Company profile

COMPANY PROFILE Menicon: marking 70 years of contact lens innovation

May 2021 will be a very special month for Menicon as it will mark the 70th anniversary of the formation of Menicon in Japan...

To mark its special anniversary, the company will unveil a beautiful photobook celebrating its history, heritage and many achievements across the world. The images are still under wraps, but Vision Now has been given a sneak preview of this fascinating pictorial journey through the decades...

Figure 1. Founder Kyoichi Tanaka is introduced to contact lenses by a military wife

Figure 2. MT, the first corneal contact lens in Japan, launched commercially in 1953 Figure 3. The chairman undertakes a fitting check

1950s: Menicon’s founder, Kyoichi Tanaka, was first introduced to contact lenses by the wife of an Allied Occupation Forces commander (Figure 1). He immediately set out to make his own and in February 1951, just three months later, the 21-year-old successfully produced his first corneal contact lenses (Figure 2). The lens was called the MT – after ophthalmologist Dr Yutaka Mizutani and Tanaka. Dr Mizutani provided great support to the chairman in developing the corneal contact lens. 1960s: Menicon becomes a registered trademark. Kyoichi continues to strive for perfection as he researches and tests different materials to improve the wearer’s experience (Figure 3).

1970s: Menicon Soft, with its excellent comfort and oxygen permeability, launches. Menicon is also granted the patent for the world’s first silicone hydrogel contact lens material.

1980s: The company launches an oxygen permeable rigid lens, Menicon O, creating a new field of contact lenses.

1990s: Menicon Z is launched – the world’s first hyper Dk material.

2000s: Rose K lenses, heralded as “a quantum leap forward in the evolution of lens design”, join the Menicon family of contact lenses and become the world’s most frequently prescribed gas permeable lens for keratoconus. Marking 50 years of contact lens innovations, Menicon’s mission for the next 50 years is set out: “We are responsible for making the eyes of all people shine”.

2010s: Menicon UK Ltd is formed from the acquisition of David Thomas Ltd. Miru 1day Flat Pack is introduced to the market. This novel, flat pack daily disposable lens not only reduces the amount of material used in their production, it reduces waste helping to achieve Menicon’s Sustainable Development Goals. Menicon Bloom Night obtains CE mark approval.

2020s: The company celebrates 70 years of innovative contact lens technology that prioritises eye health and vision. Figure 4 shows chairman Tanaka today.

CONTACT LENS HEROES Some of the Menicon team share their favourite contact lens products, materials and packaging...

Neil Retallic, European professional

services director: “Since joining Menicon, I have been amazed at the incredibly diverse range of contact lenses and care products pioneered by the R&D teams. The way consumer feedback and insights are used to create high quality consumer-driven products, utilising innovations such as Smart Touch technology, is a great example of Menicon craftsmanship, offering far more than just a visual solution.

“To pick a favourite is difficult. My choice would be the Flat Pack products, as I love the triple combo of eco-friendly packaging, high lens comfort and the unique – and really clever – Smart Fit concept in our toric

Figure 5. Menicon PremiO allows more oxygen to reach the cornea

design. Looking ahead, there will be more exciting new products coming to market which will see us complete our ‘families’ of disposable lenses, meaning we can match the eyesight needs of even more wearers.”

Andrew Ferguson, sales manager,

Frequent Replacement Division: “Being of an age where presbyopia has finally caught up with me, I love the innovation that has been applied to the Miru 1month multifocal lenses. It has ultra-high oxygen transmissibility levels, a super smooth material that helps reduce bacteria deposits and great designs in the low and high adds.

“I have perfect distance vision so have struggled in the past with centre near lenses compromising my distance vision; but with the decentred high add design I can get crystal clear vision at all distances. As the reading part of the lens is decentred, it needs to be in the correct place at all times to work. The dynamic stabilisation areas and the location marker on the lens also help the patient to apply the lens the right way every time.”

