In memoriam: Virgil "Smoker" Marchand

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Virgil “Smoker” Marchand, he will be dearly missed. We were truly honored to work with Smoker over the past 13 years and enjoyed incorporating his Native American designs into eyewear. His design contributions allowed us to share his beautiful artwork with tens of thousands of people. In keeping with Smoker's wishes, we will continue to support his family with ongoing royalties from current and upcoming eyewear designs. Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Our heartfelt condolences,
the Encore Vision family

Compensated Prescriptions & Digital Lens Designs

Compensated lens designs have improved the ability of the laboratory and optician to tailor lenses for each patient and frame. Due to many of our accounts using compensated designs for the first time we want to talk about what is going on and what to expect.

• Compensated designs take into account how the frame and lenses sit on a patients face, and this nearly always differs from the angle of a phoropter the doctor uses. Due to this, we need to consider the differences and make changes to the refracted prescription so that the patient receives non-distorted vision.

• The measurements used to calculate the differences are called position of wear measurements (POW). They typically include pantoscoptic tilt, frame wrap angle, back vertex distance, and sometimes near working distance.

• To improve a patient’s vision with compensated lens designs the optician does not need to take the additional position of wear measurements, but if done, will produce an even more most accurate pair of lenses.

  • Some designs, like as our IOT Universal progressive use default values for pantoscopic tilt, vertex, and frame wrap that is closer to the actual measurements vs the refracted prescription. So even though the POW measurements weren’t done the result is a more accurate lens.

• When ordering a compensated (most digital lens designs) lens, make sure that you check the prescription measured in a lensometer against the digital lens data on the bottom of your invoice. This is the compensated prescription data the lab cut into the lens for best visual acuity.

  CLICK HERE FOR AN INVOICE EXAMPLE

New Lens Designs & Price Guides!

Beginning February 28th, new lens and frame pricing will go into effect. Please be on the lookout for envelopes in the mail containing the printed copies of your price guides.

In this release, Encore Vision is proud to announce the launch of IOT’s newest progressive lens design— Endless Steady. This design utilizes Digital Ray Path 2 for incredible areas of clear vision across the lens, as well as their patented Steady Methodology that helps reduce the swimming fish bowl feel of progressives. This lens design does this by addressing not only unwanted cylinder power, but also unwanted changes to mean power in lateral areas of the lens. See the link above for more information.

Encore Holiday Operations

Happy Holidays to all of our customers! Encore Vision will be closed the following days to spend time with our friends and family.

• November 25th for Thanksgiving

• November 26th for Native American Heritage Day

• December 24th for Christmas Eve

• December 31st for New Years Eve

Please email or leave a voicemail message, and we will respond as soon as possible on the next business day.

Nupolar Infinite Gray Discontinuation

Encore Vision has received notice that Younger Optics will be discontinuing the product line of Infinite Gray Nupolar products. On page three of your Encore Vision lens price guide (polarized page) please cross out the Infinite Gray column.

Lens Backorders & Shipping Woes

The optical industry is experiencing unprecedented delays in the delivery of the raw materials used to process lenses here at the lab and we would like to inform you of three sides of the operations that are experiencing problems currently so you can best inform your patients.

1. Due to ongoing shipping delays, our lens suppliers are experiencing long lead times on the transfer and import of lenses, and it has now begun to affect the daily lens orders here at Encore Vision. We have stocked up on key lenses but certain base curves and add powers have run out sooner than others. This has also started to delay restocks of various frame models that are stuck in production.

2. Essilor has had production problems with Trivex multi-focals and some unique Transitions products such as 8x35 and round bifocals causing 1+ month delays.

3. Additionally, one of our main lens vendors, Hoya Optical North America (which includes Vision Ease and Seiko Optical) has had an unexpected network interruption since the 7th of April and have not been able to get their systems back online to ship any lenses. They are estimating that they will be operational and shipping lenses on the 15th, but this is not guaranteed.

Encore Vision will do its best to keep you informed and call with suggestions to avoid order delays. We will also be offering free upgrades to different materials or filters if it will increase the speed of processing your orders.

Eyewear Sanitation

Recommendations on how to sanitize your eyeglasses without damaging coatings, platings, and plastics that are present in most frames. Many commercial sanitizing products contain chemicals that over time will haze coatings or even fracture frames and lenses. The following three options will keep your eyewear looking great for years to come.

With any of these methods you will want to start by cleaning your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds or using hand sanitizer before then putting on vinyl or latex gloves.

1. Cleaning with a mild soap and warm water: Encore Vision recommends cleaning all frames with an anti-bacterial lotion-free soap or a mild dish soap such as Dawn mixed in with warm water.

   • If you have many eyeglasses that you need to clean and sanitize, consider filling a tub with warm water and soap and submerging the frame while moving it back and forth to make sure the water/soap solution penetrates all areas of the eyewear before removing the frame and rinsing with clean water under a sink or in another tub with fresh/distilled water. Finish by drying frames with a microfiber cloth.

   • You can also apply small drops of soap directly onto the frame and lenses and begin to work a lather with a splash of water in a sink that spreads across the entire frame and lenses. After 20-30 seconds you can begin to wash off the eyewear under a stream of warm running water to remove soap film and finish by drying the lenses with a microfiber cloth.

2. Cleaning with a 1.5% diluted hydrogen peroxide solution: You can make use of hydrogen peroxide 1.5% wipes and gently wiping the entire frame including nose pads, frame temples, and lenses. Let it stand on the frame for several minutes following the directions on the package to give the hydrogen peroxide solution enough time to kill off bacteria and viruses. If you cannot source prepackaged wipes you can make your own solution by using a bottle of 3% hydrogen peroxide solution and diluting it with water in a 50/50 concentration. Pour or spray onto a microfiber cloth and wipe down the entire frame. You can also fill a small tub with the solution and submerge larger batches of frames for cleaning.

   • Hydrogen peroxide begins to lose its effectiveness when exposed to light so keep bottles in dark containers, or regularly replace the solution with a new batch.

3. UVC Chamber: Sanitize frames utilizing 200-280nm light in the ultraviolet spectrum in a UVC chamber. Make sure to follow the manufacturers recommended guidelines to ensure the eyewear reaches sanitation. This includes making sure the light hits every part of the frame and is not obstructed by frame parts such as folded temples. Also make sure there is no dirt or dust obscuring the light penetration.

Please refer to the CDC and Vision Council for more information regarding these sanitation methods. DISCLAIMER - The above information is provided for reference purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. If you have medical related concerns about the spreading and/or contracting of infectious diseases associated with wearing or cleaning of eyewear frames, please consult the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.cdc.gov for the most recent developments and advice. Encore Vision assumes no obligation or liability for the information contained herein.

Customer Service Hours

We want to thank each of our customers for being your lab of choice during these troubling times!

To match the increasing volumes of prescription lens orders, eyeglass orders, and customer calls each day, we are expanding our hours. 

Starting July 27th, Encore Vision will now be open Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 4:30pm pacific time.