From the editor
Earlier this year, Optical Prism participated in the
annual Transitions Academy in sunny Orlando, Fla.
Transitions made several announcements at the
event, including the launch of four new style colours
within its portfolio of Transitions Signature GEN 8
lenses. Transitions also unveiled new Transitions
XTRActive Polarized lenses. The launch date for
Canada is still being finalized.
For this edition, we spoke with officials at Transitions
about the technology behind these new products and
what they mean for today’s eye care professionals.
About two-thirds of Canadians wear prescription We have also included our coverage of Transitions
glasses, according to the latest research from The Academy, complete with a variety of photos from the
Vision Council. event.
The organization’s VisionWatch Canada report for the In addition, our assistant editor David Goldberg has
quarter ending Sept. 30, 2019, says while 79.3 per cent spoken to optical companies about the latest and
of Canadians use some form of vision correction, the greatest lens products available for the Canadian
most popular is prescription eyeglasses, with about marketplace as well as the newest lenses to protect the
66.7 per cent of people sporting frames with RX lenses. eyes from the potentially damaging effects of blue light.
That’s slightly higher than the 64.2 per cent of On top of news on lenses, we have included within
Americans who wear prescription eyewear. these pages information about WestGroupe’s new
Canadians also tend to spend more money than their
American counterparts on lenses.
About 8.5 million lenses were sold in Canada over the
past 12 months, with Canadians spending an average
of $225 per pair, about $10 more than Americans.
Single-vision lenses remain the most popular, with
proprietary brand, OTP, as well as some of the frames
available in Canada that feature a hot trend this
season - the beloved colour red.
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53 per cent of Canadian eyeglass wearers purchasing
those lenses. About 31.4 per cent of Canadian
eyeglass wearers have progressive lenses and 15.6 per
cent bought multifocal lenses.
Overall, Canadians spent about $1.92 billion on
lenses in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 2019.
That’s an increase over the roughly $1.89 billion
Denis Langlois,
Editor
spent on lenses in Canada during the same period a
year earlier.
This issue of Optical Prism is focused on the eyewear
lenses available to Canadian consumers.
6 Optical Prism | April 2020
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