The Hall of Frames – “The exhibition for beautiful glasses” (as the official tagline states) – takes departure in the glasses industry and sets the stage for introducing and discussing several themes of relevance for optometrists operating in this market. Beside the more traditional themes such as production, service, communication and marketing, this year opens up for a more innovative approach, where the digital change and development in technology are introduced – marking a new era in the industry.
Our RetinaLyze team in Switzerland is part of the Think Tank initiative for this years’ exhibition, where 7 different themes are presented. Under the topic “Prevention and customer loyalty using a revolutionary algorithm”, we discuss how the optometrist is positioned somewhere in between two dimensions: health care and fashion. Fashion is a well-known and attributed dimension for the optometrist, whereas health care for some can seem more as more farfetched.
The RetinaLyze software enables optometrists to embrace the move from mere fashion towards a more wholesome solution, where customers are also viewed as patients. RetinaLyze enables optometrists to detect retinal changes themselves, primarily focusing on signs of diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Diabetes and diabetic retinopathy (DR), which is an eye condition that directly or indirectly results from diabetes, are developing rapidly and create great challenges for health care systems today. During the next 10 years the number of diagnosed diabetics is expected to double!
This means that an already challenged health care system will face greater challenges in terms of screening and detecting retinal changes in the general population through current distribution channels. Therefore, it is crucial to explore new ways and harness the great potential that technology brings about.
Prevention is of the essence. Screening for signs of changes on the retina regularly ensures early detection of signs that otherwise tend to develop quite unnoticed and lead to impairment of the sight and in worst cases blindness. Here, optometrists can play a crucial role in creating a new distribution channel for screening the general public and reduce the strain on the health care system.
With the aid from the RetinaLyze software optometrists are able to provide a professional service for their customers – from taking the photo, running the screening and receiving the response in a matter of seconds, to a dialogue about the recommended next steps based on the results of the screening. The system has a built in collaboration with eye specialists, who respond directly in the system by recommending next steps based on their assessment of the photo.
The RetinaLyze software and the eye specialist back-up ensure that optometrists provide a wholesome service for their customers – a service that surpasses the mere fashion dimension – ensuring a professional customer care by embracing the health care dimension and helping prevent blindness.
