Allen TSO Creates In-Office Blue Light Frame Program

“Looking forward to the back to school rush of August, we decided to try and tackle a few problems that arise for both the patients and for ourselves. As we know, the myopia epidemic has not slowed and we continue to see increases in the number of myopic children. There is also a fair share of research which suggests that decreasing accommodative demand on children before they start becoming myopic can help decrease the risk of near-sightedness. We also know that blue light is very irritating to the eyes and one of the key causes of digital eyestrain. Since most of the students this year will be spending a huge amount of time in front of computer and tablet screens, we decided to be a little more proactive in protecting their eyes and decided to make low cost +0.75 readers with a blue blocking AR for cash pay only.

Every year, I see a lot of emmotropic children during August who come to me for their first eye exam. Everything looks great, but the second that I start their siblings exam, the original patient is on their parent’s phone in seconds, and I know it will not be too long before they end up being nearsighted. Previously, if we tried to use vision insurance to get the child a pair of glasses to protect their eyes with a blue blocking AR, the cost easily would exceed $200, and the parents would back out. With this specific inventory that we created, we managed to get a cash price down to $40 per pair. So far, just placing this very simple display out, we have generated a lot of interest in blue blocking ARs and protecting children’s vision. I foresee us doing a fair amount of business with these glasses through the month of August. We have even started looking for larger frame sizes to use for teenage contact lens wearers.” – Dr. Reid Robertson