Menicon brought a glimpse of greenery to the BCLA Clinical Conference & Exhibition in Birmingham on 5-7 June with a stand decked out in potted plants.
Through the exhibition, the company sought to highlight its sustainable developments and innovations across its product portfolio.
Talking to OT about the sustainable credentials of the business, Josie Barlow, head of professional services at Menicon Limited, said: “I think we’ve been ahead of the curve for quite some time. If you look at our flatpack – this is the first and only flatpack contact lens design on the market – and it came to the market well over 10 years ago.”
The company’s packaging uses 80% less plastic in the blister pack. The manufacturing product is also recycled into the storage cases for the contact lenses. The foils and a plastic disc in the packaging can both be recycled.
“We are striving all the time to look at other ways we can make ourselves as a company, as individuals, and our products, more sustainable,” Barlow said.
Gaynor Williamson, managing director of Menicon Limited, explained that some customers have opted for the lens “purely on the basis of its sustainability credentials, because that is what consumers are looking for.”
“The performance of the lens is exceptional. Hydrogel lenses now are not the same as they used to be, and they also get the benefit of it being minimal packaging,” she said.
Williamson highlighted that sustainability remains a high priority for the company when building or updating facilities.
Updates in myopia and beyond
The company also showcased developments to its portfolio of contact lenses. This includes offering the Menicon Bloom Day contact lens as a standalone option.
The Menicon Bloom System offers a holistic approach to myopia management, combining orthokeratology lenses, a daily disposable contact lens, and an app to assist both patient and practitioner in tracking progress.
Barlow said: “To make it more accessible to more practitioners, you can now have the daily disposable option within the system as a standalone product, so it is more accessible for those practitioners who want to use Menicon Bloom Day.”
Discussing further updates from the company, Barlow continued: “I am quite excited about us launching some of our global products within the UK because they are very innovative and have some fantastic nuances with designs that you don’t see in others.”
Menicon will be moving its fitting software to a cloud-based system, making it more accessible and easier to use, Barlow added.
Williamson highlighted the innovation in Menicon contact lenses, such as the Smart Touch technology which makes the lenses easier to remove from the packaging without touching the inside of the lens.
She said: “Those little things might feel like small innovations but actually it’s quite fundamental when it means you might get a patient who is uncomfortable in trying contact lenses to progress to being a full or part-time wearer.”
Finding opportunities
Barlow encouraged practitioners to think “outside of the box” when it comes to seeing the opportunities posed by contact lenses.
“As a clinician myself, I don’t think we always maximise the full potential – sometimes we have to think outside of the box,” she said.
“We forget that you can dual-wear with a lot of these products, particularly daily disposable contact lenses, so it doesn’t always have to be about full-time wear. I think we miss that as an opportunity,” Barlow added.
Ortho-k can also be a missed opportunity, Barlow suggested, adding that these can be an “excellent option for lots of patients – not just for myopia control.”
“Scleral lenses have made a massive resurgence in the UK recently,” she also pointed out, adding: “I think practitioners maybe need to think about the tools that are available to them and utilise them and optimise them in the best way that they can.”
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