear range is contemporary, yet with an exciting, retro feel. Easily adjustable, shortened temples ensure a perfect fit. Silhouette has brought out four new lens shapes. The new shapes are timeless, look great on a variety of faces and combine with exciting colour effects on the front.

Featured model: 2946 col. 3060

Distributed by COS: canadianoptical.com

To provide faster delivery to eye care professionals and their patients, CooperVision has expanded its made-to-order manufacturing at its facility in Scottsville, N.Y. to include all Biofinity^® toric multifocal contact lenses for the U.S. and Canada.

All trial lenses and six-packs of the brand’s most prescribed powers are now being produced at the site, with plans to manufacture 100% of the U.S. and Canada’s Biofinity^® toric multifocal six-pack volume within the next few months. The expansion reduces delivery times by eliminating international shipping and customs clearance steps.

All orders to service other markets will continue to be manufactured at the company’s facility in the U.K.

“The process of manufacturing a contact lens that corrects for both astigmatism and presbyopia is complex, and even more so when the available prescription options are so incredibly broad,” said Doug Brayer, Director of Marketing, Frequent Replacement Brands, CooperVision. “CooperVision’s continuous innovation and investment in manufacturing has not only made lenses like Biofinity^® toric multifocal possible, but also enables us to deliver practitioners and patients a highly customized product on an expedited timeline.”

With CooperVision’s made-to-order advantage, Biofinity^® toric multifocal lenses are available in more than 205,000 unique prescription options to ensure that eye care professionals have a lens for every patient. When using CooperVision’s OptiExpert^™ app or the fitting guide, Biofinity^® toric multifocal has a 93% success rate on initial fitting to save chair time for both ECPs and patients.

Click HERE for the full press release.

Three innovative Canadian organizations made their debut at the Centennial Celebration at the AAO (American Academy of Optometry) meeting in San Diego, Oct, 25-28.

A Simply Ingenious Device
First-time exhibitors included Meivertor, an ingeniously simple device providing a single-handed solution that simplifies the everyday task of everting upper and lower eyelids to easily image meibomian glands. With the help of Engineer, Zach Vanderwel founder MaryAnn Klassen, brought the idea to life.

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Enhanced Vision Device Ready for Life On -the Go
eSight, based in Toronto, provides a simple but profound device that empowers individuals with sight loss with enhanced vision. Motivated to help his two legally blind sisters, Conrad Lewis, an electrical engineer, spent nearly 30 years tinkering with gadgets and bits of access software he’d encountered at trade shows to bring eSight Assistive Device to reality.

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Combining Clinical Information with COPE CE accreditation
Another first-time exhibitor with the Academy, is CRO (Clinical & Refractive Optometry) Journal. CRO is an innovative online education resource that provides peer-reviewed articles that are also available as COPE accredited courses for “anytime anywhere” CE credits.

The AAO will celebrate year 101 October 11-14, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana.