Zeiss Technology

ZEISS are internationally acknowledged as the world-leaders in optical innovation and excellence in all matters optical, across its binoculars, medical technology, photography and vision care divisions.

As a company wholly owned by a foundation, profits are ploughed into R&D rather than shareholders’ profit, which leads to continuous innovation.

ZEISS champion independent opticians and the iProfiler and iTerminal specialist instruments are only available in a handful of UK independent opticians and none of the chains.

We’re great fans of ZEISS. They are renowned for producing the very best lenses, their glazing lab is B corp and very close to being carbon neutral.

And… they’ve won an Oscar for some fancy cine film lens. (What dio you think of that, Essilor?)

We’re proud to be the only optometrist in London with the iProfiler and iTerminal that allows us to provide customised lenses that are as accurate as technology allows.

There are three steps necessary to do this: the ZEISS iProfiler mapping, the normal subjective refraction and the ZEISS iTerminal measurements. 

The ZEISS iProfiler maps the focus of your eye across 1500 points to build a topographical map and a 3D profile of your eye’s focus.

The eye’s focus is rarely consistent across the whole cornea and the focus map reveals the variation of sight across the cornea, which is considerably more accurate and revealing than traditional methods of eyesight measurement.

For example, if the focus is substantially different towards the outer edges of your cornea, you’re likely to have different sight depending on your pupil size. This can mean that you would be better off with a separate pair of glasses for day (small pupils) and night (large pupils).

The topographer is used in advanced contact lens fitting to ensure perfect fitting, particularly for more advanced and complex contact lenses, such as for keratoconus. 

The iProfiler also aids with analysis of the tear film, which is essential for quantifying tear function and dryness.

This is the traditional method of determining the optimum corrective lens – by asking questions, such as “which is clearer, lens 1 or 2?” Whilst there are many checks involved to ensure consistency, there’s often a degree of uncertainty, depending on the accuracy and observations of the subject and the patience and precision of the optometrist.

The refraction is subjective, i.e., dependent on the accuracy of answers given, as opposed to objective, which is impartial and measured by observation, independent of human errors. 

The optimum is a combination of both measurements – objective and subjective. And that’s why the clever people at ZEISS modify the lens once they know both.

The ZEISS iTerminal is an instrument that accurately measures the position of the eyes relative to the frame that is being dispensed. As well as measuring the vertical and horizontal positions, the iTerminal measures the pantoscopic angle (the angle of the frame to your face) and the wrap angle of the frame (how curved it is).

These measurements are critical for successful adaptation to progressive lenses and for optimum clarity through all lenses, including relatively simple single-focus ones.

Using both the ZEISS iProfiler diagnostics and the subjective refraction, a complex formula produces the optimum prescription, to a precision of 0.01 dioptres, which is then custom-made by ZEISS. These iScription lenses are available in single-focus or multifocal form.

The resultant lenses provide superior vision to conventional lenses, including improvement of vision in low-light and at night which improves contrast and colour perception.

I have a pair of iScription multifocals and can honestly say that I have never seen so well through a pair of glasses!