Product: Free-form equipment and lens product offering
Top Line: Augen Optics has announced a new free-form equipment and lens product offering through its new Augen HDRx free-form lab, based in San Diego, California. The onsite free-form laboratory gives Augen wholesale and retail laboratory partners the opportunity to offer free-form products to their customers, including HDRx free-form progressives and single vision lenses, free-form single vision lenses for internal processing, and Augen Air turnkey free-form lens-and-frame packages.
Close Up: In addition, Augen Optics is marketing its patented EasyForm surfacing system, the proprietary equipment used in Augen HDRx Lab to produce free-form lenses. Augen Optics is previewing an affordable, turn-key lens-and-frame solution for eye care practices called Augen Air. The package combines premium Augen High Definition Lens designs and materials with the Augen Air drill mount frame collection. The package includes Augen HDRx progressive and single vision lens designs in Trivex clear, NXT polarized, polarized photochromic and fixed tints, as well as 1.67 MR10 clear. The fashionable frames are available in nine shapes and colors, and the package includes an attractive in-store display.
“We feel our entry into free-form is significant as it gives small and medium laboratories a number of ways to distinguish themselves in free-form,” said Garth Curtis, sales director for Augen, “Augen specializes in high quality, proprietary products available at a reasonable price, and now our customers can partner with Augen to offer individual free-form lens pairs, a full lens-and-frame package, or they can purchase our EasyForm processing equipment to produce their own free-form lenses. We don’t know of another manufacturer making this range of options available with such an outstanding potential return on investment.”
Vital Stats: EasyForm is a full free-form processing system, providing the ability to produce free-form Augen HDRx Trinity progressives and HD single vision lenses onsite. The EasyForm system includes a patented multi-axis computerized surface generator utilizing Augen’s premium lens design software. The “plug and play” processing system fits easily into any laboratory environment with its small footprint, and produces clear and smooth lens surfaces, both free form and conventional.
www.augenoptics.com; (866) 284-3611

TOC: Product: The Lighthouse Clinician’s Guide to Low Vision Practice
Top Line: A comprehensive, updated publication, The Lighthouse Clinician’s Guide to Low Vision Practice, from Lighthouse International. The 200-page book will serve as the seminal text for training ophthalmology and optometry students and residents, as well as practicing clinicians, in the principles of low vision clinical care and vision rehabilitation.
Close Up: The Lighthouse Clinician’s Guide to Low Vision Practice helps clinicians understand low vision principles, enhances their knowledge of disease consequences, provides insight for addressing patient complaints, and increases the effectiveness of treatment—both medical and surgical—through low vision rehabilitation. This book will help ophthalmologists and optometrists learn to:

• Identify low vision patients
• Evaluate functional impairment and correlate it to a patient’s disease
• Assess how medical and surgical interventions impact a patient’s functional vision
• Perform low vision refraction and prescribe appropriate low vision optical devices
• Integrate low vision care and vision rehabilitation components into their practice
• Recognize how vision rehabilitation specialists can improve the quality of life for patients

Vital Stats: The book costs $39.95 plus shipping. To order, e-mail education@lighthouse.org or call (212) 821-9470.
www.lighthouse.org/ce

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Product: Hoya Free-Form Company’s Professor Murray, the animated character, hosts a virtual lab tour to enable patients to see advanced lens technology from their own home or their eye doctor’s office.
Top Line: Patients and eye care professionals can be educated and entertained by this latest virtual lab tour, entitled, Hoya’s Animated Professor Murray Hosts a Virtual Lab Tour
Close Up: “At The Hoya Free-Form Company we are continuing our commitment to help ECPs differentiate their practices,” said Ron Barnes, director of project marketing. Barnes continued, “The first videos in the Professor Murray series were so popular we had to produce more. Hoya accounts continue to use these videos both for in-office loops and embedding on their websites. The one-of-a-kind Professor Murray concept engages new and existing customers and promotes practice differentiation. When used via social media, patients are driven to independent practices rather than unknown digital store fronts.”
Vital Stats: Hoya accounts have exclusive access to download eTools, such as the new virtual lab tour, the Professor Murray animated video series, and other social media content designed to promote independent practices on www.thehoyafreeformcompany.com. Professor Murray’s virtual lab tour, The Life of a Hoya Free Form Lens, is also posted on Hoya’s YouTube channel and FaceBook page.
www.thehoyafreeformcompany.com

Product: DAC Vision Alustra
Top Line: DAC Vision is introducing Alustra, a premium polish pad with an exclusive fiber combination that maximizes surface finish and clarity on all resin lenses, particularly polycarbonate and Trivex, according to DAC Vision.
Close Up: Alustra enhances polish performance by positioning slurry on the lens plane, yet has low pad carry-out characteristics to optimize polish consumption. Its high-quality textile backing provides firmness with excellent conformability, the company said. Alustra’s custom-tailored release paper in combination with its high-quality textile backing results in ease of use for operators; all American-sourced materials provide quality and cost consistency.
Vital Stats: Alustra is available in DAC Vision’s most popular shapes with low-tack or high-tack adhesive options.
www.dacvision.com; (800) 800-1550