Amid  this COVID-19 pandemic, safeguarding our health is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends taking extra precautions when putting our hands anywhere near our faces, so what’s a contact lens wearer to do?  And are they at increased risk of exposure?

​Much like owning a car, corrective eyewear is something a patient will need and use every day. But nothing can be more frustrating for a patient than being recommended something that falls short of solving their specific vision needs.

Hands up if you remember “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. If that’s a little before your time, we highly recommend grabbing one off Amazon or at your local used book shop. The books take young readers on an immersive journey of their own design by choosing one path versus another at pivotal points in the story.

Recently, Unity launched its own version of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” story about Unity Via Progressive Lenses. The interactive video tour lets you choose exactly what, when, and how you want to learn about the lenses, technology, availability, and fitting instructions for each lens in the Unity Via family.  Simply tell your virtual tour guide what you want to know with a click of a button and away you go.

Among the plethora of benefits for practices with Premier Program status, Unity Savings is one of the most valuable. With the enhanced program set to roll out in 2020, certain aspects of Unity Savings will be changing as well.
 
Since much of what you may have come to expect is changing so soon, it’s critical to know what exactly is changing and how the program will continue to reward high-performing practices. 

​Patient education is just one of several challenges when it comes to dispensing. Patients depend on their OD and optician to make the right recommendation for their vision.
 
When it comes to choosing frames, lens designs, and enhancements, you are the foremost expert. The world of optics can be confusing to many patients, and no two patients are alike. Because patients don’t know which lenses and enhancements they need, it’s important to help them understand why you are recommending a given solution.  

Unity Performance Coatings will be retired on October 9, 2019. 

By this point, you’ve assessed the performance of your current progressive lens and determined it merits a potential change. You’ve also identified the needs of your patients and staff members, as well as the technology and performance required of a progressive lens by which to stake your reputation. With all that legwork done, you’ve likely narrowed your field down to a leading contender.  
 
Now it’s time to validate that decision and replace the anxiety about the change with confidence in your selection. 

If you’ve progressed through part one of our blueprint for changing your preferred progressive, you’ve surveyed your current landscape and assessed whether your current lens choice meets your needs, the needs of your patients, and the needs of the practice. If you haven’t read part one yet, you’ll want to do that before proceeding through part two.

In this installment, we’ll revisit the patient and practice needs your go-to progressive must fulfill, and the must-have lens technologies that help to do that.

Upgrading your progressive lens choice comes with a lot of anxiety and a ton of questions. "Should we implement a change?" "How would we implement the change?” “Is this new lens really better than the one that we use the most?” “How can we be sure the lens does what the manufacturer says?”
 
By the end of this series, you’ll not only understand why upgrading your go-to progressive makes sense, but also feel confident about your decision to upgrade, and be armed with the tools and know-how to execute the change successfully.
 
In this first installment, we’ll address why it might be time for a change.

As an eye care professional who's success depends on the happiness of your patients, the mere thought of changing lens products can send chills down your spine and waves of nausea through your belly. Change is hard - especially if you're moving away from something you've relied on for years, or even decades. 

That was the case for Outlook Eyecare in New Jersey, when they were first introduced to Unity Via Progressive Lenses. But Unity Via's technology, performance, and simplicity quickly turned anxiety into exhilaration when they saw the difference it made for their patients and practice. 

We chatted with Outlook Eyecare Optical Manager, Grace Danieles, to better understand what it was like making the change initially, how long it took for the butterflies to stop swarming in the team's stomachs, and how things are going now that they put their progressive patients in Unity Via. 

VSP recently asked eye care professionals (ECPs) nationwide for performance reviews on Unity's new task-oriented lens. According to the survey results, Unity Via OfficePro has already emerged as a top performer in the workplace. See exactly how it rated and what ECPs had to say in this infographic. 

A recent survey shows that almost half of Americans do not know what digital eye strain is. Additionally, most aren’t aware that lenses and enhancements are available to help with irritated eyes or visual issues that arise from daily screen time. These and other concerning findings surfaced in recent digital eye strain research conducted by Jobson/WebMD and by The Vision Council.

Digital eye strain symptoms are surging, while awareness of their cause—and alleviation—remains low. Digital eye strain sufferers are desperate for help. This presents you with a fantastic opportunity to provide them an informative, personalized, effective, and ultimately satisfying experience.

Now you can help your patients understand the symptoms associated of too much screen time, and the lenses available to help reduce them.

Vision Monday magazine recently featured a cover story called “MEGATREND: Screen Time,” examining the intensifying phenomenon of device use, and how it connects to digital eye strain.

Drawing from two recent surveys—a July 2018 VisionWatch survey by The Vision Council, and a new survey jointly conducted by Jobson Research and WebMD®—the publication unearthed some startling, perhaps even alarming trends.

The Unity Lens Matching Tool is an interactive assessment tool that helps gauge a patient’s digital eye strain symptoms and match them with their perfect lens. But before you use it with your patients, there’s probably some questions you’d like answered on it.

So, putting ourselves in your shoes, we put together five questions we’d want answered if we were eye care professionals:

In a recent VSP provider survey,* eye care professionals (ECPs) were asked for their opinions on Unity Via Progressive Lenses. From ECP and patient satisfaction to ease of dispensing and overall performance, Unity’s digital, effortless, customized progressives earned top rankings from industry pros.

Some lens companies will try to convince you that digital eye strain should be treated according to age. But this is far from a best practice—and a recent study* proves it, showing no correlation between age and severity of symptoms. In other words, if you choose the lens according to age alone, you might as well choose it randomly.

Eye care professionals (ECPs) have made their voices heard and the overwhelming sentiment is that they’re extremely happy with Unity Via. A recent survey*conducted by VSP® asked ECPs to rate Unity Via against the top players in the progressive lens space, and the relatively new participant in the category more than held its own.
Here’s a look at a few standout questions and answers from the survey:

As an eye care professional, you understand the importance of a second pair of workplace lenses for presbyopic patients. However, convincing them of the value of splashing the cash on a task-oriented pair for work can be a challenge. 

To help overcome this issue, we partnered with nationally recognized optical training consultant Denise Capretta COMT, LDO, ABOC, NCLEC to offer you five talking points you can use to help your patients easily understand the value of adding a work-specific lens to their everyday eyewear. Over the course of this blog series, we’ll share those talking points with you and how you can use them at the dispensing table.

Welcome to part two in our series on showcasing the value of office lenses to your patients. In our first post, we discussed how to help patients understand the need for a work-specific lens, and why one type of lens doesn’t fit all. In this next post, we’re going to dive into visual comfort and how a task-oriented lens can provide it anywhere your patients get the job done.