SPECTACLE TAKES A BITE OUT OF THE BIG APPLE
This weekend we have been truly honored and proud to be able to represent Spectacle Optometry for the first time at a national optometric meeting! We ventured to New York City to see the latest in technology, eyewear, and medical optometry. The best of the best that the industry has to offer was on display at Vision Expo East, and we wanted to let you in on what we were most excited about.
Eyewear: This is the place to learn all about the hottest trends in frame design. I mean, they have a runway fashion show pairing amazing outfits with the newest eyewear. How cool! There were so many great frame lines but Modo, Ovvo, and State are coming home with us! Modo is a modern line with some great styles, but what we loved was their buy a frame, help a child see program. For every frame they sell, they will donate a frame to a child in need, which we are all about. Ovvo is in a class of its own with a primarily steel and titanium frame line. These frames are not only lightweight metal frames, but are virtually indistructable with their unique hinge that can withstand 90 lbs of pulling force and 300,000 open and closures. These will be great for those that are hard on frames, plus they have a kids line! Finally, we fell in love with State. They are 100% American made and handcrafted in Chicago with each style named after a street in the Windy City. They have an eye for detail, are 50% handcrafted to create the most comfortable fit, and have unique plays on color. We absolutely loved the unique styles and designs of these frame lines and can’t wait for you to see them for yourselves.
Technology: At Vision Expo, several companies debut their newest equipment pieces and this year was no exception. We were intrigued by all the wide field camera options. Basically, it is a camera that is able to take a photo of the the back of your eye and capture a wide view so our doctors can utilize this technology similarly to what they see in dilation, but without all the side effects. This technology has been around for a short while, but there are now a few different companies that offer it with some great strides in improvements making it exceptional. Another item we are excited to be able to offer our patients is the use of an in-office edger. This means we’ll be able to make lenses of most prescriptions in our office and provide same day service to any patients in a pinch or just wanting their glasses sooner than a typical lab order that can take up to two weeks. We are looking forward to bringing both these pieces to our practice this summer!
Education: These conferences are a great way for our doctors and staff to take some education courses presented by some of the big leaders in our industry. Not only are these the experts, but they were surprisingly funny! We had the pleasure of learning tips on sports related concussions, diabetic changes to the eye, and everything retina. One thing we found interesting was that people who have suffered from concussions often have issues with fluorescent lighting. This has to do with it’s critical flicker fusion frequency, meaning that the minimum number of light flickers per second a fluorescent light gives off is less than a traditional light. These flickers are more noticeable to the eye and can cause headaches, discomfort, and throw off someone who has suffered a concussion at some point in their life. These symptoms can persist for some concussion sufferers months and even years after the incident itself has occurred. We learned that we can add a slight tint to lenses to help these patients cope with this issue!
As you can see, it was a truly unforgettable trip, and we were so excited to let you in on just what we experienced. We can’t wait to bring the knowledge we gained as well as some of these new innovations back home with us to our patients. Be sure to stop in to our office soon so we can show you in person just what we love about our newest additions!
