The Optical Vision Site

Hand Painted Contact Lenses- Opportunities For Eye Care Professionals

Vamp Fangs Patchwork

The best part about blogging- you learn something new everyday. A couple of days ago, custom hand-painted contact lenses came up in our google alerts and of course I had to investigate this opportunity for eye care professionals. Maybe a patient has never come in an asked for contact lenses with a dog, a horse or even a football  hand painted on their contact lenses. But if you google hand painted custom contact lens, over 140,000 hits come up. Not a lot but enough to think there might be a market for this.

First place to visit

sclcontactlens

sclcontactlenses ltd- (UK) Manufacture theatrical custom contact lens- movie credits: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, 28 days Later, BladeII, Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace, James Bond, Die Another Day. They works with Dors.

Custom Contacts (New York) Does theatrical contacts lens: Movie credits, The Good Shepard, I am Legend, Cuerrilla, Mr. Saturday Nite, Camille, The Sopranos, The Brave One, The Nanny Diaries, Philadelphia and more.

Vampfangs (Gloucester, MA) The name says it all, most of the selection is gothic in look. Good selection of vampirish and eerie looks. They have been around for 15 years. Says

Crystal Reflection- Gold Coin

something about the market. They also offer an affiliate program, so if you don’t want to stock and sell, just sign up, place a badge on your site and take your percentage that way.  You can also follow them on Twitter

FX Eyes – Not too much information on the site- The About is Blank, the FAQ’s are blank, you have to email the contact form, the videos are a nice touch, but not enough information on the site, except they do hand-painted contact lens

Crystal Reflections (Green Valley, AZ) sells regular contacts online but also has custom hand painted contact lens.

9mmsfx White Itachi

9 MmsFx (Medford, OR) Movie Credits, Black Swan, Red, Hatchet2, FunkyTown, many commercials, and music credits.

Cosplay- They apparently have a team – player thing going on, so if you buy your contacts from them, post your picture. Doesn’t look like they wholesale contacts at all.

Is this viable- why not, plenty of online marketeers of colored, custom theatrical  hand painted contact lens. Set up a distributor relationship, Stock a few, have some pics available, make sure it’s in your literature and contact lens section. You might sell them and guess what, they are custom and they will come back and refer other like minded people to you.

Defective Contact Lens Or Allergic Reactions- Attorney Answers

PhotoL tidalwavetelecom.com

We like to post some consumer tidbits and articles as they come along. This one we found very interesting about contact lenses; Here ya go from the voice of the contact lens consumer!

This forum came to us via Lawyers Forum; (community.lawyers.com/forums/t/95195.aspx)

‘My wife has had a reaction to a contact lens she used and damged her vision. She was out of work for several weeks and incurred over $5000 in medical bills. She has over 45 pages of documentation from 3 doctors and eye specialists saying that it was the contact lens that damaged her vision. She contacted a lawyer in CA> where we live and was told she had no case with out the actual lens she used. 6 months later she has been contacted by the manufacture asking for any proof. She faxed 47 pages of dr. bills and statements from the drs. She heard back immediately from them looking to settle claim. She does have the rest on the contact lens that were not used. Do you think a vist to another attorney is do or should she just settle and be done with it?”

Answer #1 From Attorney

she has serious/permanent damage to her vision as a result and you have 3 doctors to indicate that, I would consult another attorney.

You need to act promptly as the statutes  apply.

Unless she can prove actual serious injury, it might not be worthwhile for an attorney to take the case due to the high cost of obtaining expert testimony in such maters.(spelled maters wrong)

Answer #2 From Attorney

While there’s apparently no doubt that the contact lenses were the problem, the big question is this: Was it due to a product defect or was it due to an allergic reaction with no product defect?

You can google “allergic reaction to contact lenses” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

If it was an allergic reaction to the contact lenses with no product defect then she has no case and the manufacturer is likely going to offer a modest amount of go-away money without any admission of fault and hiring a lawyer is not likely to change that.

If there actually was a product defect the next question is whether there was a temporary condition that she recovered from or a permanent condition.

A temporary condition caused by a product defect with complete recovery is not worth much money. She might be able to get her meds, lost earnings, and something for pain and suffering (not much if she was only out of work for a couple of weeks).

