HOYA Vision Care, North America, has launched the Super HiVision Meiryo EX4—an anti-reflective (AR) lens coating technology treatment—during the 2023 Vision Expo West meeting this week.
Let’s start with this company.
While HOYA Vision Care is based in Tokyo, Japan, its U.S. operations are located in Texas.
HOYA manufactures high-performing optical and healthcare solutions and technology in 100 countries and 43 laboratories around the globe.
The company’s product portfolio covers myopia management, 3D-tailored eyewear, progressive lenses, single-vision lenses, occupational lenses, photochromic lenses, and coatings and materials, to name a few.
See here for a complete list of their product portfolio.
Now this product.
The Super HiVision Meiryo EX4 is the latest AR technology in HOYA’s AR treatments (which include the SuperHiVision EX3 and Super High Vision EX3+).
The treatment is designed to be 2.5 times more scratch resistant than standard coating, with durability and long-term cleanability (not to mention UV protection).
Below, Glance President Jackie Garlich, OD, FAAO, spoke with Kelly Rosemann, HOYA training and development manager, about the launch.
And the layers?
Each lens is separated out by their index of refraction and treated differently along the preparation process, according to Michael Gatti, senior technical marketing and training manager at HOYA.
"They’re all different indexes, so they’re all going to have a different response to the anti-reflective lens,” he said, during a HOYA presentation on the Innovation Stage at Vision Expo West on Friday.
Each layer is specifically engineered to match the adhesive properties of other layers via a proprietary substrate matching process that enables elasticity and ensures durability—allowing the HOYA lenses to be less impacted by extreme temperature variations.
How does this differ from previous AR treatments?
Per a comprehensive white paper published by HOYA, prior AR treatments have typically only addressed two visual function issues:
- Lens reflection
- Reducing the amount of light reflecting from a lens surface
- Clarity
- Less reflectivity, which allows more light to be transmitted through the lens to reach the eye
Rosemann shares more below.
Gotcha. So was this clinically tested?
Yup.
Per HOYA, the product underwent extensive testing in five categories to “evaluate specific performance advantages” over competitors and previous AR treatments.
The categories included:
- Visual clarity
- Durability of cleanability
- Scratch-resistance to abrasion
- Thermal resistance
- Peeling resistance
Why these categories?
The testing was based on data from a 2019 VisionWatch consumer survey that identified consumers’ desired benefits from AR treatment: clarity, improved scratch resistance, and full UV protection.
Chief among their complaints were that such treatments “scratched too easily and [were] too hard to keep clean.”
Tell me more about this testing.
The company used the LongLife Index (LLI)—a measure of the performance and durability of AR lens treatments HOYA developed as a standard evaluation method—to conduct five tests:
- Droplet test
- Sandpit test (HOYA Bayer value)
- Steel wool test
- Oven test
- Extreme weather test
See here for details on each (page 7).
Give me specifics.
Per HOYA, the following data was collected on the product (and compared against leading competitors’ best coated AR technology):
- Droplet test
- 56% lower reflectance than major competitors’ best coating
- Sandpit test
- Two times better at abrasion resistance than several competitors’ coatings
- Steel wool test
- Two times better at abrasion resistance than several competitors’ coatings
- Oven test
- Highest amount of heat resistance compared to all other commercially available coatings
- Extreme weather test
- Retained over 90% of coating properties after 4 weeks of testing
According to Rosemann, testing also found the Meiryo EX4 easier to clean 10 times longer than major competitors’ best coating. “That is 10 times longer than the leading competitor in the market, with their top-tier, anti-reflective treatment,” she said.
And the UV protection?
Rosemann stated that the Meiryo Ex4 provides 100% more UV protection from both the front and back of the lens. “We’ve added this UV protection to the back of the lens that allows the UV to come into the lens and be dispersed throughout the edges,” she said.
So … is this available yet?
The Super HiVision Meiryo EX4 is now available for private pay, and will be available for EyeMed orders starting October 31, 2023, and via VSP on November 15, 2023.
To order, contact a HOYA sales representative (click here).
Stop by HOYA Vision Care’s booth at Vision Expo West (Booth #F5059) to learn more.
Vision Expo West 2023 is being held September 27-30, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Venetian Convention & Expo Center.