Considering the Second Pair of PALs
Sidebar to cover story of Vision Monday December
19, 2005 issue
Considering the Second Pair of
PALs
Advances in lens design have made short-corridor an increasingly viable option for presbyopes who want smaller frames without compromising any part of their vision. However, there are ECPs who have found an opportunity for a second-pair sale of PALs when patients find their intermediate vision is compromised by their short-corridor lenses. This has led to second-pair sales of occupational intermediate distance lenses.
Toledo Optical sales manager Szymanski said that while “a lot of ECPs try to make new short-corridor products fit all needs, it is still somewhat of a niche product. People gravitate toward new products sometimes even though there’s a compromise in vision compared to full-length progressives.”
Jeff Szymanski
The result, for some, might be second-pair PAL sales, when short-corridor progressives fail to deliver good optics for intermediate vision in some patients.
“We see this as an opportunity to promote near-variable-focus lenses. These lenses can go into a smaller frame. We’re satisfying near and intermediate in a smaller frame, and we have a growing number of ECPs who are using that option.”
Shamir Insight vice president of sales Carmen Renschler also sees the need to educate patients and ECPs about PAL choices. “Lifestyle dispensing is key,” she said. Using short-corridor only, for some people, is like “having only one coat or only one pair of shoes for all your activities.” She notes that “when you do anything for more than a few hours, like computer use, you need an occupational lens. We talk about our Office lens as a ‘progressive with training wheels.’ We have talked about packaging them with our [short-corridor] Piccolo since we introduced it.”
Pete Hanlin, Essilor’s training and development manager noted that “without a doubt, it would be good to have a dedicated pair of computer glasses, but most people only want to use one pair of glasses. Sixty percent of PAL users work with computers for more than four hours a day, and there’s a market out there for computer users, but most people are unwilling to purchase two pairs of PALs.”
Will Benton, brand manager for Carl Zeiss Vision, also noted that “we definitely recommend people use occupation lenses, since the technology is different. If you see a PAL as a jack-of-all trades, we compress that technology into the short-corridor. Computer vision lenses don’t try to be a universal solution; it will be more forgiving to the wearer and more generous for those specific uses.”
--Seth J. Bookey
Volume Number: 19:14 Issue: 12/19/2005
Advances in lens design have made short-corridor an increasingly viable option for presbyopes who want smaller frames without compromising any part of their vision. However, there are ECPs who have found an opportunity for a second-pair sale of PALs when patients find their intermediate vision is compromised by their short-corridor lenses. This has led to second-pair sales of occupational intermediate distance lenses.
Toledo Optical sales manager Szymanski said that while “a lot of ECPs try to make new short-corridor products fit all needs, it is still somewhat of a niche product. People gravitate toward new products sometimes even though there’s a compromise in vision compared to full-length progressives.”
Jeff Szymanski
The result, for some, might be second-pair PAL sales, when short-corridor progressives fail to deliver good optics for intermediate vision in some patients.
“We see this as an opportunity to promote near-variable-focus lenses. These lenses can go into a smaller frame. We’re satisfying near and intermediate in a smaller frame, and we have a growing number of ECPs who are using that option.”
Shamir Insight vice president of sales Carmen Renschler also sees the need to educate patients and ECPs about PAL choices. “Lifestyle dispensing is key,” she said. Using short-corridor only, for some people, is like “having only one coat or only one pair of shoes for all your activities.” She notes that “when you do anything for more than a few hours, like computer use, you need an occupational lens. We talk about our Office lens as a ‘progressive with training wheels.’ We have talked about packaging them with our [short-corridor] Piccolo since we introduced it.”
Pete Hanlin, Essilor’s training and development manager noted that “without a doubt, it would be good to have a dedicated pair of computer glasses, but most people only want to use one pair of glasses. Sixty percent of PAL users work with computers for more than four hours a day, and there’s a market out there for computer users, but most people are unwilling to purchase two pairs of PALs.”
Will Benton, brand manager for Carl Zeiss Vision, also noted that “we definitely recommend people use occupation lenses, since the technology is different. If you see a PAL as a jack-of-all trades, we compress that technology into the short-corridor. Computer vision lenses don’t try to be a universal solution; it will be more forgiving to the wearer and more generous for those specific uses.”
--Seth J. Bookey
Volume Number: 19:14 Issue: 12/19/2005
Posted: Mon - December 19, 2005 at 01:25 AM
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