As we age, so do our eyes, and we may begin to face challenges with our vision, as we navigate presbyopia.
As part of a video case study, in partnership with Essilor, OT visited an independent optometry practice in Crystal Palace, London to find out about the lens manufacturer’s latest product designed specifically for presbyopic patients, the Varilux® XR pro.
Leading Crystal Eye Centre, Lucy Uddin has worked at the practice for over 17 years and has experience seeing patients of all ages. She explained to OT: “Over the years we get to see how our patients age and the challenges that they start to experience as they get older. Our eyes are having to work in ways they have never actually had to do in the past, so it’s really important as we all get older that we’re able to use our vision well.”
For Uddin, it is imperative that patients receive the right lenses to meet their needs.
The practice invested in Visioffice a number of years ago and has been recommending the Varilux® XR pro to patients since it launched in market last year.
In order to highlight the capabilities and benefits of the Varilux® XR pro, Essilor invited two presbyopic patients to Cystal Eye Centre to try the lenses themselves, from dispensing through to wear. OT captured their experiences.
I just want to be able to put them on and see and function normally
First was patient Caroline Cooper, a 60-year-old from Hampshire who works in a primary school supporting children with special educational needs.
Cooper told OT: “Working in a primary school, it’s a very dynamic environment. I’m working at all sorts of different distances.”
She explained: “I am frequently working with groups of children at different distances at the same time, some sitting down, some mid and others far. I’m having to then refer to a whiteboard, and trying to work effectively at all those distances is really a struggle for me. I’m having to compromise either my distance vision or my close-up vision all the time, which is quite frustrating.”
Cooper’s key desire through the Varilux® XR pro lenses was: “I just want to be able to put them on and see and function normally.”
Second was 51-year-old patient, AOP head of education and OT clinical editor, Dr Ian Beasley.
Having worked in practice for the majority of his professional career, first as a dispensing optician and then as an optometrist, Beasley expressed how it was not until he became presbyopic himself that he appreciated the huge impact that it can have on a patient’s life.
“It’s just really frustrating being presbyopic,” Beasley shared.
He reflected: “During my time in practice with patients, I saw presbyopic patients day in and day out, and I think I underestimated the impact presbyopia probably had on many of my patients.”
Visiting Cystal Eye Centre in December last year, Cooper and Beasley were both measured and fitted with Varilux® XR pro.
Reflecting on the experience, Cooper shared: “Using the tablet and the phone to look at my near vision I thought was really useful, because it was actually tracking my behaviours a as reader; looking at my posture and the way I use my eyes.”
She added: “That’s something I’ve never experienced before. I think that it will be really helpful because obviously everybody has a different reading distance, everyone has a dominant eye, and it means that those lenses will be adapted for my behaviour, rather than me having to adapt my behaviour for the lens.”
Beasley said: “I’m out of touch with technology in the dispensing area, so when I had my measurements taken today, I found it quite fun. I quite liked the way the instruments allowed you to have measurements taken, but it felt fairly natural.”
One month on
Both patients travelled back to London one month on from receiving their frames fitted with Varilux® XR pro lenses to share their experiences.
Cooper admitted that awaiting the arrival of her frames, she was “a little bit anxious given the build-up.” On receiving and trying the lenses, she said: “I pretty much adapted to them straightaway.”
She added: “Every pair of glasses I had before, I always felt that I was really having to compromise in either my distance vision or my close vision. These seemed to give me both good close vision and really decent distance vision. The second I wore them at work, I forgot that I was wearing them. I hadn’t thought about them all day, I just got on with my job.”
For Cooper, the lenses have given her, “really good flexibility of vision – I can quickly move my vision from close up to distance.”
She identified that the lenses have had the most significant impact on her working environment, where she needs to focus quickly at different distances, both closer and further away.
“These glasses have enabled me do that in a way that's making it easy for me to do my job,” she said.
Cooper emphasised the lenses have “exceeded” her expectations. “I would definitely recommend [them] to my peers. In fact, I have already recommended them to my brother, who has similar eyesight challenges to me.”
Beasley, who had previously worn XR lenses before experiencing this upgrade to Varilux® XR pro lenses, was equally pleased with the outcome.
“I think the biggest surprise for me is how good the near vision is. I was pretty blown away by the Varilux® XR pro for close up,” he said.
“When I think about the comfort levels, I haven’t thought about that, and I think that's probably because it’s just comfortable,” he added.
Beasley admitted that prior to the trial, having found the near vison experience delivered through his Varilux® XR series™ lensesa “huge leap” compared to the lenses he had worn previously, he was “a bit sceptical as to how much better that new design could be.”
“I was really quite surprised that the improvement in the Varilux® XR pro design was more than just an incremental improvement,” he said.
Disclaimer
- No change of prescription Varilux® XR series™ lenses – in-life consumer study - Eurosyn – 2022 – France (n=73 progressive lens wearers)
