The nascent smart glass market suffered a setback when Google pulled its Glass product from the market earlier this year. While Google is reportedly planning to launch a re-engineered version of its augmented reality eyewear with design input from Luxottica, other AR eyewear makers are pressing ahead with new products that swap Glass’ objectionable features—a techno-geek look and an intrusive, on-board camera—for enhancements such as a better form factor and improved optics. In particular, Microsoft’s goggle-like HoloLens, due out next year, promises wearers the “wow” of a holographic experience.

Although only a handful of optical companies are currently involved in developing or marketing augmented reality eyewear, two major ophthalmic lens manufacturers, Essilor and Hoya, have just entered the parallel dimension of virtual reality. At this fall’s Silmo show in Paris, both companies introduced smartphone-based VR eyewear systems that let patients virtually try on lenses in their own prescription.

Hoya says its Vision Simulator “erases the line between virtual reality and individual reality by providing a highly accurate 3D vision experience, visualizing the optical effects of the various lens designs and treatments.”

According to Essilor, its Nautilus system gives the wearer “an interactive 360-degree experience of different options selected by their eyecare professional—from lens design, coatings such as polarized or photochromic to the effects of dust and fog.”

I have not tried either the Hoya or Essilor system, and neither is available yet in the U.S. But if these systems do what they claim, they could change the way lenses are dispensed. Patients would be able to do A-B comparisons between lens designs, enabling them to confidently choose a lens that would work best for them. This would minimize the dissatisfaction some patients experience with their new lenses, and in turn, reduce remakes, a welcome development for dispensers and labs. Best of all, the technology could bring patients who buy glasses online back into brick-and-mortar dispensaries, assuming that the lens companies restrict the sale of their virtual reality systems to professional offices. Let’s hope they do.

Andrew Karp
Group Editor, Lenses and Technology
[email protected]