Westchester Medical 16 Years & Going Strong with In-Office Lens Technology

“The Optical Dynamics progressive lens, produced with the Q-2100 Digital Lens System, provides consistent and strong optics for 99% of all patients.,” says Ken Usatch, who runs the optical shop at Westchester Medical in White Plains, NY.  He is referring to the Optical Dynamics tabletop lens production system that he strongly recommended to the practice 15 years ago.

“It took me about 18 months to talk this medical clinic into taking on the Optical Dynamics system, but I had seen what it did in another practice in NY.  I highly recommended it, and I can safely say that most opticians have no idea how great this is,” Usatch added.

Optical Dynamics has spent the better part of two decades assisting practices with reducing their lab bill by offering a turnkey, in-office system that saves his practice 40%, according to Usatch.

“The industry has moved to expensive free-form lenses.  I have seen the casting capabilities, and even in the beginning, Optical Dynamics offered lens-making that produced digital quality lenses that had strong wearability, and did what they were supposed to do,” Usatch remembered.

He indicated that he uses a height of 17 ½ “ as a guide for the progressive lens client. He also indicated an upswing in the new product categories of sunSMART and of ultraSUN – which is good for all people. “They don’t have to go into a polarized lenses, and, it can be used as a sports lens as well,” he pointed out.

For the average optical shop, there is a perception that several thousand dollars is a lot of money to invest into a small, tabletop system which is ergonomic, clean, quiet, and self-diagnostic.  “I say it is the best thing that money can buy to make money and provide patient value in this business,” Usatch added.

Create a High-Efficeincy Practice

In an article in Optometric Management, the editor offers six tips to maximize your patient flow for increase profitability.

Tip 1: When it comes to administration think “e”. By allowing your patients to schedule appointments and  fill out patient forms online, you can free up to 45-minutes a day for your employees and free up time for your patients as well.

Tip 2: Utilize high-tech equipment. The use of high-tech equipment in both diagnostics and production is key to increasing practice profitability. <end article> With the Q-2100 Digital Lens System you can produce free form quality lenses at a fraction of the time and cost as with traditional labs. Dispensing lenses with just-in-time delivery will be noticed by your customers and they will return with repeat business. Everyone wants things quickly and efficiently and this in-office technology allows you meet the expectations of the consumer. <begin article>

Tip 3: Delegate. Don’t try to be the keeper of all the knowledge. Share information and give your employees the opportunity to grown and expand their abilities in the work place.

Tip 4: Provide staff training. Do multiple people know how do do the same job? If not, they should! Cross train your staff in dispensing, lens production and administrative tasks. By cross training your team you will operate at peak efficiency.

Tip 5: Schedule weekly staff meetings. Industry leading consultant Dr. Richard Kattouf recommends you schedule weekly staff meetings at which discussions on how to refine individual responsibilities are discussed to maintain efficiency and enthusiasm.

Tip 6: Value your time and your patient’s. Time is important to everyone. By focusing on efficiency creating choices, you will see an improvement in the time you and your patients spend at the business. Your family will appreciate it and so will your customers.

A Lens Fell into My Post Cure

Don’t worry, if a lens falls into the post cure oven, follow these simple steps to remove it.

Immediately turn off the machine.

Disconnect all power and data cables from the post cure unit

Remove the fill stand set it aside

Tilt the post cure unit onto its back

Turn the machine around so that the fill stand plate is facing you

Tilt machine toward you and set the machine upside show on the fill stand plate with the drawer facing you

Tilt the unit toward you so that the drawer faces the floor

Open the drawer and gently shake the unit if necessary

The lens should fall out

 

Pack Your nanoCLEAR AR Unit Properly for Service

When returning your nanoCLEAR AR unit for service, always remember to follow the packing instructions correctly to prevent damage and unnecessary repairs.

Located in the back of the nanoCLEAR AR unit:

  • Remove power cord
  • Remove network data cable
  • Remove data cable from wash module
  • Remove video PC cable
  • Remove high pressure supply hose
  • Remove drain hose to wash module
  • Remove all chemistry inlet tubing and replace with white caps
  • Remove vacuum inlet
  • Remove monitor from stand
  • Remove monitor stand & push monitor plug down the tube that it is housed in

Located in side your nanoCLEAR AR system:

  • Remove black mold stages
  • Remove wash bowl ring
  • Remove chemistry ring
  • Remove chemistry bowl liner and discard
  • Remove chemistry bowl and clean all chemistry from bowl
  • Remove tips and filters and replace with red caps

Lock motion arm into position to prevent movement. If possible, place the motion arm in the chemistry bowl position and lower the arm. When the motion arm reaches the lowest point press STOP COATING BUTTON. Place bubble warp or packing material on either side of motion arm to prevent movement and install the shipping bracket provided.

