A lens that adapts to the patient’s visual profile rather than having the patient doing the heavy lifting.
A global lens manufacturer believes it has cracked the numbers and the science to produce just that.
The numbers Rodenstock crunches to produce premium lenses are mind-boggling.
Millions of eyes scanned and analysed as part of its on-going research, in what is believed to be the industry’s biggest optical database, and countless multiple-year studies around the globe.
And it is harnessing all of that and the power of data science and artificial intelligence (AI) to produce something very singular – a unique optical lens custom designed to work for just one person – the wearer.
But the company has taken that a step further with a new lens available to Australian practices and patients in April 2025, called the B.I.G. EXACT Sensitive.
It’s the next extension of a portfolio currently spearheaded by B.I.G. EXACT lenses available to practices with its DNEye Scanner instrument. These lenses alone incorporate more than 7,000 data points of 80 parameters, allowing a biometric model of the eye to be ‘built’ and used to calculate the final lens.
Rodenstock says the new B.I.G. EXACT Sensitive design is based on more than five years of research, the analysis of millions of eyes, two complex wearer trials and a scientific eye-tracking study.
That has all been done to evolve the company’s knowledge and application of individual “visual sensitivity”, a key advance in the new lenses that will provide an even better wearing experience for patients.
And for independent practices it means they can now offer the first spectacle lenses optimised for both individual visual sensitivity and biometry.
Rodenstock has established that visual sensitivity is highly individual and linked to the individual eyes’ biometry.
It developed a Visual Sensitivity Index, which has demonstrated that people with lower visual sensitivity don’t or hardly perceive small changes in vision quality while in those with high visual sensitivity, even slight changes in vision quality can cause disturbances and disrupt vision flow.
As Dr Dietmar Uttenweiler, Rodenstock’s executive vice president innovation, points out: “Biometric lenses are one of the few real paradigm changes in the ophthalmic lens industry of the past two decades.”
But the company’s analysis of biometric data has revealed that 83% of those lenses do not fit the spectacle wearers’ individual visual sensitivity, presenting an area of untapped opportunity.
Visual sensitivity can disrupt a person’s visual flow, says Rodenstock Australia’s professional services manager Mr Alex Rigby.
“Throughout our daily activities, our eyes are constantly receiving input from our environment, and they do so by rapidly shifting focus across different fields of vision,” he says.
“They move rapidly through various viewing fields and directions. In certain areas on the lenses there are distortion and blurred fields, which lead to a decrease in visual acuity and an interruption in the visual flow.”
That can lead to visual issues when transitioning between near and far tasks, causing discomfort; making tasks like navigating through crowds more challenging; and disruption while reading.
“The common thread among these issues is a sense of visual disruption, where the patient feels that something is interfering with their vision,” says Rigby.
He says Rodenstock’s research found these aberrations vary from person to person, depending on the overall characteristics of the individual’s visual system.
“For instance, a person with a higher sensitivity may experience more pronounced blur in certain fields, while someone with lower sensitivity may not notice the same degree of distortion.”
To help fix this, Rodenstock plunged into its industry-leading dataset to develop an advanced AI algorithm that uncovered the correlations and connections, allowing the lens manufacturer to get additional insights into the brain mechanisms of vision and determine the individual visual sensitivity.
Those insights can be gathered from an important piece of Rodenstock technology – its DNEye Scanner, a technology that has become the centrepiece in the retail area of many independent practices in Australia. The device is an aberrometer, topographer, pachymeter, and additionally a tonometer.
While competitors also use measurement devices, no one actually transmits this full set of data directly into the production of the lens. Rodenstock does.
“Once we measure these parameters using the DNEye Scanner along with subjective assessments, we can leverage the AI model to analyse the data,” says Rigby.
That combination of a patient’s unique DNEye scan and Rodenstock’s new research and AI data creates a “more precise and personalised lens design”.
Precise optimisation for each individual
To develop its B.I.G. EXACT Sensitive lenses, Rodenstock has fine-tuned its state-of-the-art biometric lens calculations and collaborated with the University of Applied Science in Munich to study and test the results.
The findings confirmed that the new B.I.G. EXACT Sensitive lenses were more precisely optimised for each individual. Wearers experienced an improved visual performance.
The company states that, for people with high visual sensitivity, the new lens can provide up to 42% larger aberration-free zones, reducing the potential for vision disruptions.
Lenses for these wearers feature smaller, more concentrated aberration fields.
And lenses optimised for people with low visual sensitivity have more evenly distributed aberration fields, offering up to 30% reduced peripheral aberrations and softer transition zones, meaning the wearer will have a more seamless vision flow.
In its trials, Rodenstock found that spectacle wearers strongly preferred the new lenses. On average, they experienced notable improvements, such as 28% better reading flow, meaning the process of reading undisturbed was improved. The participants also reported a 35% improved visual orientation from far to near and from central to peripheral vision.
Rigby says that what sets the new lens technology apart is its ability to “consider not only the biometric data – like the size and shape of the eye – but also the individual visual sensitivity of the user”.
“This results in a truly personalised lens design that adapts to the unique needs of the entire visual system, ensuring improved visual comfort, and more natural transitions between different viewing fields.
“In essence, the lens works with the patient’s eye-brain connection to provide an enhanced, customised visual experience.”
That experience will be available to any practice that uses the DNEye Scanner and Rodenstock lenses.
“Practices already equipped with the current DNEye technology can offer B.I.G Exact Sensitive advanced lens technology without needing to alter their existing procedures,” says Rigby.
That would be a win not only for the practice but also the patient.
“This technology allows practices to further differentiate themselves by offering innovation, while ensuring their patients receive the most personalised level of visual comfort.
“This approach represents a significant advancement in personalised lens design, where lenses are tailored not just to the anatomical measurements of the eye but also to the patient’s unique visual sensitivity.
“Rather than having the patient adjust to the limitations of a standard lens, the lens adapts to the patient’s visual profile.”
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