Its amazing how something so small

0:00[Music]

0:05um

0:06so thank you it's really i gotta tell

0:08you congratulations we're here right

0:11we said we're gonna have live hours so

0:14i'm really happy and excited to be here

0:16today

0:18i did get board certified last year is

0:20anyone else board certified here

0:22oh this is awesome okay so it took me a

0:25while

0:26but i you know i'm very proud to be

0:29board certified

0:30it's more of a credential for me because

0:32i'm not in practice right now but

0:33i uh it's it's where uh where i kind of

0:37started

0:38so maybe it's where i'm gonna finally

0:41retire um but today i want to share with

0:44you um

0:46about unity biosync and the name of this

0:49is it's amazing how something so small

0:51can make a big impact

0:55now we talked about i work for vsp i

0:58work in the optics division for vsp

1:00got my colleague fred up here as well

1:04there's other divisions so i'm not in i

1:06don't know about insurance so if you see

1:08me in the hall don't ask me

1:09but a great company has treated me well

1:13been with him about seven years and

1:16this is where this is the company i i

1:18finish my career with

1:20even you know when things get crazy i

1:23i'm i'm in a good spot so they treat us

1:27very well

1:28i am not although i'm going to talk to

1:31you about a

1:31vsp product today i am not you're

1:35a contact lens consultant i mean i just

1:38kind of got back into it so this is if

1:41you are interested in what

1:42i talk about today this is the person

1:44that i would encourage you to

1:46speak to i have some flyers up here if

1:48you want it

1:49um but this is the person that knows

1:51about the lenses and she's had a whole

1:54career in contact lenses

1:56her name is abby vega really cool lady

1:59does anybody know abby she's been around

2:01for

2:02she said i'm older than her but i don't

2:04think that's true

2:05but for a long time and she knows she

2:08knows the business so she's a great

2:10she covers all of florida she's a great

2:12gal

2:16so i'm from the class of 1985

2:20and if uh you know if you think back

2:23this was the first year that you had to

2:27pass taken past the contact lens

2:30registry exam

2:32ever and

2:35nobody knew what was on that test so we

2:38really studied about contact lenses

2:41super hard

2:42we did everything in school to become

2:44just as

2:45knowledgeable as we can and have a good

2:47pass rate

2:49for the ncle certification that was

2:52required now

2:54and back in those days

2:58contact lenses were very different than

3:00they are now i mean

3:01contact lenses were in vials little

3:04vials

3:05and we had to check them does anybody

3:07else have to do that like

3:09it was baffled how do you check a soft

3:12lens

3:13on a lensometer but we figured all that

3:15stuff out and you had to

3:17disinfect them and you know there were

3:19trials in there you had to clean them up

3:22it was a very different world there was

3:24a lot of confusion about what solution

3:26to use

3:27and what to put in your eye what to put

3:29in the case what do you clean them with

3:31and of course

3:32you know we learned all that and then

3:34went out and trained people

3:36but they were having a hard time getting

3:38as a very

3:39it's like chemistry right we really had

3:41to

3:42train patients well and there was this

3:46stuff

3:46called thimerosal which i have yet to

3:48find again

3:49on the market which is good because it's

3:51a preservative that they put in the

3:53solutions and lots of people were

3:56allergic to this stuff so it would turn

3:58eyes red so and people were making their

4:01own saline

4:02that's crazy right distilled water and

4:04salt tablets and that type of thing so

4:06just just to have it cheap

4:10and we were teaching them to do that so

4:12and then hand washing

4:14really wasn't a big thing back then you

4:16had to make people wash their hands

4:18this is one good thing that will come

4:19out of our situation now

4:22and then we also had i don't know a

4:24fashion

4:25aspect right to contact lenses

4:28these crazy colors that people would

4:31want to come in and try these on and

4:34look in the mirror to see how they

4:35looked with purple eyes or red eyes

4:38and wow it was just it was a rough time

4:43so it's you know it was hard work when i

4:47graduated i

4:48my first job was running the contact

4:51lens room

4:53and that meant

4:56training all these people uh as i recall

5:00young boys were the worst for inrs

5:03just did they wanted contacts but they

5:05didn't want to put anything in their eye

5:06which is sort of

5:08a struggle and um

5:11so i they found out

5:14at my employer that i uh that i had this

5:17certification so they stuck me right in

5:19the contact lens room

5:21where i learned to work with patients

5:24and we had all kinds of red eyes

5:26remember acanthamoeba do we still have

5:28that

5:29that's i hope not solution allergies

5:33hypoxia

5:35i myself had an ulcer on my eye for a

5:37short time

5:39because i was trying on so many lenses

5:41and i thought oh i have a little dot

5:43there and had that checked out so there

5:45was just all kinds of eye problems going

5:47on

5:48and it wasn't fun a lot of it wasn't fun

5:51so

5:52uh i worked in there and trained

5:55technicians and

5:57clean contact lenses and worked closely

5:59with the doctors and

6:01we just had many many problems coming

6:03through there

6:04about 1987 a few years later

6:07we started to see manufacturing changes

6:10and that's when some of the content

6:13major

6:14contact lens manufacturers came out with

6:17disposable contact lenses now the vials

6:21you'd pay

6:22a lot of money for it and you'd do

6:23everything that you could do to make

6:25that lens last as long as possible

6:27so people had that in their mind the

6:29doctors and the fitters

6:31and the uh and the patients but wow

6:34what an idea you could throw them away

6:36you could dispose of your lenses and

6:38that way you'd have

6:40um you know a healthy eye right you

6:43wouldn't have an

6:43old lens sitting on there so that you

6:47would be safer there was different

6:49modalities that

6:51i was hearing about you well what was

6:52the difference between throwing them

6:54away in a month or two weeks

6:56um you know one week you know so if you

6:58were prescribed one week did you get a

7:00different lens

7:02did or did you just stretch that out a

7:04little bit right

7:05and so it was really not that clear what

7:08these products were but

7:10they were consistently manufactured and

7:12it was kind of

7:13up to the doctor to tell the patient

7:15you're going to do this

7:17so it was healthier for the eye and but

7:19it was expensive

7:21you know because they weren't cheap none

7:23of the contacts were cheap

7:25so you know you hoped for patient

7:27compliance

7:29but you didn't get that because people

7:31would stretch it out

7:33i'll keep it i'll just keep watching it

7:34you wouldn't tell anybody

7:37so it started to deposit and make make

7:40the guys read again so we never really

7:42the reason that they were introduced in

7:44the market back then was for the health

7:46of the eye and make things

7:47easier but in reality it didn't really

7:50make things easier there was too much

7:52confusion

7:53back before the hipaa laws the reps used

7:56to go in the exam lanes

7:58and work side by side with the doctors

8:00let me show you how to fit this lens in

8:02this lens

8:03and they still we all still struggled

8:06with it what have i got who

8:07what am i doing so now

8:10after struggling with that for a while

8:14this is when i more or less exited

8:16contact lenses

8:17this is 1990 it was only about five

8:20percent of the market

8:21the disposables so most of the

8:25people were still in the vials it wasn't

8:28being

8:28adopted very well by by the market or by

8:32the doctors and

8:33so we still had the the rigid lenses the

8:36pmma lenses and the gas pumps

8:39but the disposables were just creeping

8:41along

8:43lack of confidence in the lenses

8:47so finally we got

8:50daily disposables daily disposables

8:54showed up in 1995.

