On June 24th, Jim Winnick, OD, headlined day two of UUniversity’s inaugural Photochromic Fest, presenting on how he’s built a successful light-reactive lens business by dispensing from the chair. His presentation was so widely requested, we partnered with UUniversity to pull it from the event and post it here with a full transcript.

In 2019 SunSync Elite revolutionized the light-reactive lens category with its groundbreaking fade-back speed. To illustrate how much faster it was, we shared a video comparing SunSync Elite to the industry’s top-selling photochromic at the time.
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Later that year, the top-selling brand released a new photohcromic with new technology. So, we wanted to see how SunSync Elite stacked up against it. 

Light-reactive (or photochromic) lenses are a great choice for a wide variety of patients and they come with a boatload of benefits. With this in mind, it can be easy to get carried away when recommending them to patients and overpromise. As with any lens, it’s essential to present them accurately and honestly to set the foundation for a better wearer experience. After all, if a patient understands the reason behind a performance characteristic, they’re less likely to perceive it as a product flaw and call you with a complaint…or worse, a redo request.
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With that in mind, here are five photochromic faux pas to avoid when recommending a light-reactive lens to a patient:

Think back to when you were a kid and someone treated you to an outing to the local ice cream parlor. You walk through the doors and are greeted by the sweet smell of 31 flavors and fresh waffle cones. You approach the counter set on a double scoop of Rocky Road, but with your nose pressed up to the glass and an endless array of flavors before your eyes, you’re less confident in your choice. 

The pralines and cream with caramel drizzle looks amazing, the strawberry is always a safe bet, and the neon swirl of color beaming from a half-scooped tub of rainbow sherbet pulls you in yet another direction.
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In the end you stick with your original choice, but as you leave the shop with a taste of Rocky Road in your mouth and a trickle of it racing down the cone towards your knuckles, you wonder if you made the right call.

Everyone likes the idea of getting more. The concept of squeezing as much as possible into or out of anything appeals to the value seeker in us all. McDonald’s® figured this out decades ago when the concept of an ordinary value meal no longer satisfied the masses. “Supersize it” became an instinctive add-on to your order of a “number 3 with a Coke.” After all, a meal’s not a meal without 32 extra ounces of soda and enough fries to fill a Fiat, right?  

But other that an extra helping of calories and a massive sugar crash two hours later, what’ do you get out of adding and adding and adding?  Often, piling on more doesn’t yield much benefit, and can do more harm than good.
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Here’s the point where we connect a value meal to a light-reactive lens.  

Welcome to the third and final installment of our ultimate guide series on light-reactive lenses. In part one we covered standard photochromics before shifting to extra reactive photochromics in part two. In part three we’re going to look at a new and exciting category of light-reactive lenses that only came into existence in October 2018.

If someone were to ask your professional opinion on the perfect lens to enhance with a photochromic, you wouldn’t be alone or incorrect in responding, “progressive, bifocal, or single vision.” With all the benefits of light-reactive lenses, they’re a natural fit for everyday eyewear options. But, there’s another lens type that’s so perfectly suited for a light-reactive enhancement, it’s surprising more eye care professionals don’t utilize it as a fantastic second-pair recommendation.

In part one of this three-part series, we took an in-depth look at standard light reactive lenses . In this second installment, we’ll be covering their extra reactive associates.

The first photochromic lenses appeared in 1964, and quickly drew interest for their unique ability to darken in sunlight and fade back indoors. However, the first generation of photochromic lenses came with cosmetic and functional barriers – two of the largest being that it took them about an hour to fade and they never got fully clear.

Fast forward more than half a century, and the technology has greatly expanded, as have the types of light-reactive lenses available. Reaction speeds, darkness, clarity, and overall aesthetics have all improved greatly, and there are now four different types of light-reactive lenses available: standard, extra reactive, ultra-fast, and polarized.

Light-reactive lenses deliver perhaps the most widespread range of benefits of any lens or enhancement available. From the convenience factor to the visual benefits to the peace of mind of UV and blue light defense, these lenses are a perfect choice for most any patient. But, as is the case in the great balancing act of daily life, there is almost always a yin to the yang.