What you missed at Vision Expo East 2024

Image Credit: AdobeStock/AntonGvozdikov

With Vision Expo East 2024 wrapping up its last year in New York City, the conference had plenty of the latest innovations in technology, treatment, glasses frames, and fashion on display.

Mergers and partnerships

The Opticians Association of America (OAA) and the National Federation of Opticianry Schools (NFOS) officially completed a merger after a unanimous vote during Vision Expo East 2024.^1,2 The new organization will be named United Opticians Association (UOA) and will begin operations as a new restructured organization on July 1, 2024, according to a news release.

“With this merger, we have created a model for the future of opticianry that focuses on promoting the profession of spectacle and contact lens opticians, while also adopting the use of structured educational standards keeping vision care patients healthy and safe through high quality, properly trained opticians,” said UOA President Ronnie Harbert in the release.

Funding for the organization will be provided by the American Board of Opticianry and National Contact Lens Examiners. The new organization will present over 80,000 opticians and contact lens professions in North America. While a board of directors was established for UOA, a new enterprise leadership team will also be selected from both OAA and NFOS leadership.¹

Additionally, the recently announced strategic partnership between Visionix and 20/20NOW was on display at Vision Expo East with the companies’ debut of their new tele-optometry program, which provides more options for ocular telehealth exams.^3,4 The remote telehealth exams take 30 minutes or less, and records patient medical history electronically, assist in conducting visual pre-testing, visual acuity testing, and eye health exams, as well as providing live clinical review and patient prescriptions and referrals.⁵

New technology

Plenty of Vision Expo East’s booths also exhibited new and upcoming technology and products in the eye care industry. For instance, Olleyes displayed several of its headests at the show, including VisuALL ETS, VisuALL S, and VisuALL Choice models. The headsets serve as portable visual care testing suites, which includes visual field, visual acuity testing, color vision testing, pupillometry, and extraocular motility testing by using virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence, and augmented technology to remotely monitor eye diseases.⁶ A study published last year conducted VisuALL VR testing on a small sample of pediatric glaucoma and glaucoma suspects added “evidence to a growing body of literature in adults about the potential for VR and portable laptop fields to be transformative in office as well as home testing.”⁷

A highlight from the Bausch and Lomb booth was INFUSE One-Day contact, which maintains 96% of its 55% moisture for 16 hours to minimize contact lens dryness. The contact lenses also contain osmoprotectants, electrolytes, and moisturizes to maintain tear proteins, provide a source of potassium to the eye, and generally maintain ocular homeostasis.⁸

Additionally, ZEISS’s Single Vision SmartLife Young lenses, offered for teens and children six years of age and older, were featured at the conference this year.^9,10

“By expanding the range to include lenses for children and young people we make the eye care professional’s job easier: The ZEISS SmartLife premium lens portfolio is now suitable for everyone – for parents and their children. The portfolio is constantly updated based on the latest research and takes current viewing habits into account. ZEISS SmartLife lenses make it possible to have individualized, good vision," says Patrick Michel, Global Product Manager at ZEISS Vision Care in the release.

The design of these lenses is based on the specific visual needs of children and young people, and can provide up to 60% wider fields of view. The lenses utilize SmartView 2.0 technology by means of adaptation to keep the physical changes that children undergo in mind. These include face shape, the distance between pupils, and pupil diameter, which are subject to change as the child grows.¹⁰

The glasses lenses are also scratch resistant and come with full UV protection. They can also be ordered with ZEISS BlueGuard, which blocks up to 40% of blue light.¹⁰

References:

1. Opticians Association of America, National Federation of Opticianry Schools, American Board of Opticianry, National Contact Lens Examiners. News release. Published March 17, 2024. Accessed March 18, 2024.

2. The Vision Council. Breaking news from the Vision Expo show floor! After a unanimous vote, The Opticians Association of America (OAA), and the National Federation of Opticianry Schools (NFOS), have completed a merger. Here’s to the brand new United Opticians Association (UOA)! X post. Published March 17, 2024. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://twitter.com/opticalindustry/status/1769378128835600587

3. Visionx announces a strategic partnership with 20/20NOW. Visionx. News release. Published November 9, 2023. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://blog.visionix.com/en-us/resource-center/visionix-usa-enters-a-strategic-partnership-with-20/20now-to-help-eye-care-professionals-explore-tele-optometry

4. Exhibitor Details: Visionix. Vision Expo. Updated 2024. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://east.visionexpo.com/en-us/expo-hall/exhibitor-list/exhibitor-details.visionix.org-629e342d-479c-407b-89a2-fea746789f62.html#/

5. Our Comprehensive Tele-Optometry Digital Eye Exam. 20/20Now. Updated. 2024. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://for2020now.com/how-tele-optometry-exams-work/

6. Exhibitor Details: Olleyes. Vision Expo. Updated 2024. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://east.visionexpo.com/en-us/expo-hall/exhibitor-list/exhibitor-details.olleyes.org-1b409f85-c3b6-4213-b9cd-af1566a92378.html#/

7. Wang B, et al. Performance of virtual reality game-based automated perimetry in patients with childhood glaucoma. Journal of AAPOS (2023). dio: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaapos.2023.08.014.

8. Infused for Balance. Bausch and Lomb. Updated 2024. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://ecp.bauschcontactlenses.com/products/infuse-one-day

9. Exhibitor Details: Carl Zeiss Vision Inc. Vision Expo. Updated 2024. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://east.visionexpo.com/en-us/expo-hall/exhibitor-list/exhibitor-details.carl%20zeiss%20vision%20inc.org-b7470cbe-cc48-4800-a421-001e2d68e71e.html#/

10. Clear Vision for Growing Children: ZEISS SmartLife Young Lenses. ZEISS. News release. Published February 14, 2023. Accessed March 18, 2024. https://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/en/newsroom/news-overview/2023/zeiss-smartlife-young-lenses.html