8:57and i remember i wasn't in the contact

8:59lens room at that time but i was i

9:01kind of moved on to dispensing and

9:04management and training and other things

9:06like that

9:07but everybody came together when the

9:10launch of daily disposables happened it

9:13was very exciting time the manufacturers

9:15couldn't wait to tell you about it

9:17you know you can throw them away every

9:19day and we have new materials

9:22and there was a lot of uh different

9:25thing

9:25you could actually throw your torex away

9:27every day

9:29who would who would do that very again

9:31very costly

9:32so we started to get some traction back

9:36then or the

9:37those lenses started to get some

9:38traction and the consumers of course

9:41started to slowly figure it out but

9:44there was still some problems with

9:45wearing schedules and it's just again

9:49still a struggle so it took a long time

9:53but finally as the lens materials

9:56developed to get better

9:58and we got better at understanding them

10:01and what to tell people and how to

10:03advise them

10:04and scare them a little right so that

10:07they really did throw them away

10:10by the time 2005 rolled around

10:13now we're starting to get some traction

10:15also young people

10:17are mainly the ones that wear contact

10:18lenses and that

10:20population is starting to grow so

10:2427 million uh wares

10:27so now we're starting to see it happen

10:30and in 2019 this is the latest

10:33information

10:36soft contact lenses um have are the

10:39fastest growing category

10:41of all optical products it's still low

10:44it's a

10:45you know 4.7 growth over the past year

10:48though

10:49it looks like it's going to start to

10:52escalate and i think

10:54you know from what i read and when i as

10:56i talk to

10:57experts that have been for the ride all

10:59the way along

11:00the reason is these daily disposables

11:04and we're starting to see

11:07that become the popular lens

11:11i haven't seen too many people carrying

11:14around the vials

11:16and the case itself became a problem

11:18because

11:19your your lenses might be clean and then

11:21people would put them in a dirty case

11:24that didn't work you know but the

11:26bacteria would grow

11:28on it so we're watching this

11:31number so again i work for vsp

11:34we have pro we primarily deal with

11:37private

11:38doctors in private practice

11:41and we're trying to to take a look at

11:44that segment

11:45see what's going on and that's

11:49you know what what we're going to try to

11:51do with our products is bring them more

11:53value

11:54and bring more safety to our patients

11:57so and from 1987 which is basically when

12:01disposables were introduced there was

12:04900 000

12:05contact lens wars in the whole us and

12:08now

12:08this year we're looking at 54 million

12:12that's a lot of lenses and the material

12:16has advanced the lens material itself

12:19we've we've gone to silicone hydrogel

12:23and

12:24about three out of four of those soft

12:27lens fits

12:28are silicone hydrogel i want to tell you

12:29a little bit about that

12:31material and then of those 50

12:34are those daily disposable so it's

12:36clearly this is the

12:38modality that's going to be going into

12:41the future

12:42it's the most accepted the least work

12:44the safest

12:46we've had basically just a contact lens

12:48explosion

12:50everybody is into it now um you know

12:53these are just some that i pulled

12:55off the internet but you just type in

12:58google

12:58and so many will come up and again

13:02i'm sorry to say there's some confusion

13:06what have i got in my hand who made it

13:10how do i use it even doctors are still

13:12like which is better

13:14should i try this one should i try that

13:16one and there's of course

13:17the sales aspect of that that you know

13:19people are trying to get you to try

13:21their new lens

13:23some things you never even heard of you

13:25know with the hubble lens and

13:27i actually saw i had i couldn't find it

13:29again to put it on the slide but

13:31there's a ray-ban contact lens like what

13:35it's not really a ray ba it's been it's

13:37branded ray-ban obviously

13:39but it's not sold in the us

13:42so with this explosion we've we've still

13:45got a situation

13:47that we have to deal with but it's a

13:48different situation

13:52we look at where people get their eyes

13:54examined

13:55primarily and this is all from the

13:57jobson research this is not

14:00esp's research but so where do they get

14:03their exams

14:04and then where do they buy their

14:05contacts so of the 116 million exams

14:11about 70 percent uh

14:14go to an independent an independent eye

14:16care professional

14:18and the other 30 go to retail so because

14:21as you know there's

14:23you know perfectly good doctors in

14:24retail settings

14:26so that equates to material sales

14:30and that's 5.4 billion dollars in retail

14:34sales

14:35that's a lot right everybody wants a

14:37piece of that that's the materials

14:39itself

14:40the exam is one thing and then you have

14:42the material cost

14:44so the interesting thing is if you're

14:47a retail doctor and you're fitting

14:49contact lenses

14:51your patient is probably going to stay

14:53with the retailer and you

14:55they're going to buy the contact lenses

14:56that you prescribe

14:58from that retailer and sometimes they