Placing nanoCLEAR AR system in the special system box:

  • Place tape or the shrink wrap it came with on the front door panel to prevent door from opening during shipping

  • Gently place nanoCLEAR AR system into box making sure it rests inside the foam cut out inside of box
  • Gently place the top foam insert on top of the nanoCLEAR AR system and push into place
  • Close box and remove any labeling on the outside
  • Tape box closed and place the appropriate shipping labels on the outside

When your system has been boxed up and/or you have any questions, please call Optical Dynamics Technical Support at 8000-587-2743.

What Free-Form Is

At Optical Dynamics, we use digital free-from molds to produce customized lenses with improved optics and enhanced visual clarity. As published in Eyecare Business, the following six points are key to understanding the free-form process.

  1. The main difference between digital and traditional surfacing is digital surfacing’s ability to produce more complex surfaces with extreme accuracy.
  2. Digital surfacing can be used to create simple single vision or complex progressive surfaces. The ability of the lens to provide visual comfort and performance is determined by the quality of the design.
  3. Digital surfacing is referred to as direct-to-surface, CNC and free-from. All refer to basically the same process.
  4. The most significant variable involves the process used to calculate the design. Digital surfacing processes require significantly more calibration and control compared to traditional surfacing.
  5. There are two inherent benefits common to nearly all digitally surfaced PALS: reduction of marginal astigmatism and reduction of “rounding errors”.
  6. Remember: all lenses that bend light will have aberrations and spherical surfaces create aberration. Its a matter of how those aberrations are managed that provides a unique benefit to the wearer.

How Does nanoCLEAR AR Perform in Ocean Climates?

We are often asked how nanoCLEAR™ AR performs in humid beach city climates as compared to vacuum AR. Well, nanoCLEAR AR and vaccum AR vacuum AR (whether it’s Crizal™ or some other brand) have very different failure modes. In the better vacuum AR stacks, craze is the root cause of most failures and patient returns. With the nanoCLEAR AR lens, its essentially impossible to induce craze.  As a result, our AR is damaged far less in boiling water and salt water tests than vacuum lenses

With vacuum AR on a plastic lens, the thermal expansion rates are vastly different between the AR and the lens. Since the AR layers are also brittle, they tend to fracture under the stress created when the lens heats up and expands. Once that happens, contaminants work their way into the stack more easily and can cause delamination. Even if delamination is avoided, craze typically causes haze, so once it’s severe enough that will lead to a returned lens as well.

Since our nanoCLEAR AR uses plastic binders and nanoparticles, the thermal expansion rates of the AR and lens can be matched, which eliminates craze failures. That’s not to say we never have failures, all AR can be damaged by patients, however, nanoCLEAR AR performs well in hot, humid coastal regions. Just ask our customers in Miami, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean!

Protect Your Investment with the Q-2100 Extended Warranty & Recertification Programs

Q-2100R Extended Warranty/Maintenance Contract*

  • Includes parts, labor, ground shipping and loaner program (Main and/or Post)
  • If unit does not need to be serviced during the 1-year period, the extended warranty allows for the return of the Main and Post units to Optical Dynamics for preventative maintenance, including cleaning and inspection
  • 50% discount on cast lenses through RTE (+$18 w/AR), during down time due to repair

Q-2100R Recertification Program* Extended Warranty

  • Return the Q2100R (Main and Post) to Optical Dynamics and we will recertify the equipment; includes replacement of lamps and filters and ensures the machine is in proper working order
  • Includes a 1-year extended warranty on parts, labor and ground shipping.
  • 50% discount on cast lenses through RTE (+$18 w/AR), during down time due to repair
  • Loaner program may be purchased at a discounted price

*     Does not include hepa filter, spin bowls, germicidal lamps, actinic lamps, post cure lamps, main logo panels, post logo panels, consumables or expedited shipment. This warranty will be void in its entirety as to any parts or equipment covered hereunder in the event of damage caused by abuse. All repairs necessitated by damages excluded from this warranty will be charged to the customer

**    Does not include spin bowls (upper & lower), hepa filters, foam pre-filter for hepa, wash nozzles, wash filter, suction cup seal ring, syringe cap o-ring, plastic deck plate, arm sneeze guard & strobe lamp, consumables, expedited shipment or preventative maintenance on PC or wash module This warranty will be void in its entirety as to any parts or equipment covered hereunder in the event of damage caused by abuse. All repairs necessitated by damages excluded from this warranty will be charged to the customer

***    Includes free software upgrades only; new product software upgrades must be purchased

Call 800-797-2743 for more information