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Blue Lights and Bad Guitar

John Carrier, president of Essilor North America, discusses innovation, technology and ECP opportunity.

The following “Industry Insights” installment is an excerpt of a conversation between Scot Morris, OM’s chief optometric editor, and the president of Essilor North America, John Carrier.

What do you feel are the greatest threats or challenges to the eyecare profession?

One of the greatest challenges will be for ECPs to maintain access to the consumers, in terms of both treatment and product selection. This is a challenge in the current sociopolitical environment. Access is going to be the key. ECPs need to take powerful and unified strides to ensure access.

What are the greatest opportunities?

Vision is the greatest opportunity; however, the concept of vision has a very minimal voice in the consumer’s mind. Consumers simply don’t hear enough about it.

Demographic changes that exist in this country present a large opportunity: We have an aging population, which has placed increasingly greater demands on vision. This population is not going to give up on their desire to use technology and access so many things that require excellent intermediate and near vision just because they are advancing in years.

Existing visual technology is currently being underutilized. The prescribing of premium progressives that allow for greater and more comfortable vision across all ranges is being dramatically underprescribed in the current environment. Antiglare technology is utilized in approximately only 40% of all glasses made, photochromic technology in less than 19%, and higher quality materials, like polycarbonate or high index lenses, make up less than 50% of all lenses manufactured.

John Carrier, president, Essilor North America

All of these great visual technologies and their benefits are not reaching the consumers on a large scale. I see the penetration of existing visual technology as one of the greatest opportunities.

Another great opportunity is to utilize technology that not only provides higher precision and accuracy, but also has far reaching benefits to ocular health. For example, with all of the new research on the toxic effects of blue light to the retina, it has become very evident that ECPs need to prescribe technologies, such as back surface UV and blue light-protecting lens polymer technology. Consumers are not aware of the potentially harmful effects of the blue light being emitted by all of their handheld devices, and with this technology, we can help protect their vision for a lifetime.

The profession needs to embrace existing technologies, as well as developing ones.

What ECPs do is increasingly as much about preventative health as it is providing superior visual quality for all of our consumers’ needs.

How can the profession help itself?

The eyecare profession should be more confident in its responsibilities. Eye care is both a medical and retail profession. Very few professions have been enabled and have such great responsibility to diagnose and treat problems, to which they can then sell solutions that both protect and improve such a valuable sense: vision. This is a huge strength. It is very unique to the United States and Canada. In most of the rest of the world, optometry has a much more limited scope.

What does the profession need to do for industry to ensure our mutual survival?

The profession needs to embrace existing technologies, as well as developing ones. Online and mobile technologies are here to stay. They should not be seen as competitive threats. ECPs and the industry need to find a place for mobile technology inside the practice. For example, many retailers already recognize that the consumers’ ability to see and “visualize” themselves in their eyewear is a crucial part of the purchasing pattern. So, try-on technology and imaging technologies should not be seen as a threat, but as a great opportunity to assist consumers in getting what they desire.

What is the most important thing that the profession needs to know about what Essilor is focusing on through the next 12 months?

Innovation and education. The “Think About Your Eyes” campaign is one of our major focuses. This industry is our industry, and vision needs to be recognized and supported at all levels. It is an obvious, but often overlooked or at least taken for granted, ability. Without your vision, your life would be very different. Ask any person who has lost it.

As an industry, we are counting on the profession to present existing innovations to the consumers and, frankly, many times this is not being done well enough. We are also very proud to be able to present lens technology that has health benefits that expands the platform of visual ability, while at the same time improving both the comfort and quality of vision.

There is still a lot of confusion about the technologies available to help consumers. We are focusing on how to communicate, in a simple way, the message about vision and the effects that technology has on both health and vision. This educational process is a slow process but one of the most important things that we at Essilor can do.

What one personal item should the industry know about you?

I am a very bad guitar player. I have a travel guitar that I use with headphones and my iPad when I am traveling. I play a little every day. It brings out my creative side. It is my “daily meditation,” if you will.

Who is your optometrist?

Philip Stiles, O.D., at First Eye Care in Carrollton, Texas.

What was your first job, and what did you learn from it that you can apply to your current position?

My first job, at age 16, was a summer job building chairlifts in the Rocky Mountains. I had just come to the United States, and I was so fortunate because most Europeans who come to America go directly into business or to start their education. I was able to spend an entire summer in a beautiful country with immigrant workers from all over the world. This is where I fell in love with the United States and learned the power of a team and diversity. OM