15:00also buy it from the

15:03internet site for the retailer

15:06because everybody kind of has that now

15:08right so that means

15:10that the lion's share of the contact

15:13lenses

15:14are sold within retail stay within

15:16retail

15:18but for the independents it's

15:21there's a loss so

15:24they lose they only make up 39 of that

15:28so and then there's the online so

15:30there's a disconnect between the doctors

15:32and

15:33independents their their patients want

15:35to go they want to go outside and

15:37go buy them somewhere else and

15:40you know that's for a variety of reasons

15:42it might be availability it might be

15:44they heard advertising

15:45there's not might not be a good system

15:48in place i mean

15:49it's not necessarily about the doctor

15:53that's a problem but they just it's more

15:55convenient to go out there

15:57so there's a demand

16:00it's a it's people that are just going

16:03and saying hey i can

16:04i can shop around so congress gets

16:06involved

16:08back in 2003

16:11and they come up with a fairness to

16:15contact lens consumers act

16:19so this means that your patients

16:22have certain rights and back when i

16:25first started the

16:26contact lens prescription kind of was

16:28held by the doctor

16:29you know you want more contacts you're

16:31going to come back in

16:33now the government says no no you have

16:36to give that

16:37contact lens prescription to the patient

16:40and let them shop around

16:41for a better price sounds safe

16:44except i don't know if congress really

16:47fully understands some of the eye

16:48problems that come when you don't have

16:50supervision but

16:52so you had to write to get a copy of

16:54your rx and then you had to

16:56the doctor had to finalize it and you

16:58had to hand them a copy

17:00so what what that is is that creates new

17:03rules so a little bit later the ftc

17:05comes out

17:06and says okay well we're gonna put some

17:09more rules in this

17:10we have this contact lens fairness act

17:14but we're gonna add a couple little

17:16things in there this is again

17:18back in 2004 so quite a while ago and

17:21whether or not your patient requests it

17:23or not the doctor has to give them

17:25or the fitter i'm going to say that now

17:28i'm not sure who's fitting in here but

17:30the prescriber has to give them a copy

17:34and whether they ask for it or not so if

17:37i didn't ask for it you're still handing

17:38me here's your contact lens prescription

17:40don't forget it as you're walking out

17:42the door

17:43and in addition to that they

17:46changed or made the rule that it doesn't

17:49have to be directly to the patient

17:51so a designated person can

17:55request a copy of the prescription it

17:58doesn't even have to be an eye care

17:59professional at this point

18:01just somebody that the patient said yeah

18:03give have them

18:04give them my prescription it's okay so

18:07the prescription starts to escape and

18:09jump over the fence right it gets out

18:12out there and the doctors were not happy

18:15and they tried to change that and it

18:16didn't work

18:18so they really can

18:22they really had to do it but a lot of

18:24patients weren't aware of that

18:26rule um so

18:30they until they started seeing this

18:33you can get your contacts anywhere

18:37so i have to look a little closer here

18:40to read them but you got warby parker

18:43dalys.com contacts direct

18:46big one is one 800 contacts and

18:50contact lens king i don't know about

18:53that one

18:54and then let's see i have on here uh

18:57lens.com contact lens

19:02and i said contact lens dough jet lenses

19:05i don't know what that is but

19:06i also saw walgreens sells them right

19:10in cvs and walmart

19:13all of these places so people are

19:16starting to say hey

19:18here's all this advertising i want my

19:20contact lens prescription

19:22these companies are starting to evolve

19:25and they can call your doctor or

19:27notify your doctor and say hey give me a

19:30copy

19:30of that prescription this really i

19:34i really heavily noticed this during

19:37when covid first happened i mean we were

19:40bombed

19:40did you notice we were bombarded with

19:43contact lens online contact lens

19:46commercials on tv get your contacts and

19:49a lot of that was 1-800 contacts they

19:52have the biggest advertising budget

19:55so we saw this big spike and everybody

19:57was like whoa i better get my contacts

19:59and

19:59we were all closed or maybe open

20:03for emergencies and

20:06so while we weren't even paying

20:07attention in private practice

20:11the sales went up online

20:14and i just wonder if that

20:18people will you know now that they've

20:20done it it's not that hard right and

20:22things worked out because you make

20:24a phone call or send it in they'll

20:27they'll do the work for you

20:28they'll call your doctor oh doctor's

20:32closed well we can make this work

20:34you're the designated business so that

20:36they can call

20:38and that's what they did

20:41and in june now we've got

20:44another ruling and i can't help but

20:47think that

20:48maybe some groups are behind this right

20:51the ftc puts a few more roles in place

20:54right now i don't think they've taken

20:56effect yet

20:57but they will soon you have to

21:00the doctor has to give you or your

21:02delegate the contact lens prescription

21:04right

