PALS and full time wear

[cinders831]

1. Just because a particular company sells something is no reason to not sell it. That kind of attitude is what Varilux wants you to have; interestingly enough, the chains now have 60% of the business and independents 40%. FYI: it used to be the opposite. Obviously the chains are doing something right, at the cost of the independent.
2. The Natural, Precise, Image, Ovation, and even the Navigator are all good for different people, different situations.
3. According to Dr. Jim Sheedy and the studies done in conjuction with others, the Image is technically the second best lens for multi-purpose wear. (Second only to Shamir Genesis with Essilor/Varilux DOWN the list)
4. I don't like Essilor as a company, what they are doing to this industry, the way they bully independents, the way they dupe naive people into selling for them. However, for the 3-4 patients last year that really would be better off in one of those two lenses, I'm not too proud to use them. I just won't be bought by them the way too many already are. I also will not be bullied into cowaring down to whatever they say.
5. There are a lot of other choices. I use what works. If fit correctly, made correctly, adjusted correctly, and the wearer is trained correctly, most lenses will work. Just ask your Essilor rep- off the record. Any honest person who really knows lenses will tell you. (Mine did 2 days ago, right after I told 'em their products were OK, but certainly not absolute best. The response was "...most current PALs are good, and will work if fit properly, that's true." My point is, and has been, that Essilor fits a place in the market; Essilor is not the market. Essilor fills a need. Essilor is not the need.

Ok, Seriously I am in love. You know how occasionaly you go looking for cards at the crad shop and on a rare occasion you actually find one that says what you've been wanting to hear. Well, there ya go, you did it. I stand along side you on your soap box.

Cindy

[Happylady]

Hey Hipopticial, don't take what I say about your lens choices too seriously, it's just playful banter on my part! :D I was just giving you a hard time cause you gave me a hard time. :)

Really, I also sell the Ovation and Percise sometimes and I even have been known to use the Natural. I agree that most progressives will work with most people if correctly fitted. I for one can wear any progressive that I have tried but that doesn't mean that I don't perfer some.

For example I recently tried the Hoya CD. Now I have worn and liked the Hoya Wide and I understand from the Hoya rep that they have some great new lenses that will be here soon. But the Hoya CD was horrible. I would barely move my eyes to the side and I get lots of blur. Now if this was my only progressive I might just think that was how they were and wear it. I CAN wear it. But I know there are much better progressives out there.

Sometimes when a patient is "happy" with a progressive it is just that they don't know how much better they can be.

I think I have the Image in my sunglasses, they have a Y on them. It's okay, the distance is great and the reading is fine, but it does seem swimmy to me. I know that it rated well in that Sneedy review but it isn't my favorite.

[hipoptical]

To Dd:
It is difficult to get a decent A/R on some products. Some manufacturers use a scratch coat that does not "hold" A/R very well. Most labs that do "in-house" coating do it as a side business. That means they do not test, develop, improve, maintain, or repair. So yes, it is difficult to coat some products, but the main reason is that labs are designed to process lenses, not coatings. I use a company that does all the things I mentioned above. They actually build equipment as well as update them. In 12 years of doing business with them I can honestly say that I have not had any major problems. (I have tried others that would offer better deals, but the quality was not as good.) I process my own lenses and send them to have them coated. I know that you can request your lab use them. Email or PM me and I can give you their info if interested. They do coating only, and are happy to educate anyone as to why they are so good. Essilor is OK, but EXPENSIVE. Theirs is lower priced, and holds on any lens. (Same 2-year guarntee also!)