Eye health resource
Vision Expo East 2019: What Still Matters for Eye Care Today
A look back at Vision Expo East 2019—and the eyewear, technology, pediatric eye care, and patient-experience ideas that still matter in eye care today.
Reviewed for accuracy by Justin Bazan, OD on .
Vision Expo East 2019 is now a historical event, so an old list of product launches and conference buzz would not be very useful to someone choosing eye care today. We have kept this page because it documents a real moment in the optical industry, but updated it to answer a better question: what ideas from that era still matter for patients now?
According to The Vision Council’s official 2019 recap, more than 14,800 eye-care professionals attended Vision Expo East that year. The show combined eyewear, education, technology, fashion, and business—not unlike the mix patients still encounter when they visit a modern optometry practice.
1. Eyewear is still both a medical device and something you live in every day
Frames may be fashion, but prescription eyewear also has to work with your prescription, lens design, face, and daily routine. A frame that looks great but fits poorly can make even excellent lenses frustrating to wear.
At Park Slope Eye, eyewear remains an in-office service. We carry independent frame brands as well as children’s eyewear, and we can provide a quote after your exam. You are never required to purchase glasses from us in order to receive your prescription.
2. Better technology is useful when it makes the examination better for the patient
Eye-care technology has continued to evolve since 2019, but new equipment is not valuable simply because it is new. The useful question is what information it adds and how it improves a clinical decision.
Our current exam technology includes Optos wide-angle retinal photography, Topcon Maestro OCT, and a Topcon Chronos-assisted refraction workflow. Optos photographs a wide area of the retina. OCT provides cross-sectional structural images of the retina and optic nerve when that information is clinically useful. Chronos helps collect objective measurements efficiently and then supports the doctor in refining the final eyeglass prescription with the patient’s responses.
Those tools do different jobs. None replaces clinical judgment, and no test is automatically necessary for every patient.
3. Children’s eye care has moved beyond simply asking whether a child can read an eye chart
One of the biggest changes in modern eye care has been increased attention to myopia progression—not just correcting a child’s nearsightedness, but considering whether treatment may help slow how quickly it worsens.
Park Slope Eye currently provides several myopia-management options when appropriate, including orthokeratology (Ortho-K), low-dose atropine, and soft multifocal or myopia-control contact lenses. We do not currently offer axial-length measurement.
We also examine children of all ages, including infants, and participate in InfantSEE, which provides a qualifying infant with a no-charge eye assessment during the first year of life.
4. Industry trends are not the same thing as clinical evidence
Conferences are useful places for doctors, opticians, manufacturers, and educators to exchange ideas. They can also generate plenty of excitement around new products.
For patients, however, a product appearing at a trade show is not by itself a reason to use it. A useful technology, lens, treatment, or frame still has to fit the patient’s needs, evidence, prescription, comfort, and goals.
That principle has aged better than any individual 2019 product launch.
What changed from the original 2019 article?
The original version of this page focused on that year’s conference highlights, social-media activity, speakers, awards, and newly launched eyewear. Those details remain part of the historical record, but they are no longer presented as current recommendations.
Instead, this updated version preserves the historical context while connecting it to the parts of modern eye care that patients can actually use when making decisions today.
Source
Originally published . Substantially updated .