21:05so you have to do that now within 40

21:08hours

21:0940 business hours so if you're closed

21:13for covid or for the weekend or for

21:17you know whatever time they call in then

21:20you've got the the clock is ticking and

21:23then

21:24there's certain rights given to these

21:26online

21:27companies so prescribers again are

21:30required

21:31now required to confirm that you sent

21:34that off

21:36you have to make a electronic record of

21:38it this is a lot more

21:39processing and paperwork for everybody

21:42but it proves that you

21:43that you did that um and

21:46the rule prohibits that the the

21:50i'll just say online entities cannot

21:52alter the prescription

21:54but they may substitute

21:57can't alter what they could substitute

22:00so that was kind of curious

22:03what does that mean a substitution so

22:06anytime there's a contact lens brought

22:09to market by these companies

22:11they have to file what's called a 510 k

22:14it's a

22:14you know a document a dossier it's this

22:17piece of paper that says here's the

22:19technical information here's the safety

22:21information here's the performance

22:23information

22:24to support all these claims and that

22:27takes

22:27a lot of time and it costs money

22:31and look how many contact lenses there

22:33are out there

22:35so the government actually said whoa

22:38whoa

22:39this lens that you somebody just

22:41submitted is

22:42quite a bit like this other lens that

22:44we've already approved

22:46so we can

22:50ride along i guess that that's sort of

22:52the term they can ride on that

22:54other other lens 510k

22:57so if you have two branded lenses

23:00they're the same you don't have to file

23:02a 510k

23:03that's kind of convenient right that's a

23:05little bit less money so

23:10these companies that go out of their way

23:12to pay all that and have all that filed

23:14and everything

23:15sometimes have another one that

23:18they can substitute for in a different

23:21package

23:22so the lens i'm introducing you to today

23:25is the

23:25has its own unique 510k

23:29it's totally

23:32its own entity and because it's new

23:37um people aren't aware of this so that's

23:38one of the things i wanted to at least

23:40call to your attention

23:42so unity biosync is a premium

23:46daily disposable it's actually we only

23:48have one design going on right now but

23:50things are rolling out

23:52that require their own 510k and we're

23:55doing the work and

23:56spending the money silicone hydrogel

23:59which is

24:00arguably the safest type material

24:03it has hydra mist i'll show you that in

24:05a moment and it's competitively priced

24:07so

24:07that sounds like every other lens out

24:09there just why would

24:11why does especially an insurance company

24:13why the heck would we introduce another

24:15lens to all those lenses

24:17well here's why we're committed not to

24:20sell this at any retail store so

24:23as you might you may or may not know we

24:24have vision works

24:26that we brought on board and there's

24:29reasons for that but

24:30that's it's not going to be sold in

24:32vision works right it's not going to go

24:34in that

24:35it's not going to be sold online not on

24:37our online not on

24:38any online and it's reserved for our vsp

24:42doctors

24:43so because of the 510k there's no

24:46substitutions

24:47so what we're doing is bringing

24:49something that the doctors can have the

24:51bsp doctors the private independents

24:53that have been pretty much

24:55raked out right for product an

24:58opportunity to fit a high

25:00a good quality lens and not worry about

25:02it getting away from them

25:04and this is you know a lot of the first

25:06thing you think of is revenue

25:08oh good you get to sell more but it's

25:11really also about patient care

25:13so there's no other lens out there to

25:16date

25:16that has these qualities built in so

25:19these are the programs

25:21we wanted to do something with this

25:24particular product because it has the

25:26easiest regimen and it has the most

25:29compliance so

25:3188 compliance rate for those people they

25:33actually buy it

25:35wear it and throw it away at the end of

25:38the day

25:39versus the monthlies and the weeklies

25:41where you have still people trying to

25:43hold on to those for a little longer

25:45than they should

25:47so this is the difference it's not the

25:49lens

25:50per se there is a little bit of we have

25:52a little bit of um

25:53interesting solutions going on but it's

25:56really to try to give

25:58a little control back to the private

26:00independent

26:01and to calm down all these incidents of

26:03eye problems that are happening is

26:05it all gets out there you don't even

26:07know you can renew your prescription one

26:09month before it re

26:10expires and get it for another year and

26:13you may have an eye infection and

26:14nobody's even looked at you

26:16and that's dangerous and so those are

26:20problems for the population as well

26:23so when we're looking i want to just

26:25review a couple of things

26:27in case you um haven't looked at this in

26:30a while but

26:31the material characteristics of

26:34soft contact lenses we're looking at

26:38water content now there's still these

26:40hydrogels which are even daily

26:43disposables

26:44hydrogel and then there's silicone

26:46hydrogel right

26:48water content plays heavily into the

