Sponsored by ZEISS

Preston Fassel

The world of optics has gone through some incredible developments in the last century. Just a little over a hundred years ago, eyeglass lenses were more often edged by jewelers than doctors and sold not out of optical offices or dispensaries, but from street vendor carts through a buy-and-try system, with wearers testing out different pairs of lenses in generic unisex frames until they found one that worked. Since those humble beginnings, we’ve seen the dawn of opticianry as a certified practice, the evolution of frame design from simple metal ovals and octagons into a variety of designer shapes and models, the dawn of the boxing system, and the rise of laboratories as powerhouses offering blanks to fit a wide variety of wearer needs. Even as the industry has gone through these rapid advancements, lens ordering has remained, in many ways, a process still rooted in the digital revolution of the ’90s: log onto a website, fill out a form, wait for an order to arrive, and maybe hop on the phone with a lab rep to check an order status if the system isn’t responsive. While this may have been revolutionary at the dawn of the internet age and a leap ahead of getting on the phone to place verbal orders in the ’80s, it’s not a means of serving our patients that’s in keeping with the rapid development of lens technology we’ve seen in the new millennium. What’s the solution then? How do we bring the complete optical practice into the 21st century?

Enter ZEISS VISUSTORE, a revolution in the way opticians and ODs can measure, fit and order patient lenses. Offering peak accuracy, efficiency, connectivity and visualization, VISUSTORE is the ordering tool that allows your practice to fully integrate into a digital world of lenses and lens technology. Users are able to initially filter lens options by selecting the material, design, color, AR treatments and other features required by the patient, seamlessly narrowing the field to only those choices that fit the criteria. As a further safeguard to prevent accidentally ordering an improper or inappropriate lens, VISUSTORE has revolutionary native intelligence built into its back end, so not only are the latest lens and treatment choices immediately available to order, it’s also impossible to place an order with incompatible elements or create an order that cannot be made. Integrating a unique visual component to lens ordering, ODs and opticians are able to see what lenses will look like as a finished product, with actual size lens representations depicted in 3D graphic visualization to anticipate lens thickness and suitability for a given pair of frames, with advance corridor simulation further allowing you to confirm PAL fittings. Utilizing plug-and-play technology, VISUSTORE allows you to plug your tracer directly into the program, so that lens shapes populate automatically in the software.

Additionally, VISUSTORE offers customization according to your office’s needs and extant operations, interfacing with most practice management software and allowing you to personalize your software experience, including stock lens orders along with order-specific value configuration, plus/minus cylinder convention, edge polish and preference setting for input, diopter precision, default Right/Left input value duplication and even the ability to simultaneously review both polar and X-Y prism notation. For maximum efficiency, unlike other portals, your order in VISUSTORE is communicated directly into the ZEISS LMS, so there are no delays because of a need for file conversion, and the software connects with your account’s ZEISS Dashboard to review up to date order status and shipment tracking information. Additionally, in keeping with the special features native to modern technology, there are multiple hidden features and “accessories” waiting for practices to discover and implement according to their own needs. Says Barry Santini, ABOM, a dedicated VISUSTORE user: “One of my favorites is for accounts like me who primarily do uncuts: In a progressive order containing prism, VISUSTORE will display the appropriately modified blocking values for PD and height. This is an area often overlooked by many, but ensures the progressive corridor is optimally aligned when prescribed prism is present.”

The world of lens technology and ordering has changed quite a bit over the last 40 years, and it’s time that practices changed along with it to keep up with the times and provide patients the best lenses with the fastest service. Thankfully, VISUSTORE offers any practice the opportunity to take a warp-speed jump ahead into the 21st century, providing the height of efficiency, connectivity and quality in lens orders.