ESSILOR OFFERS SUITE OF SUNWEAR OPTIONS FOR THE SUMMERTIME
PhysioTints, Flashback, 1.67 Tints and Solaire

DALLAS -- (August 5, 2005) –As summer stretches on, Essilor Laboratories of America (ELOA) are offering four premium prescription sunwear choices to help protect the eyes from harmful ultraviolet rays. The new products complete a suite of sunwear offerings, that now include PhysioTints™, Flashback™ Mirrors, 1.67 Tints and Solaire™, available nationwide immediately.

“Eyecare Professionals are now able to offer a spectrum of premium sunwear products that meet their customers’ needs and demands, whether that is availability on a variety of lens materials or lens options that reflect current styles and fashion trends,” said John Carrier, president of Essilor Laboratories of America. “With new products like PhysioTints and Flashback Mirrors, revolutionary processes were developed to fix problems that prescription sunwear have had in the past, such as quality and durability.”

PhysioTints
In a recent Eyecare Professional survey, participants rated the need of having a prescription tinted polycarbonate lens as 8.6 on a scale of 1 – 10 (with 10 being the greatest need). So Essilor answered this need by introducing PhysioTints. Through an exclusive and revolutionary tinting process, these polycarbonate tints have been specially designed to allow wearers to see colors as they should be seen, giving patients a true and natural color perception. Not only does this new tinting process improve color perception, but PhysioTints are long lasting, durable, and will not crack, fade or peel because Essilor tints the polycarbonate lens and not just the coating on the lens.

With Crizal® Alizé™, the lenses will have the added benefits of AR, superior cleanability, scratch resistance and durability. Ideal for those with light sensitive eyes, they are available from the lightest to the darkest sun-tints in brown, gray, gray-green and black, tint grades 0-3 and there are no power or base curve issues. Additionally PhysioTints offer 100% UVA and UVB protection. These options allow the patient the flexibility to choose the tint to match the style they prefer.

Flashback™ Mirrors
“For the fashion forward, this season’s must-have lens is Flashback™ Mirrors,” said Carrier. All Flashback Mirrors include 100 percent UVA and UVB protection. These lenses have a flash mirror treatment applied to the front side of the lens, which creates the popular mirrored look, but still allows the patient’s eyes to be visible behind the lens. In addition to being stylish, mirrors provide additional comfort and protection for people sensitive to light, beyond the light absorption of tinted lenses. Traditionally, mirrored lenses have been hard to clean and easy to scratch, peel, crack and wear off. Backside AR was always an optional feature. Now, Essilor has developed a super-hydrophobic topcoat on both sides that makes these lenses easier to clean, repels water, dirt, oil and smudges. In addition, all Flashback Mirrors are complete with the systematic TD2® scratch protection that provides diamond-hard scratch resistance on both sides of the lens. Backside Crizal Alizé AR is included and offers greater patient comfort by reducing backside glare and reflections. They are available in brown and black tints with flash mirror colors in gold and silver, and multiple tint grades. Flashback Mirrors can be applied to any lens design and lens material compatible with Crizal or TD2 and come with a two-year warranty.

1.67 Tints
More and more Eyecare Professionals are demanding tint availability on high-index lenses. Consumers too, desire a prescription sunwear solution for their high-index lenses. For the first time ever, 1.67 Tints are combined with Crizal and Crizal Alizé, giving them superior AR performance, cleanability and resistance to dirt, scratches and smudges. 1.67 Tints are ideal for patients who desire a thinner, flatter, no-glare lens that can be worn outdoors. The slow dye tint process ensures consistent color and tint intensity, while eliminating fading and peeling. They provide 100 percent UVA and UVB protection. 1.67 Tints are available in gray, brown and all five grades of tint intensity.

Solaire
Another choice Eyecare Professionals can offer to patients seeking prescription sun tint lenses is Solaire, a stylish lens with a flashy front side that mimics the popular flash mirror appearance. For the first time, TD2 prescription sun tints are available in a polycarbonate. With the patented ColorTect InfusionTM proprietary process in a vacuum chamber, TD2 is now available on polycarbonate lenses and tint color and AR can be applied on the backside of the lens, all in one step. The TD2 coating provides diamond-hard scratch resistance on both the front and back side of the lens with unmatched durability. Backside AR provides better vision with less glare, resulting in greater comfort for patients. The hydrophobic coating also increases the cleanability of the lens. Solaire greatly enhances LiteStyle® and Ultra LiteStyle®, Essilor’s own branded polycarbonates, which provide the light, safe, comfortable, thin, lenses for drill mount frames. These high performance outdoor lenses provide 100 percent UVA protection and are available in Titanium Gray and Chromium Brown.
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Varilux, Crizal, Airwear, and Thin & Lite are registered trademarks and Alize is a trademark of Essilor International, S.A.
TD2 is a registered trademark of Essilor Laboratories of America Holding Co., Inc.
ColorTect Infusion is a trademark of Essilor Laboratories of America, Inc.
LiteStyle and Ultra LiteStyle are registered trademarks of Omega Optical Holdings, Inc.
Ultra LiteStyle SolaireTM is a trademark of Essilor Laboratories of America, Inc.
PhysioTints™ is a trademark of Essilor International, S.A.