26:51hydrogels

26:52which were the earlier ones a little bit

26:54less expensive

26:55type design the water content is how

27:00you judge it right yeah it's going to be

27:02a high water content lens

27:05or with sci-hi it's a lower content and

27:08then the surface charge has to do with

27:10attracting deposits onto the surface of

27:13the lens

27:14oxygen permeability is the material

27:16itself

27:18and its ability to absorb that oxygen

27:20and hold it

27:21and then transmit it that's the

27:23transmissibility

27:25and then how that lens is biocompatible

27:28with

27:28the human eye the modulus

27:31is about uh stiffness you know

27:35if you have have you ever handled a high

27:36water content lens

27:38you'll notice it's kind of drooping all

27:40over your fingers and it's hard to

27:41handle especially if it's not a high

27:43power

27:43so the modulus is about the stiffness

27:46and handling

27:47and structure and being able to hold the

27:50structure

27:51and then wettability and basically

27:55being hydrophobic or

27:59hydrophobic and i get it hydrophilic

28:03so soft lenses and again that kind of

28:06back in the history

28:07high water content was the way we

28:10addressed

28:11oxygen transmission but the hot and the

28:14higher the

28:15water content the more oxygen does

28:17transmit h2o

28:19but it also counter-intuitively

28:23uh dehydrates quicker and the reason is

28:26it's like a little sponge

28:28that gets starts if when it starts to

28:30get dried out if you're in air

28:31conditioning or just

28:33from the wind and environments it starts

28:35uh needs water to

28:37keep its space so it starts stealing it

28:39from the tears

28:40so it's actually soaking up the tears to

28:43keep hydrated

28:45so at the end of the day or throughout

28:47the day you get that

28:48you know dry feeling you have to add

28:49drops

28:52a silicone hydrogel which is a

28:54combination

28:55is innate by all by itself innately

28:59very oxygen transmission high on oxygen

29:02transmission

29:03and it's much less prone to drying out

29:06on the eye

29:07it's actually hydrophobic but

29:10it tends to be very uncomfortable so

29:14there's always this balance going on

29:16between materials

29:17you have oxygen permeability and comfort

29:21you know those are two variables that

29:23kind of offset

29:25and so if you have

29:29discomfort which half of the people that

29:32wear contact lenses report being

29:34uncomfortable at some point during the

29:36day a lot of times it's later in the day

29:39and then they drop out and that was

29:41honestly me when i was a young person

29:43i wore um my contacts instead of my

29:46glasses all the time i over wore them

29:48and i

29:48did everything that you know young

29:50people do

29:51and then i had to drop out i just

29:53couldn't do it anymore so

29:54glass as it is and i actually shifted my

29:57interest

29:58more to lenses to spectacle lenses

30:02so this oxygen transmission is really

30:05really critical because you're putting

30:07something on your eye

30:09and so you need to make sure that it it

30:12stays

30:13healthy through oxygen transmission so

30:16we have you probably are familiar with

30:18dk

30:19values that's the dk value is the

30:21diffusion

30:22of oxygen the d and then the k

30:26is really a bad speller it stands for

30:28the constant

30:29like how does that work through um as a

30:32constant through the material itself

30:35and then the thickness so dk over t is

30:38what

30:38is the what we look at so how thick is

30:41it because if it's thicker

30:42you wouldn't have as much oxygen they

30:44measure that at the center

30:46and then this is kind of the gold

30:47standard for measuring safety and

30:50comfort for your health for your cornea

30:54so the unity biospecs

30:58biosync specs are we have one lens right

31:01now

31:03it's a 8 8 14 1

31:06and we're cut we're going to have more

31:09we're going to have an eight

31:10five coming sometime later this year but

31:14uh we've gotten feedback that that

31:16doesn't that's not the right base curve

31:18and that's not

31:18but our modulus has some different

31:20things going on with

31:22uh how the structure is this lens is

31:25actually

31:26fits the mainstream bell curve which

31:29we were grateful for but

31:32we're going to bring an 8-5 to bear too

31:35so you have your

31:36flatter corneas but it actually fits my

31:39eye very well i'm

31:40i'm a medium penicornia 44-45 i forget

31:45what it is

31:45i haven't measured it lately but but i

31:48have these on my eyes i've had these on

31:49my eyes and they're very comfortable

31:52but there will be some more coming we

31:53have something called hydra mist

31:55which i'll show you and then

31:59the core water content is low

32:02so in the 40s would be low and then

32:04you're going to get into this

32:05low 70s that's considered high water

32:07content

32:08but ours is very low because of silicone

32:11hydrogel

32:12so it's that's a good thing um we have

32:15one of the highest d

32:16k over t's 150 is our dk over t

32:20for this um the modulus and the

32:22visibility tint

32:24they're very good very good structure

32:26for handling so it's

32:29easy to handle and see the color

32:33but it's all about the tear film when it

32:35comes to health but also comfort

32:38so the the oily layer that's on the

32:41outside

32:42[Music]

