ESSILOR ANNOUNCES INDUSTRY CHANGING PROGRESSIVE ADDITION LENSFOR THE FIRST TIME VARILUX PERFORMS CORRECTIVE SURGERY – ON A LENS

DALLAS, TX -- (January 9, 2006) – Essilor of America announced today the launch of two new lenses, Varilux® Physio™ and Varilux Physio 360°™. Varilux Physio leverages a patented new design and manufacturing process to introduce W.A.V.E. Technology: Wavefront Advanced Vision Enhancement™ to progressive lenses. Varilux Physio minimizes and even eliminates the distortions found in even the best progressive lenses today.

“This is the product of years of research and development, and the result is a lens which provides progressive wearers with an unprecedented visual acuity,” said Mike Daley, president of Essilor Lenses. “Varilux Physio is the premier lens that will give presbyopes the ability to see near, far and everything in-between, with the fewest higher order aberrations ever found in a progressive lens.”

“With Varilux Physio and Varilux Physio 360° there are two more options for all eye care professionals to offer their patients,” said Carl Bracy, vice president of marketing for Essilor of America.

Through W.A.V.E. Technology™, Essilor has adapted the wavefront technology used in laser surgery to correct vision by detecting and even eliminating many surface distortions to perfect progressive lenses. For the first time, Varilux engineers can analyze the entire beam of light entering the pupil – not just a single ray – and identify distortion and compensate for it – controlling the quality of the wavefront passing through the lens to achieve optimal acuity. W.A.V.E. Technology uses patented, proprietary software in both lens designs to scan the entire surface of the lens, calculating the targeted optical function for each gaze direction.

Varilux Physio
Varilux Physio is designed for most patients, including those who are new presbyopes and those already wearing Varilux lenses. Through W.A.V.E. Technology, Varilux Physio utilizes a front side design and digital surfacing on the molds. Varilux Physio offers improvements in all fields of vision:
• Distance – Aberrations controlled
• Mid-range – 30% wider intermediate field of vision
• Near – Greater comfort, the most accurate, natural vision
• Low-Light – More contrast and precision, unmatched sharpness

Varilux Physio 360°
Varilux Physio 360° is designed for the discerning patient who wants the most advanced progressive vision, individuals with more complex prescriptions and those who have not adapted to other progressive addition lenses. Varilux Physio 360° offers the ultimate in progressive precision. W.A.V.E. Technology is applied to both the front and back of the lens with 360° Digital Surfacing™, which minimizes distortions and preserves and enhances the effectiveness of the front design. Essilor has developed 360° Digital Surfacing, which combines a patented calculation engine to optimize design, as well as a patented digital surfacing manufacturing process to produce the back side surface of the lens.

“Research indicates that even hard-to-fit wearers adapt easier to Varilux Physio,” said Gilles Le-Saux, research and development optics director of Essilor International. “More than 2,000 wearers have already tested Varilux Physio and approved its superiority versus existing PALs for all visual criteria.”

Varilux Physio and Physio 360° are available to all independent eye care professionals. For more information, please contact your local Essilor sales representative or visit www.varilux.com.

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Varilux, Crizal and Thin&Lite are registered trademarks and Physio, Varilux Physio 360°and DEFINITY are trademarks of Essilor International, S.A. W.A.V.E. Technology: Wavefront Advanced Vision Enhancement and 360° Digital Surfacing are trademarks of Essilor of America, Inc.