Today a lot of practices have made AR a standard for all patients they see, no matter if they are older patients, children or people that work outdoors or in dusty environments. Nevertheless there is still a great potential for most practices to re-think their approach to AR, both from a patient care and business point of view.

Essilor’s research reveals that clarity of vision is the most important feature for patients when purchasing glasses. There are four genuine reasons why AR is of great benefit to patients: Improved clarity and performance, safer and more comfortable night driving, enhanced visual appearance, easier cleaning.

The University of Indiana conducted a clinical study on driver reaction times and found that myopes gain 5 seconds and hyperopes 2 seconds on driver reaction times when wearing an anti-reflective coating on their glasses. This can prevent a lot of accidents and issues on the road. They also concluded that drivers should wear AR coated spectacle lenses at night because of the better contrast sensitivity. This means clearer vision and therefore quicker reaction times when it is critical.

While previous generations of AR coatings were harder to clean, Essilor’s latest generation, Crizal A2, is found to be as easy, if not easier to clean than hard coated lenses. Wearer studies proof that Crizal A2 smudges less than HC lenses and more wearers find Crizal A2 very easy to clean compared to HC lenses. Crizal A2 was voted the most transparent lens on the market due to it’s anti-smudge and dust repellant properties (wearer study, Sensory Analysis, conducted among 160 spectacle wearers).

The Essilor training program “Total AR” consists of 3 learning modules including Why AR for my patient and my business, Crizal – My AR! and Manufacturing AR. Essilor account managers are rolling out this training now.

Tanya Lane, Product Manager at Essilor states: “The best possible vision solution for our patients is crucial and this always includes an anti-reflection coating.”