32:44you know can prevent everything from

32:47evaporating on your eye so we have a

32:49really nice

32:50lipid layer outer most layer things are

32:54good everything is protected in the tear

32:55layers

32:59but contact lenses or some contact

33:01lenses tend to disrupt that

33:03lipid layer that's kind of etching

33:06around on it and then that

33:08starts to cause friction you start

33:10blinking you get

33:11friction and then that starts to affect

33:14everything

33:15under it including the mucin layer which

33:17is right against the eye

33:18and you start getting swelling and

33:21redness

33:22and itchiness and just it's just

33:26totally uncomfortable so what we want to

33:29do is not interfere with that

33:31now if we go back to the gas permeable

33:34permeable days

33:35if anybody was around working with

33:37contacts then

33:38we had something called hydra peg does

33:41that ring any bells for anybody

33:43hydra peg it was a coating that's put on

33:46top of the gas permeable lens to make it

33:48more suitable

33:49for this tear film so when you put them

33:52in it because i mean think about it's

33:53rigid right so you

33:55could get a lot of disruption but

33:57tangible science

33:59has invented this and they they've been

34:02around for a long time so

34:03people that work with contacts a lot

34:05really know that name

34:07but it would it was applied to the gas

34:09perm lens

34:11and that would make it slippery

34:14lubricity is slipperiness and

34:16and you'd get more uh tear film

34:19stability on that product

34:21so hydra mist which is the fluid that's

34:23on our silicone hydrogel was adapted

34:26from that

34:27bsp went to tangible science and said

34:29hey what do you got for soft lenses and

34:31they said no nothing but let's

34:33figure it out and they adapted that

34:36product

34:37now to be suitable for the silicone

34:40hydrogel

34:42and it makes it more wettable more

34:44comfortable

34:45because again sci-high is very

34:47uncomfortable

34:48by nature so we adapted it

34:52from the rigid lathe cut lenses and put

34:55it into the

34:56packages so in the manufacturing process

34:59hydra mist is

35:00embedded or bonded to the lens itself

35:03and then

35:04included in the packaging which is how

35:05it's done it's nothing

35:07really that innovative but the lens is

35:09setting in there

35:10soaking in there and stays in there so

35:13this is

35:14this is really important because you

35:16want you want it to

35:17not wear off right or you know just be

35:21temporary

35:22now the beauty of this is these are

35:24daily disposables

35:26so every day you put in a fresh new lens

35:28you're getting that

35:30all over again you're not trying to make

35:32it last

35:34so um here's i think uh this

35:37video here we've got an um this is

35:39tangibles

35:40videos you've got an uncoated lens it's

35:43hydrophobic

35:44which is great if it's a spectacle lens

35:46not so much on a contact

35:48and then you start to see the wetting as

35:51it drips down the wetting angle of that

35:54so that's with the height this is

35:55actually hydra peg because

35:57that's where they have the videos of but

35:59this is how it's

36:00also done on the soft lenses

36:04and then here's the wet ability

36:07so this is about spread

36:11how is it spread out with your tears on

36:13top of it

36:14so uncoated silicone not good gonna

36:17kind of bead up and this get is draping

36:20over the lens

36:24and then we have water retention you

36:27know how

36:27how does it evaporate off your eye or

36:29does it stay on there

36:31um so there's on the right there i don't

36:32know why this guy keeps touching that

36:34lens

36:35but i guess he's trying to see how it's

36:37starting to evaporate off the uncoated

36:39lens

36:40so it's really starting to create a

36:42surface that's super comfortable

36:48and then on the eye this is the uncoated

36:50lens

36:51and it's very irritating as you blink

36:53across

36:54and then this is with the hydropeg hydra

36:57mist

36:59much much smoother surface

37:06this is about deposits so the lens

37:08getting deposits that

37:10surface charge or just fat uh the fat

37:13layer

37:14starting to break up and deposit on the

37:16surface of the lens you don't really

37:17have

37:18a deposit issue with this once

37:21once you get the hydromester hydra peg

37:24on there

37:25and so this is they have something

37:26called plasma i think that's unique

37:28to rigid gas perms because i'm not

37:30familiar with that is but

37:32that didn't work so good but it really

37:34um

37:35you know when you put the hydra mist on

37:38there that takes care of the deposits

37:40so you're really now getting the best of

37:41both worlds remember you got a healthy

37:43lens and you've got a comfortable lens

37:45um and you've got the the added benefit

37:48of just

37:49throwing it away at the end of the day

37:52and a high compliance rate to that

37:54just like get it get it off my eye you

37:56don't need solutions you don't need a

37:58case

37:58you don't need anything right you just

38:01pack and go

38:03so it's got it's got a lot it's been

38:05thought through very very well

38:07like a lot of the other lenses in the

38:10market

38:10so there's some top lenses out there

38:14we did do comparison studies you're

38:17going to have to invest a lot of money

38:18especially if you have your