Josie Barlow, professional services

manager, Speciality Lens Division: “Contact lenses can have a profound effect on patients’ lives – and in some instances are life-changing. As practitioners, we can all remember patients who benefited in this way – and the memories of these delighted responses stay with us. Within the Menicon portfolio, there is one family of lenses that consistently evokes this response – and that is our Rose K2 range. These lenses are used for patients who have an irregular cornea caused by keratoconus, trauma or as a result of a surgical procedure.

“Available in five GP designs, it is possible to fit any irregular cornea by selecting the most appropriate design from the range. There is also a soft version for patients who cannot tolerate GP lenses. A clear and consistent fitting guide, combined with fully customisable peripheral changes, means that the Rose K2 lenses can be optimised to fit even the most asymmetric cornea and deliver excellent vision for patients who simply cannot function without their contact lenses. Since the inception of Rose K2 in the early 1990s, it became – and still is – the most commonly prescribed lens design for the irregular cornea in the world. That makes me so proud.”

To ensure ease of fitting, Menicon can offer fitting sets in all of its designs so that the best lens option can be chosen in practice, reducing the need for unnecessary return visits. Our company’s in-house team can offer advice and support when fitting any of our contact lenses, and an optional warranty means practitioners can be assured that if an adjustment is needed to the lens, this will be done at no extra cost.

PLANNING AHEAD FOR OUTDOORSY PATIENTS After more than a year when activity has been restricted to daily walks and local bike rides, weekend warriors are eager to get back on the pitch. Your patients want to reclaim the slopes, conquer the peaks, face the opposition on the field of play or just challenge themselves on the golf course. But while muscles that have been idle will take time to rebuild, there is one way for athletes at all levels to gain a competitive edge with very little effort, and that’s by swapping their glasses for contact lenses.

It’s an easy win for you and for them. When patients don’t have to deal with fogging, mud-splashes and rain smears then the only thing standing between them and their goal is ability and hard work. And then there’s the enhanced field-of-view vision that only contact lenses can deliver. It’s not quite eyes in the back of the head, but when a blind-side flanker is bearing down then a split-second of early-warning time can make a winning difference. Not to mention the fact that if they take a ball, a blow or a tumble, then lenses aren’t going to cause bruises and lacerations.

There’s good news too for high-altitude addicts because Menicon PremiO rigid gas permeable lenses (Figure 5) actually allow more oxygen to reach the cornea, so that’s one less thing to worry about for anyone clinging to a cliff by their fingertips or taking the leap into heli-skiing. And at the other end of the scale, contact lenses can allow children to discover a whole world of sports and activities without the restrictions that glasses can bring.

Even if your patient’s idea of sport involves a stroll in the sunshine, or relaxing ringside while the action unfolds, then with lenses in place they can rock up in their sunglasses without having to bother about a prescription. So if lenses are the solution for Cristiano Ronaldo and Novak Djokovich, then they must be the answer for almost everyone. They may not propel Sunday league players to the Premier division or catapult them from the local courts to Wimbledon, but they’ll give your patients a clearer shot at the action, a sense of freedom and remove the risk of injury. And surely that’s a win.

WHAT’S COMING UP?

Making ordering and deliveries easier

We know that time and convenience are important to you. That’s why we have been busy behind the scenes during lockdown to make it even easier to place orders online, and for your patients to receive their lenses directly through our new Menicon Eye Life System (MELS). The two new services, Online Orders and MELS, are practical and convenient and will soon be available for you to order disposable lenses and solutions by visiting www.menicon.co.uk

Menicon Bloom is on the way

The Menicon Bloom Myopia Control Management System will be fully launched in the second half of 2021. It is suitable for children who have shown signs of myopia progression. There will be three components: night and day lens products specifically for myopia management; treatment plans/protocols to fully support ECPs throughout the fitting process and beyond; and a two-part monitoring system with software for ECPs and an app to enhance communication between ECPs and patients to improve compliance and safety through the myopia treatment programme.