06 November 2024
Behind the scenes with Ultravision
What makes Ultravision and its approach or products unique?
What is unique about Ultravision is the amount of contact lenses we have. Practitioners all want something different, and we’re obsessed with listening and responding to our customers’ wants and needs. We have a research and development (R&D) team on site with a skillset spanning many decades. We have invested in a graduate scheme, which we’re sponsoring two of our lens designers through, and we partner with universities. We have on-site laboratories and clean rooms to develop contact lenses, concepts and prototypes.
It means our scope of offering is wider and our response times can be quicker. We listen and get feedback from customers, observe the industry, and can act in a more fluid way. We have lens designers, mechanical engineers, and project managers.
This year Ultravision launched its rebrand. What has the response been?
We had a really good response. The feedback was that our branding and marketing is inclusive and offers a fresh and modern approach to the market. The website is now more educational and user-friendly. We had a very positive response internally and from practitioners and patients. We couldn’t have asked for more of a successful launch.
What can you tell us about Ultravision’s training hub?
We have welcomed contact lens practitioner, Sujata Paul, as clinical services manager. She has more than 25 years of experience within contact lenses and within a professional services role and so brings her skills and knowledge to create education and contribute to the training hub on our website, assisting customers with technical queries, and running training and webinars.
We are trying to make Ultravision a hub for education. We have started offering continuing professional education (CPD) content, including a lab tour and fitting workshop. We have a clinic on site that we can use for CPD workshops. Currently our workshop is on specialist contact lens fitting and we plan to expand into further topics in the future. Education is key with our specialist products.
What is the latest product that you have introduced and why does it stand out from the crowd?
We’re really excited to announce the launch of our newest lens, KeraSoft AV, the first monthly disposable contact lens dedicated for patients who have keratoconus, irregular corneas, or have had cross-linking.
The lens moves away from more traditional forms of stabilisation. Free-form stabilisation allows the lens to be thinner, so it fits over the irregularity better. We will be offering it in three design types depending on the severity of the keratoconus: mild, moderate, and an advanced version.
The contact lens is an easier fit and doesn’t require topography, like many contact lenses for keratoconus. We’re hoping this will encourage more practices to fit these patients in-house, rather than having to refer them to hospital.
What does this product mean for patients?
It was really important for us to create a design that is more inclusive and give wearers the flexibility of a disposable option but in a way that works for their condition. There will always be the need for more complex designs – the traditional Kerasoft, rigid gas permeable, and sclerals – that are used for the condition, but as patients are now being cross-linked earlier, they are not advancing as far as they used to. We wanted to have a lens for those milder cross-link cases so that the patient doesn’t feel like they are wearing a specialist contact lens.
It was really important for us to create a design that is more inclusive, and give wearers the flexibility of a disposable option but in a way that works for their condition
What are the main ambitions of Ultravision in the next 12 months?
Our ambitions are threefold. Firstly, we want to continue to meet the needs of our clients by making the contact lens ordering experience smoother. We are looking at improving the manufacturing and order process to make it as time efficient as possible.
The second is to continue promoting awareness of our research and development. Not only do we have our own R&D, but we also support global clients with development and are partnering with likeminded MedTech companies to widen our knowledge and platform. The innovation coming into play within the industry is something we need to be aware of areas like intraocular lenses or medicine delivery.
Internally, we have launched a cultural champion programme for our employees. We want Ultravision to be a company defined by its employees. We’ve launched the new brand, but we have to live and breathe it internally so that our customers feel this is who we authentically are.
Beyond the brand
How do you see the custom or soft contact lens market in the UK currently?
The smart contact lens part of the industry is something we are getting heavily involved in. More and more people are trying to come into that space, and for good reason, because of the benefit and service it can offer to customers and patients. Smart contact lenses are about monitoring. With many of the medical issues that smart contact lenses are trying to play a part in, facilitating early detection is critical with any medical condition.
We are manufacturing a CE-marked smart contact lens that is now being sold. We expect that the smart contact lens market will start expanding and we’re hoping to use our experience in that field to bring new and exciting products to market.
One of the things with custom lenses is that education is key with fitting contact lenses. We want to demystify the complexities of fitting to give practitioners the confidence to want to do it.
What are the biggest opportunities you see currently in the market?
Taking the knowledge and ideas we have in R&D and bringing something new to customers that they have asked for, or that we see a benefit of. Through MedTech, R&D, however we look at it, custom contact lenses improve lives. You are giving people sight and making their lives better.
Early next year we will be bringing out a scleral lens to complement that portfolio, which will be a big opportunity for us as our customers have been asking for that.
There are not many smaller custom contact lens manufacturers left, so there is a real opportunity for us to strengthen our skillset, attract new talent, and collaborate. We are owned by Seed which gives us the best of both worlds – we are part of a larger group, but because we’re the only soft custom contact lens specialist in the group, we have the autonomy to respond to the market.
Reducing environmental impact
One factor facing the industry as a whole is how we can be more environmentally conscious. At Ultravision we’ve just had solar panels installed, and we’re already at 0% landfill. We are manufacturing plastics, you can’t get away from that, but we’re looking at how we can reduce the impact we have on the planet.
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