38:19own 510 k and all the research so we did

38:23all the clinical research

38:25i don't personally know these people but

38:27their top

38:28known to be top in clinical research

38:31particularly

38:32robin chalmers there so we did

38:35a typical scientific

38:38clinical research and

38:42then we tested against these particular

38:45products because they're sci-high and

38:47they're high quality

38:48they're the leaders in the market for so

38:50it's kind of

38:51testing it how do we compare against the

38:54best

38:55not just the next lens in line so

38:59accu-view moist activate oasis and

39:02dailies total

39:03so arguably the best so the conclusions

39:07just to cut to the chase were there

39:09really was no significant

39:11difference when we did the trial

39:15between which one a patient preferred

39:18which one do you prefer

39:19you know it was pretty pretty much all

39:21you know and they were it was randomized

39:23so they were trying different

39:24lenses the patient didn't know what they

39:27were wearing

39:28the doctor did obviously just to keep

39:31keep track of it so there was no

39:33difference in comfort to these lenses no

39:35difference in dryness

39:36good visual acuity just no significant

39:39differences

39:40so that gave us the green light we were

39:44like okay we can go with this

39:46product because it's up against the best

39:48it's not going to be

39:49better but it's going to be right there

39:51with them so we

39:53gave us the green light that's when we

39:54started working with the manufacturers

39:56of the lenses and

39:58developed it and i wasn't a part of that

40:00process but

40:02my boss now was and this is his

40:05project so i've learned quite a bit

40:07listening to him i thought the business

40:08side of it was quite interesting

40:11and i wanted to make sure you got a

40:13glimpse of that because it kind of

40:14caught me off guard

40:16now we have we have a complimentary

40:19fit kit for the vsp doctor if they want

40:22to try to do this

40:25so it's you know it's a starter kit but

40:28i found out what do you think this would

40:30have cost

40:31back in 1987 when they were introducing

40:34these disposables

40:36and they were coming to the office

40:37doctor knocking on the door doctor you

40:39need to try this

40:41they were not free they were

40:44uh 2500 back in the

40:48back in the day that was a lot of money

40:49you had to buy into this back then

40:52now it's so popular and we're

40:55giving it complimentary we want to just

40:58get you

40:58started with it so that's another big

41:01change in how

41:02doctors didn't really or don't have to

41:04invest quite so much

41:06here's the typical fit kit i don't

41:09really know that much about it but i

41:11understand that there's rooms full of

41:12fit kits

41:14out there collecting dust or just

41:17moved around but one of the things that

41:21we've done is we've made it a little

41:23easier to find things by printing off

41:26across the top as opposed to having to

41:29pick things up i guess that was kind of

41:30irritating i don't know i had

41:32didn't have to do that myself but um and

41:34then of course there's the

41:37usual marketing stuff so the doctor

41:41has these things in in the office

41:43different materials

41:45they can talk to the patient about why

41:48they might want

41:49why they're a good candidate for this

41:51and why the doctor or the fitter is

41:53going to choose this lens for them

41:56so a website

41:59a rebate program if you don't have a

42:01rebate program nobody even wants to look

42:03at it because that's the thing now

42:05you know a patient gets a rebate doctor

42:08gets a rebate and all that

42:10so the name of this presentation is how

42:13could something

42:14so small make an amazing difference and

42:18i was thinking about that a little bit

42:20like what is it that's such a big deal

42:22but so the lens itself is really really

42:25super good

42:27for the patient they don't have to give

42:29up anything they can use of course they

42:31can use their insurance benefits along

42:32with their

42:33hsa fsa with care credit all those

42:36things

42:37that would be available to any other

42:39product

42:40but and their eyes gonna be healthy and

42:42comfortable it's a step up for some

42:45because they're they're in the hydrogels

42:47and not the silicone hydrogels

42:49and you get them from your doctor and

42:52your doctor

42:52knows your eyes because they're looking

42:54at them pretty close and

42:56all they understand your history and

42:58keep that

42:59so you're getting consistent care and

43:01monitoring i think people love the

43:03convenience of it but they don't know

43:04what else to do they're getting

43:05bombarded with

43:06advertising so they're like i'll try

43:08that then they might get a substitute

43:11that's similar and then they start oh

43:13well i guess it doesn't matter which

43:14lens i wear it's very confusing

43:17for the consumers or the patients and

43:20they're doing things that could

43:21mess things up and they don't even know

43:23it so by going back to your regular

43:25doctor

43:26and they do that in retail we just need

43:28to make sure that they do it

43:30with independence as well um

43:34but for the prescriber you know

43:36basically you keep that relationship

43:38you're not losing them they're not

43:40walking out the door and you don't see

43:41them again

