Insights From Our Editors

What Kind of AR Treatment is Increasing in Sales?

July 8, 2015

Anti-reflective lens treatments that guard against blue light from computers, smartphones and other electronic devices, are gaining a foothold in the eyewear market, findings from Jobson Optical Research’s 2015 Premium Lens MarketPulse study suggest. Some 63 percent of retailers said they offered a new AR lens in 2014 that also reduced blue light. They say it has replaced, on average, 22 percent of standard AR.

Click HERE to purchase Jobson Optical Research’s 2015 Premium Lens MarketPulse study.

We are surrounded by high-energy blue light. Can you go through your day without being exposed to the sun, smartphones, tablets or computer screens–all of which produce high-energy blue light? Even some energy-efficient light bulbs, such as fluorescent lights and LEDs, produce high-energy blue light. Are you avoiding those? Obviously, we can’t. Our eyes–and our patients’ eyes–are being exposed to blue light every day of every year.

But not all blue light is bad. Blue light also plays a role in alertness, cognitive performance, emotion and memory. Blue light therapy is used to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Blue light is used to treat the skin conditions of acne, psoriasis and rosacea. Blue light is used to reduce high levels of bilirubin in the blood of newborns.

Research shows that it is a specific band of blue light–the high-energy blue-violet light near ultra-violet light–that is harmful. Since there is good blue light and bad blue light, perhaps we need to think about blue light with a little more nuance.

There are three general categories for how blue light and blue light-blocking products aremanaged within a practice. These three categories are:
1) I do not offer this technology to my patients.
2) I offer one lens choice to all patients I deem would benefit from this technology.
3) I offer two levels of blue light management to my patients based on their need:
a. Blue light management
b. Blue light lock-down

Which of the three categories best describes your practice? Let’s take this week to examine how we are offering blue light management to our patients and make any changes that are necessary.

To Top
Subscribe Today for Free...
And join more than 35,000 optometric colleagues who have made Review of Optometric Business their daily business advisor.