Last but not least, permanent damage due to a product defect could be worth a lot of money and would be worth hiring an attorney.

However, without actual proof of a product defect (hey, here’s the lens, it’s defective) she might as well just see what she can negotiate with the manufacturer.

Although talking to a few more attorneys first couldn’t hurt.

Diamond Encrusted Contact Lens-Opportunities For Eyecare Professionals.

Acuvue Diamond Contact Lens

We learn more and more each day the availability of various products for the optical professional to offer. When I heard about Diamond contact lenses that celebrities are wearing, quite frankly I was quite shocked. After some thought, why not? They are offered by Acuvue, a reputable contact lens company, who must have done the research, why else would they be offering it.

I went to go find information, and still don’t know if it is still available. Can’t find out too much, except that people like Paris Hilton have bought and are wearing them.

Anyway, the pics are from 2006 and I am not the only one who is wondering.

This is what I think, if they are still available, I would definitely recommend talking, blogging and tweeting about it. Why not, people love to read about luxury items, and who knows, you might even sell some.

Designer Contact Lenses- Carrera Performance Contact Lens

Carrera Contact Lens By Safilens

OK, I never have professed to be an expert in Contact Lens, but I know the standard brands. I did not know that Safilens makes a designer contact lens Carrera. These replacement lenses are designed for those who lead an active lifestyle. Safilens has had a partnership with Carrera for years! The latest update for Scuderia Palladio racing Team, who won 2nd place in ENDAS Championship. (car rally)

Of course I go to find out more, and let me tell you it’s difficult. If you were a retailer, I guess you order them through Safilens. I was just surprised there wasn’t that much information (Only 55, 400 hits on Goggle) about the lens and Carrera.

Carrera Contact Sponsorship Car Rally

When I plugged in Carrera Contact Lens only 214,000 hits on google. Is this an opportunity for the eyecare professional? It does not appear that too many on-line retailer of contact lenses are selling the product. Offering a ‘performance based designer contact lens just might help garner some of that contact lens business back from your Big Box stores.

Just a thought, and I don’t even know that the product is available here, afterall Safilo is available here, why not the Carrera Contact Lens. I guess we will just wait to see what happens.

Contact Lenses Alert Diabetics By Changing Colors

Photo:visitbulgaria.info/

Diabetics as we all know are on the constant watch to check their blood sugar levels. A new technology lets diabetics monitor their blood sugar levels with contact lenses that change as their blood sugar rises and falls.

Nanoparticles, proven winners are embedded in the hydrogel lenses and react with glucose molecules in tears. The chemical reaction causes the lenses to change color, alerting the diabetic to changes in blood sugar leveles.

U. of Western Ontario Professor Jin Zhang received $216,000 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation as a result of the breakthrough process to develop other applications for multifunctional nanocomposites, which can be used in everything from biomedicine to food preservation to packaging.

Eye Can’t Believe It- Sammy Sosa Wearing Green Contact Lens

Forget health reform, forget the recession- let us all worry about Sammy Sosa and his Green Contact lenses or how ‘pale ‘he is. This is the hottest news all over the internet- I mean who really cares?

From the blogs:

…. Recent photos of the former all-star appearing several shades lighter while sporting green contact lenses and a slick-back, Rick Ricardo-esque hairstyle have set the internet ablaze…

…“He’s not trying to be Michael Jackson,” said Sosa friend Rebecca Polihronis, speaking of a snapshot taken during Sosa’s appearance at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. “He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin. Women have it all of the time. Part of it is just the lighting…

..’.Well, now that the skin mystery has been solved, we can move on to other questions — like wondering why Sosa has taken a liking to green contact lenses.’…

Metro Optics Launches Contact Lens iPhone App

Metro Optics in Austin Texas ‘ahead of the curve’ has launched the first new iPhone App for ordering their custom soft and GP contact lenses. The app is available on the iPhone App Store or contact them for more information. Did I said it’s FREE!

Halloween Contact Lenses For Zombies

You Tube videos like this can be fun to run in your reception room, or if possible put in a window display- capture those Halloween patients. The makeup matched with the contact lens is wonderful. For those who are technically savvy, there are plenty of theatrical contact lens videos available on YouTube.