43:42they're not looking for necessarily the

43:45cheapest

43:46at this point and this is very comp you

43:47know compatible

43:49with what's being charged in the market

43:51your patients are happy they're healthy

43:54you know you're not just seeing them

43:55because they got a problem they're

43:57actually

43:57staying healthy wearing schedule

44:00compliance this is good we don't see

44:02you know we see them too when they come

44:03back regular health checkups regular eye

44:06health checkups

44:07increased revenue is definitely a part

44:10of it because they start to get a piece

44:11of the

44:13sale now that they weren't getting

44:14before

44:16and of course that patient loyalty so

44:19there's that's the big deal right so we

44:22can

44:22kind of sleep a little easier breathe a

44:25little easier knowing that our

44:27the contact lens wearers out there are

44:29not just

44:30you know doing anything that they feel

44:32like doing like i know we're all

44:33concerned about those

44:35cosmetic contact lenses at halloween

44:37right that's

44:38you can't just go buy that at the dollar

44:40store you know you have to

44:41have that monitored and so those all

44:44that is a symptom of this

44:46you know unleashing if you will the

44:48rights of the patient to go

44:50shop around and do what's you know get

44:53get a good deal but let's also reel them

44:56back in and say let's take a look make

44:57sure you're doing this right

44:59and so there's a benefit for both sides

45:03and vsp has made this decision that the

45:06vsp doctors that are credentialed and

45:08seeing vsp members

45:10will be the beneficiary of this because

45:12they're the ones

45:13that have lost the business and so

45:16the commitment there is is to them

45:20so if you happen to work in a practice

45:22that is a bsp office i know many of you

45:25are in retail or different settings but

45:27you think your doctor may be interested

45:29in that

45:30um or if you're interested in it i do

45:32have a flyer up here

45:34no pressure but i just wanted to give

45:35you the information

45:37and the contact to abby because i don't

45:40sell them

45:41so i know about them but i don't sell

45:43them but um

45:44you know so you know grab a flyer and

45:48bring it back

45:48and just say here's something for you

45:50there's a lot of information on the

45:51website as well

45:53to look into it lastly i just wanna

45:57this is something that i was not aware

45:59of but i want to make

46:00this my last thing to say you know with

46:02a lot of daily disposables

46:05we're throwing away a lot of plastic

46:08and it needs to not go in the toilet in

46:11the sink

46:12because that gets in the water system

46:14and goes into the ocean

46:16and it looks it doesn't you know

46:19dissolve

46:20so we have a program um i'm not that

46:22familiar with it but just as a

46:25public service announcement or planet

46:27service announcement

46:28don't you know remind people not to

46:31throw their contact lenses in the sink

46:33and in the toilet that that's not the

46:35way to do it it could go into the

46:38trash bin where it'll go to the you know

46:40be destroyed or

46:42if there's a recycling type program you

46:45could recycle them

46:47i don't know of one myself but

46:50in the garbage and so we can protect our

46:52wildlife because that goes right to

46:54it sinks it doesn't uh dissolve in the

46:57in the ocean and it gets inside our

47:00actually our fish that we then eat

47:02so just as a as a point of reference we

47:04don't want to

47:06we want to make sure that we point that

47:07out because that's a lot of daily

47:09disposables

47:10going down the drain and getting in our

47:12watershed line

47:15all right so that's all that's all i

47:17have for you today

47:19i'm open for questions

47:23thank you

47:26how did i do on time i have no idea

47:30i'm okay so any questions or comments or

47:34thoughts yes ma'am

47:57yes it's going to be only available for

47:59vsp providers

48:01so in network providers so

48:05and it's not get we have a retail

48:06component but that's vision works but

48:08it will not be available in there so but

48:11yeah

48:12so but just so even if you can't take

48:14advantage of it now

48:15make yourself aware of that right so we

48:18all

48:18we all kind of help each other good

48:21question

48:22any other questions yes ma'am

48:38good question where the box is going to

48:40be kept at the location

48:42so you get them from your regular

48:43contact lens distributors

48:46they'll have programs that you can ship

48:49directly to the patient um the the

48:51doctor might have choose to have a

48:53program like that

48:54but um it's something that you order

48:56from like abb

48:57or wva i think is another one there

49:01might be others

49:02so the doc it's just we don't distribute

49:04them

49:05to anybody the doctor decides how they

49:07want to get them from the contact lens

49:09distributors

49:10and then it's it could be a variety of

49:12programs now many times

49:14well you know it's kind of new so maybe

49:16as you get rolling if you get

49:18into it you might want to stock a supply

49:20of them

49:23so there there'll be a variety of that

49:25but it's primarily just distributed

49:27through normal distribution

49:29good question thank you anybody else

49:35i guess we're done then all right very

49:39[Music]

49:42good