HOYA has developed a lens design specifically for patients experiencing the first symptoms of presbyopia, spurring a whole new category that will allow independents to better serve the late-30s to mid-40s age bracket.
Often in life, it’s the grey areas that cause the most trouble. With no clear-cut choices, one can settle for a sub-optimal outcome. Some will rue the decision, while others will accept their situation and move on.
Welcome to the world of the early presbyope, an emerging and burgeoning patient demographic in their late 30s to mid-40s who, according to one lens manufacturer, have largely found themselves stuck without a vision correction solution that adequately meets their needs.
By 2030, millennials (Generation Y) will be the largest consumer demographic. As digital natives, they have grown alongside technological advancements, shaping a deep integration with digital devices. Now, as the oldest millennials enter their early 40s, their visual needs are shifting significantly.
It’s an issue lens manufacturer HOYA has been thinking long and hard about: how can the industry better cater for the current millennial crop when initial presbyopic symptoms set in?
In response, the company has created what it describes as a new lens category – and a potentially lucrative one that bridges an important gap in the lens market today.
Its new VisuPro All Day and VisuPro Flex advanced focus spectacle lenses are coming to Australia and New Zealand in early April 2025.
“The needs of young presbyopes are not being met in the market today, and this is a category designed to bridge that gap, to ensure they’re able to access an advanced lens design specially designed for them,” says HOYA Lens Australia’s training and development manager Mr Ulli Hentschel.
The experience of the early presbyope sits in contrast to that of the fully-fledged presbyope, perhaps someone over 50, who has a raft of progressive lens, contact lens, or refractive surgical options. There’s even an eye drop approved in some countries.
For the early presbyope, the choices aren’t as obvious. With most people now spending an average of eight to 10 hours a day on screens, it may start with new vision challenges such as eye strain, blurred vision, and headaches during close work. It can be insidious, with many not realising the gradual decline in near vision and putting up with it for years.
Eventually, it becomes a source of daily discomfort affecting quality of life.
But once patients come to this realisation, barriers exist. As Hentschel points out, apprehension may creep in about the cost of jumping into progressive lenses, adaption concerns or the perception it’s a sign of aging.
Either way, he says early presbyopes often face a decision that leaves the patient and practitioner dissatisfied. That is, staying in single vision lenses, opting for entry level progressives, or even other options like anti-fatigue glasses.
There’s also the non-spectacle wearer, such as emmetropes, contact lens users, and post-refractive surgery patients, who now require near vision support for the first time. Other than readers, what can they reach for?
VisuPro All Day and VisuPro Flex have been designed with these two patient profiles in mind. And, importantly, they will be offered at a price point that sits between single vision lenses and an entry point progressive.
HOYA’s own research involving 7,043 people found 53% of existing spectacle wearers between 36 to 44 years have increasing problems seeing clearly in the near distance and when using digital devices.
“One of the big challenges in the presbyope market today is the significant jump in cost from single vision to progressive lenses,” Hentschel says.
“Even though they have been wearing glasses for a while and are familiar with the costs involved there can be a tendency for them to choose a more basic progressive lens to make price less of an issue.”
In the same study referenced above, 60% of non-spectacle wearers in the 36 to 44 age bracket have near vision issues with handheld technology.
“This is the other category of people to consider. They have never required glasses at all, or perhaps they’re post-LASIK or have worn contact lenses, but they start realising their arms aren’t long enough to read their phone, or they struggle with the menu in a dimly lit restaurant,” Hentschel says.
“It’s the first time they’re ever considering a pair of glasses, so talking about a pair of progressive lenses can be a shock to the system, especially when these patients would benefit most from a premium design to give them the most natural vision.”
These are some of the challenges HOYA’s VisuPro All Day and VisuPro Flex are trying to resolve.
“It means independents can offer an advanced lens design but it’s pitched at a price point that’s much lower than an entry-level progressive lens.”
And over a long-term horizon, the new lens design can ease the early presbyope into a progressive design when the time is right.
Distinct patient profiles
When the optical engineers at HOYA were developing VisuPro All Day and VisuPro Flex, it was clear two distinct designs would be needed for the existing spectacle wearer and non-spectacle wearer, respectively.
VisuPro All Day, according to Hentschel, is for the classic myope who has required glasses for distance previously but is noticing a mild near vision deficit.
“We needed to create a lens that can work for them, because they are going to be wearing them all the time,” he says.
“It still gives priority to clear, uninterrupted distance vision, while providing an additional, low add in the near zone that supports their needs up close.”
With VisuPro Flex, the design has been varied with the understanding that patients wearing this lens – typically an emmetrope with early presbyopia – won’t be wearing their glasses all the time.
That could include activities like driving, or maybe they’re someone who wears plano sunglasses outside.
“This lens is more tailored to the near zone. It provides wider fields of view at near [compared with VisuPro All Day] and a lesser field view in the distance, but in saying that, these wearers can wear their glasses all day if they wish,” Hentschel says.
HOYA’s Binocular Harmonization Technology (BHT) underpins the design. It considers the prescription for the right and left eyes to “calculate and harmonise the prescription in the lenses for effortless focusing, stability and enhanced depth of vision for all wearers”.
Plus, Focus Max Optimization provides additional vision support at close distance, which the company says allows sharper and more comfortable focus during near distance activities and digital usage. It can also help reduce eye strain or visual fatigue when working with digital devices – a benefit that over two-thirds of young presbyopic patients HOYA surveyed were highly interested in.
One question independent optometrists using HOYA lenses might have is how VisuPro differs from occupational and anti-fatigue lenses?
Hentschel says occupational lenses, such as HOYA’s iD Workstyle 3 product line, are geared towards more mature presbyopes who struggle at their workstations due to the narrow field in their existing progressives. They might require +2.00 D or more, and demand a wider field of view in the near and intermediate, switching back to their progressives once they leave the office.
But VisuPro is more tailored to those with a lower add demand, while still offering a distance power in the lens. Wearers can use them all day – a key difference.
In anti-fatigue lenses, these are configured around the wearer’s distance vision, with a small “boost” in the near zone at the bottom of the lens. Hentschel says these weren’t intended for presbyopes, but for people in their 20s and early 30s struggling with digital eye strain – headaches and sore and dry eyes temporarily – due to a high volume of near work.
“So they’re not actually presbyopic,” he says.
“The new category we’ve created can be thought of as a natural progression, taking those patients wearing anti-fatigue lenses five to 10 years ago – who are now in their mid-30s and early 40s and having issues with the first signs of presbyopia. VisuPro could be the next option that gives them that low add, near vision support.”
VisuPro All Day and VisuPro Flex will become available to Australian independents in early April 2025. HOYA coatings, including its premium Hi-Vision Meiryo Diamond technology, Sensity light adaption and polarisation are all optional extras that can be added to the lens.
Learning modules on the HOYA Learning Centre platform, and additional education will be provided in person when company representatives visit practices.
By bringing the lens into their practice, Hentschel says independents can demonstrate a more personalised service to a patient cohort who haven’t had their needs met adequately.
“Of course, it’s another way for independents to differentiate, but a key point is that it opens the door for practices to say to this age demographic that this is a product specially designed for you,” he says.
“This demographic is the next wave of presbyopes, there’s a huge volume on the cusp. They’re all in the workforce now and so there’s a huge opportunity for both the practice and the patient to get a lens solution they’re extremely satisfied with.”
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