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April 29, 2021April 29, 2021

Essilor Canada Partners with First Corporate Vaccination Center

Essilor Canada will contribute to the vaccination efforts by joining forces with CAE and several partnering companies for the opening of a corporate vaccination centre, the first hub of its kind to open in Quebec.

Thanks to this collaboration, employees of participating companies and their families, as well as people from the surrounding community, will be able to be vaccinated at this center located in the borough of Saint-Laurent. The center plans to welcome up to 25,000 people by the end of August.

“The announcement made by the Quebec Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, on March 19 of this year, was very compelling for us,” explains Christophe Perreault, President of Essilor Canada. “Essilor seized this opportunity to facilitate the vaccination effort, both for its employees and for the community as a whole, by contributing to meeting the needs in human and material resources.”

Transitions Debuts Largest Consumer Campaign of Seven Years in Canada

In the largest consumer media campaign for the company in Canada since 2014, Transitions Optical is debuting a digital campaign from mid-May through December which combines display banners, videos, paid search and social media reaching out to eyeglass wearers.

Selected as a boost country for Transitions globally, Canada’s campaign will drive consumers to the Transitions virtual try-on tool to try the seven different vibrant colour options of Transitions lenses, as well as to the eye care professional (ECP) store locator to direct patients into their local ECP’s office.

The campaign also includes TV spots during the summer months on popular conventional and specialty TV networks and top programming, reaching over 80% of the target audience an average of nine times. Overall, the television campaign will reach a total of over 220 million impressions.

Transitions Optical has partnered with Vogue on a series of four videos, which each represent different styles of Transitions Signature GEN 8 style colors. The four videos are directed by Amilcar Gomes—who has directed campaigns for Maybelline, Yves Saint Laurent, Armani Beauty, Anne Klein, and more—and each tell a unique story featuring diverse talent whose style, career and lifestyle bring to life the style color they are wearing.

The videos feature Calvin Royal III, principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater, JiaJia Fei, digital strategist to the art world, Lauren Bille, co-founder and CEO of Allbodies, and Tara Thomas, urban farmer and chef.

Click HERE for the full press release.

World’s First Contact Lens for Allergic Eye Itch Now Available in Canada

FYidoctors announced it has received exclusive Canadian in market assessment access for 2021 to the world’s first and only drug-releasing contact lens for vision correction and allergic eye itch: ACUVUE® Theravision™ with Ketotifen.

The announcement comes following Health Canada granting approval to Johnson & Johnson Vision on the innovative contact lens. ACUVUE® Theravision™ with Ketotifen provides relief for those suffering from seasonal allergies through the use of ketotifen, an H1 histamine receptor antagonist for the prevention of itch associated with eye allergies.

It is estimated that more than 10 million Canadians suffer from seasonal allergies for which eye itch is a common symptom. In addition to irritation, itchy eyes impact vision and can make regular tasks for contact lens wearers troublesome.

“For years, Canadians who use contact lenses and suffer from seasonal allergies had to grin and bear the itch of their contacts or switch to glasses and eye drops. We’re so excited those are no longer the only options,” said Dr. Alan Ulsifer, CEO and Chairman of FYidoctors.

A limited introduction of ACUVUE® Theravision™ with Ketotifen through the FYidoctors network of clinics will assess the product in market in Canada. Full Canada launch through all eligible Johnson & Johnson Vision partners will follow in 2022.

“By bringing forward new eye care technology to help practitioners meet the needs of their patients, we are demonstrating our commitment to change the trajectory of eye health to improve quality of life.” said Ted Lachmansingh, Canadian Business Director, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care division of Johnson & Johnson Inc.

FYidoctors will be making ACUVUE® Theravision™ with Ketotifen available in over 220 locations nation-wide.

Click HERE for the full press release.

Optometry Giving Sight Announces New Board of Directors

Optometry Giving Sight announces that it has formed a new board of directors. The fund-raising organization operates in Canada and in the United States, with two separate boards, with the same directors for both.

The U.S. Board is chaired by Dr. Juan Carlos Aragón, who has been active with Optometry Giving Sight as a board and committee member for over 10 years. The Canadian Board is chaired by Dr. Susan Cooper, also involved with OGS over the past decade.

The seven members of the OGS Board include:

Juan Carlos Aragón OD – Chair, U.S., President, CooperVision Specialty Eye Care
Susan Cooper OD – Chair, Canada, Former President and Managing Director, World Council of Optometry
Donna Mikulecky – Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer, Vision Source
Millicent Knight OD – Senior Vice President, Customer Development, Essilor of America
John Flanagan PhD, FCOptom – Dean, Berkeley School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley and President, Association of School and Colleges of Optometry
Paul Karpecki OD – Medical Director at Keplr Vision and Director of Cornea Services, Kentucky Eye Institute
Luigi Bilotto OD – International Eye Health Advisor, École d’optométrie de l’Université de Montréal

In a joint statement, Drs. Aragón and Cooper said “We are delighted with our new board and grateful to all of our board members for their commitment to helping grow Optometry Giving Sight. It is a strong group that will help take the organization to a higher level.”

OGS’ Executive Director, Anne Marie Hand, states that, “The Optometry Giving Sight team and I are very excited to welcome our new board and to work with them in the years ahead to further our mission of bringing eye care to those who are in need.”

Click HERE for the full press release.

April 27, 2021April 27, 2021

HOYA Releases Results of Three-Year MiYOSMART Spectacle Lens Follow-up Study

HOYA Vision Care announced during the European Academy of Optometrists and Optics (AOO21) the results of a three-year follow-up clinical study on its award winning MiYOSMART spectacle lens with patented Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments (D.I.M.S.) Technology. The new study, published in March 2021 in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, was conducted by the Centre for Myopia Research at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and follows-up on the two-year study which previously demonstrated evidence of the effectiveness of the lens in slowing down the progression of myopia in children ages 8-13.

The three-year follow-up study, conducted on 120 children in Asia, included 65 from the original group using the MiYOSMART lens who took part in the previous study and 55 children who moved from using a single-vision lens for two years to the MiYOSMART lens in the third year. At the end of the third year, results in the original group of children using MiYOSMART lens showed that slowing in myopia progression over time was sustained and the group that moved from regular single-vision to MiYOSMART spectacle lens showed a significant and immediate slow-down in the progression of myopia.

“The results of the three-year study on the MiYOSMART lens are very positive with the lens continuing to address the growing problem of myopia in children,” said Griff Altmann, Chief Technology Officer at HOYA Vision Care.

Click HERE for the full press release.