Applying neuroscience technology to progressive ophthalmic lens design has led to a breakthrough for Tokai Optical, and it’s giving patients who previously couldn’t wear progressive lenses a whole new outlook.
When a Sydney accountant who had been unsuccessfully attempting to wear progressive lenses for 30 years recently came to see optometrist Mr Daniel Tracton, he wasn’t expecting miracles.
“He had tried to wear progressive lenses, but they had failed because he couldn’t adapt, and as a result, he had been wearing three separate pairs of single-vision glasses for distance, intermediate, and near,” Tracton says.
“As an accountant, he has very particular visual requirements and very intense, visually demanding tasks at multiple distances during his day. He’s meeting with clients, looking at spreadsheets on a computer screen, and profit and loss statements in very fine print. He had been chopping and changing between multiple pairs of glasses, which he found very frustrating.”
Tracton, who opened Tracton Optometrists in Bondi Junction in 2021, recommended the accountant try Tokai Optical’s Neuro Select progressive lens because of its incredibly smooth transition between zones and lack of distortion.
The result was a 180-degree revelation for the accountant.
“He doesn’t wear single-vision lenses anymore. Now he’s got one pair of glasses that suits all his vision needs. In fact, he liked how the lens performed so much, he came back and bought two subsequent pairs of frames, each fitted with the same prescription in Tokai’s Neuro Select range,” Tracton says.
Developed by Tokai Optical, a Japanese company specialising in ophthalmic lenses, in collaboration with NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting, the lens harnesses neuroscience to achieve a progressive lens where any distortion is not recognised by the brain. It has succeeded, particularly for patients who suffer from vertigo or vestibular issues, patients with complex prescriptions, or slightly impaired vision as a result of cataract, glaucoma, or macular degeneration.
Mr Justin Chiang, general manager of Tokai’s Australian base, says the Neuro Select range overcomes a previous challenge with progressive lenses, but is a product not yet well known to the general public.
“Progressive lenses have a structure in which the magnification is progressively changed within a single lens, which results in the characteristic swaying, distortion, and blurring,” he says.
“This leads to a sense of discomfort for the wearer, and in principle, it is impossible to eliminate this distortion. Therefore, the eternal theme for most lens developers has focused on how to develop progressive lenses with minimal discomfort.”
For Tokai Optical’s R&D department, a breakthrough came from an unexpected source, when it learned a brewery was researching the relationship between brain waves and the evaluation of taste.
“Tokai Optical R&D contacted NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting, which had overseen EEG (electroencephalogram) measurement in the brewery’s research program. From there, a system for the joint development of a neuroscience spectacle lenses was started,” Chiang says.
The result was a progressive lens with good merchantability, high quality, and brand power.
“Essentially, Neuro Select progressive lenses are the result of a collaboration between Tokai Optical and NTT Data for applied neuroscience, using brain wave measurement to quantify the sensitivity of subconscious feelings and sensations stimulated by the brain,” he says.
Chiang acknowledges it is impossible to eliminate distortion from progressive lenses but using neuroscience, it is possible to drive the distortion to a level where the brain does not care or is not aware.
After several years of research and development, Tokai Optical released the neuroscience ophthalmic lens to the market, but it didn’t stop there. It has evolved further, with Tokai embarking on joint research with the National Institute for Physiological Sciences (NIPS).
“The new Neuro Select progressive lens product was developed in response to recent changes in visual lifestyles, such as the spread of large-screen TVs, smartphones, and tablet devices. Based on the neuroscience principle, Tokai Optical continues to imply the latest technology available into the design,” Chiang says.
For optimum comfort, patients select from three lifestyle situations – daily, town or home – and from six lens grades, ranging from 3 (basic grade back-surface progressive lens) to 9X (super premium grade double-sided progressive lens).
‘Daily’ provides a clear field of vision when driving or playing sport, ‘Town’ provides a comfortable field of vision during shopping or business errands, and ‘Home’ provides a wide, deep field of vision in the office and at home.
Fewer needles in the haystack
Chiang says Tokai Optical’s neuroscience ophthalmic lenses are a major breakthrough in the field of eyewear.
“By using neuroscience principles, Tokai Optical has been able to develop lenses that are both comfortable and effective. These lenses offer a new level of visual performance, and they are sure to be a popular choice for people who want the best possible vision,” Chiang says.
Tracton agrees.
“There’s been many upgrades in the technology of progressive lenses since they were first commercialised. As each new iteration hits the market, you get vast improvements in the reduction of peripheral distortion, which has been the bugbear of progressive lens wear and has caused issues with adaptation and visual comfort,” he says.
“Over the last few years, freeform progressives have really improved in technology, and this new neuroscience mode of design has really improved adaptation times – the patient adapts quicker, whether they be an existing or a new progressive lens wearer.”
Tracton says there has always been a certain percentage of the population that hasn’t been able to adapt to progressives, such as his accountant patient.
“Finding a solution for a patient who can’t adapt to progressives is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, until this newer technology from Tokai. It’s a good lens for patients with complex prescriptions, oblique astigmatism, prism, high astigmatism, high myopia, hyperopia or combinations thereof,” Tracton says.
He says harnessing neuroscience technology in progressive lens design is a revolution for patients who suffer from vertigo or vestibular issues, who in the past have found wearing progressive lenses problematic.
“There’s been a lot of R&D that’s gone into this product, which has utilised previous generation technology of freeform progressives to improve even further on that technology to reduce peripheral distortion, and more smooth progression from distance to near zones,” Tracton says.
For Tracton, Neuro Select adds another string to the bow in Tokai’s selection of lenses. He and his wife Michelle, the practice operations manager and optical dispenser, toured the Tokai factory in Okazaki in Japan a few years before the pandemic and were impressed with the quality control, lab facilities, R&D and the attention to detail.
“When we set up our practice in Bondi Junction two years ago, our brief was to make the practice stand apart and provide a unique clinical and service philosophy. We wanted to provide the best service and products to the community. Tokai fit the brief for us,” he says.
Tracton Optometrists receive and generate a large volume of referrals to and from some of Sydney’s leading ophthalmologists and believe it is essential to provide premium products for these patients and provide the best clinical outcome for their needs, which at times are highly complex.
“We use a large volume of 1.76 Tokai product in our practice in both single vision and progressives. It is the thinnest resin lens on the planet, available in very few optical outlets. We have become a destination for challenging prismatic correction, and many of our optometry and ophthalmology colleagues refer to us for this mode of optical correction,” Tracton says.
“We have found our patients adapt successfully and quickly to the Neuro Select progressives. Tokai’s specialised coatings and tints are also top tier, enabling us to offer lens specialisations when suitable.”
The practice also has an onsite lens laboratory, which Tracton embedded as a competitive point-of-difference and to enable the practice to provide good service time and quality control.
“We can provide one-hour service with Tokai product we keep in stock. This is very useful, with patients coming in needing spectacles urgently, rather than waiting two to three weeks in the busy periods. We have developed personal relationships with the Tokai team, and they all go above and beyond for those jobs that need extra attention and urgency.”
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