01 April 2026
EssilorLuxottica’s director of medical and professional affairs for North Europe, Charlotte Timbury, provided insight into how optometry practices can embrace smart eyewear at 100% Optical 2026 (28 February–2 March, Excel London).
She also emphasised that 73% of those already using AI report that they are interested in making purchases around it.
“The majority don’t see it [AI] as a negative,” Timbury emphasised.
Smart technology and medical technology are booming, she told attendees.
The presentation, entitled Smart eyewear: where vision meets intelligence, took place in the Optical Suppliers’ Association Lounge.
During her lecture, Timbury emphasised to attendees that the safety of any data collected through the use of smart eyewear is important, as is transparency – ensuring that the device and its features are visible, so that people in the vicinity of the wearer know that the technology is being used.
This could be achieved by products providing a notification or a light to indicate usage, Timbury said.
She also emphasised the importance of data encryption in smart eyewear, which she called “not a nice to have, but an absolute must.”
Most data will be stored locally, on the device, Timbury suggested, adding that it is also important to only collect the data that is necessary.
“Safe data is really important,” she emphasised, noting that data compliancy and the ability for users to opt in or out of certain features is the responsibility of the manufacturer.
“Ultimately, if we’re looking at smart glasses, manufacturers have a commitment to do things right,” Timbury said.
Making the value of smart eyewear clear in optical practices
Smart eyewear can be particularly useful during, for example, a city break, when it might be able to provide real-time travel updates or translate restaurant menus easily, Timbury suggested.
Timbury noted that the usage and benefits of smart eyewear might not be immediately clear to a consumer or a patient, particularly when devices are available in an optometry practice.
“It is up to us as practitioners to relay this information,” she said.
Timbury also noted the benefits of open-ear speakers in hearing assistance smart devices, emphasising their non-intrusive nature and social connectivity.
“Open ear speakers are key, because it means that the patient isn’t completely isolated from their surroundings. They can still hear around them,” she said, adding that smart devices might also have the ability to amplify volume where required.
Timbury used the example of Nuance Audio Hearing Glasses, which include directional microphones on the front and side to amplify sound, as an example of this functionality in action.
The directional microphone allows users to adjust to where the sound is coming from, she said.
Timbury also noted that the product could be beneficial for users who do not want to wear hearing aids.
“If you are looking at those patients who are starting to experience mild to moderate hearing loss, I guarantee you they are the same patients that you are talking to about varifocals,” she said, adding: “It happens at the same time, and there is a correlation between them.”
In terms of vision, smart eyewear might have a camera fitted to allow the wearer to see other perspectives, Timbury said.
“Obviously, there is only a finite amount of space that we can fit this technology into, and it needs to be good enough technology that it’s functionally useful,” she said.
A grainy camera that added weight would not do a sufficient job in this case, she emphasised.
Ultimately, we do need to consider smart eye wear as being here, and as something that we are able to control within our practices
Clinical uses for smart eyewear
Smart eyewear has the potential to be used clinically, Timbury said – for example, in monitoring wear-time, proximity and head movement in a patient with myopia.
The success of myopia management is dependent on the wear-time, and this has the potential to be tracked using smart eyewear, Timbury said.
She also noted that factors such as proximity to computer screens in office environments, working distances, and wear times should be considered when discussing with or dispensing smart glasses to adults.
Smart watches that measure health and can provide advice to wearers are now the norm, and there is future potential in this space for smart glasses too, Timbury suggested.
Timbury asked attendees to consider: “What does this mean for practitioners, and in our businesses?”
“Ultimately, we do need to consider smart eye wear as being here, and as something that we are able to control within our practices,” she believes.
She added: “We know that consumer demand is shifting. They are already aware of it.”
The question for practitioners, Timbury suggested, is: “Why are they going to come to you to talk about this?”
Gen Z and millennials should be considered as a consumer group, Timbury advised, noting that products such as Ray-Ban Meta can bring new customers into practice, and allow practices to lessen their reliance on more traditional products to drive revenue.
Meta’s AI smart glasses are the number one selling AI glasses in the world, Timbury revealed.
She also emphasised that smart eyewear can be a way to bring technology from the test room to the dispensing space.
“Optical practices can sometimes be a funny place, because you go into the test room, and you’ve got hundreds and thousands of pounds worth of kit, and this real space-age machinery,” Timbury acknowledged.
This high level of technology does not always follow through into the dispensing area, she said, despite recent moves into digital measuring devices from some suppliers.
“To be able to follow that journey all the way through to the dispense, I think, is quite something,” Timbury said.
On smart eyewear, she added: “We know it’s not a trend. It’s here, it’s now, and more players will follow.
“It really helps us to create that link between the clinical aspects of our recommendation for the best solution to the patient, and something that is really going to enhance it.”
Whether patients have a prescription or not, smart glasses can provide a new revenue stream that practitioners might not previously have considered, Timbury added.
The smart eyewear category at EssilorLuxottica has been through “quite a build up over the last three years,” Timbury told attendees.
The company now has three smart eyewear products available, she said.
“The fact that we are bringing out solutions that will fit a whole range of patients means it’s a conversation that can be had with the majority, if not all, patients,” she added.
Timbury shared a video that highlighted how the current generation of smart glasses could assist a partially sighted user whilst he stood at a bus stop – including explaining how many other people were there and what the bus timetable said – within five to 10 seconds.
This is significantly faster than versions of the technology that have come before, she suggested.
Smart glasses “can really make a difference in people’s lives, and empower them,” Timbury believes.
She emphasised: “It’s a new category. It’s something which, as practitioners, we’ve never [before] had access to in this form.”
Emerging technology and smart eyewear
Dispensing optician and AOP member, James Dawson, on the fit, functionality, digital, and regulatory considerations of smart eyewear
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