Free-Form.
DIY lenses
by Cara Huzinec
T
he ability to customize lenses to patients’ needs was the driving force behind Kevin Baab’s decision to make lenses in-house. By purchasing the necessary equipment, along with a lab management system and lens design software, Baab Opticians in Mountain Top, PA, can now give patients what they need and want in a lens without having to order them. “We sit down with patients and explain to them how lenses are made currently and just how accurate the calibration is,” said Baab, vice president and secretary of Baab Opticians, which is owned by his father John and was founded in the early 1970s by his grandfather, George. “We talk about their wants and needs, whether they’ve worn a progressive before and how to prioritize their needs.” Since last September, Baab Opticians
has used lens design software from IOT America, Optivision’s lab management system and the Nano line from Schneider Optical Machines (blocker, generator and polisher), and no longer sends out jobs for quicker turnaround times and truly personalized products.
“They could probably do 30 jobs per day and at a smaller price point because they’ll be producing a digital bifocal off a single vision lens.” - Robin Cassidy, QLDS SOFTWARE OPTIONS IOT’s catalogue includes 28 individual lens designs in five families, allowing ECPs to meet their own needs: from dual-sided designs with Camber technology to specialty
WITH THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT, A LAB MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND LENS DESIGN SOFTWARE, ECPS CAN OFFER PATIENTS PROPRIETARY, HIGH-QUALITY DIGITAL FREE-FORM LENSES AT A FRACTION OF THE PRICE.
lenses such as the company’s own inMotion driving lens. IOT also offers backside digital bifocals and an anti-fatigue lens design. “Every customer’s laboratory is different in terms of equipment, size, layout, processes and preferences,” said Marcos Garcia, director of technical services at IOT America. “Our Free-Form Designer software is extremely flexible, so we can adapt to each customer’s specific situation rather than forcing laboratories to adapt their processes to us.” Daniel Crespo, president of IOT America, said, “There are no pre-defined structures or package solutions. We work as a partner to our customers with a high level of involvement.” Lens design software from Crossbows Optical offers ECPs its products as “white label products, often under a laboratory’s own branding,” said Trevor Steele, managing director of Crossbows. “This gives the ECP the ability to dispense very high quality
Augen Optics 866.284.3611 AugenOptics.com Crossbows Optical +44 (0)28 3832 2301 CrossbowsOptical.com General@CrossbowsOptical.com IOT America 877.414.7809 IOTAmerica.com Novar Novar-Tech.com Info@Novar-Tech.com 58 | VC P N J U N E 2 018
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