EDITORIAL 020 7501 6745 Editor-in-chief Chris Bennett 020 7501 6660 chris.bennett@markallengroup.com Editor Simon Jones 020 7501 6667 simon.jones@markallengroup.com Clinical editor Bill Harvey 07766 508458 bill.harvey@markallengroup.com Features & education editor Mike Hale 020 7501 6670 mike.hale@markallengroup.com Content editor Andrew McClean 020 7501 6788 andrew.mcclean@markallengroup.com Reporter Yiannis Kotoulas 020 7501 6663 yiannis.kotoulas@markallengroup.com Production editor Gary O’Connell 020 7501 6706 gary.o’connell@markallengroup.com Art editor Sara Challinor 020 7501 6666 sara.challinor@markallengroup.com ADVERTISING & SPONSORSHIP Sales director Darren Ward 020 7501 6668 darren.ward@markallengroup.com Key account manager Joseph Lever 020 7501 6708 joseph.lever@markallengroup.com RECRUITMENT & CLASSIFIED Recruitment solutions manager Daniel Doherty 020 7501 6686 daniel.doherty@markallengroup.com Managing director Anthony Kerr 020 7501 6726 anthony.kerr@markallengroup.com Group production manager Kyri Apostolou 020 7501 6779 kyri.apostolou@markallengroup.com Production director Richard Hamshere Chief executive officer Ben Allen Chairman Mark Allen EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Will Ayliffe PhD FRCS FRCOphth DO; Sally Bates FBDO; Dr Frank Eperjesi PhD BSc MCOptom FAAO; Professor Bernard Gilmartin PhD FCOptom FAAO; Graham Hutchison MBA; Professor Mo Jalie SMSA FBDO FCGI MIMgt; Dr Lyndon Jones PhD FCOptom DCLP DOrth FAAO; Geoff Roberson BSc FCOptom; Dr Steve Taylor PhD MSc FCOptom; Graeme Young MPhil FCOptom DCLP FAAO SUBSCRIPTIONS 0800 137201 Subscribe or renew 01722 716997 subscriptions@markallengroup.com BACK ISSUES 01722 716997 REPRINTS 020 7501 6790 ISSN 0030.3968

Part of www.markallengroup.com

Optician is published every Friday © 2021 MA Healthcare Ltd St Judes Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB. Telephone 020 7738 5454 Website: www.opticianonline.net ISSN 0030.3968 Printed in Britain by Pensord Press, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Gwent, NP12 2YA Please read our privacy policy at privacypolicy.markallengroup.com. This will explain how we process, use and safeguard your data facebook.com/opticianonline

7 DAYS

To read the full stories and keep up to date on the latest news and views visit opticianonline.net

Student DO erased from register

A student dispensing optician based in Leeds has been erased from the General Optical Council’s register after a fitness to practise committee decision.

Haroon Amin’s fitness to undertake training was found to be impaired because he failed to engage with the regulator when he did not attend a substantive review hearing.

The committee said Amin did not provide any evidence of remorse, insight, remediation and did not provide anything to suggest that a further period of suspension would achieve any useful purpose.

Amin was initially suspended from the GOC register in November, 2020 for 12 months for misconduct in relation to plagiarism and dishonesty.

Master’s eye care agenda Optometrist Ian Davies has officially taken office as master of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers (WCSM) for 2021-22 and honorary vice president of Vision Foundation.

Davies worked at Johnson & Johnson Vision Care for 22 years in roles such as vice president of global professional affairs until 2018 and now worked as a consultant and event speaker.

He commented: ‘Becoming master of this company is a great honour. The company brings

Master of the WCSM Ian Davies together people from every discipline in vision care. I want to harness that talent and use my mastership to promote the need for eye care in the young, better job opportunities for the vision impaired and the wide range of career opportunities that exist across the vision and sight loss sectors.’

Alcon makes changes to senior team Alcon has appointed two people to its leadership team in the UK & Ireland after members of the team were promoted within the company.

Karen Stoddart was made head of Vision Care Country Franchise for the UK & Ireland after she joined the company as head of customer operations in 2020.

She succeeded Chantelle Cook, who has joined Alcon’s global team, and will focus on collaborating with customers and bringing Alcon’s products to market.

Rebecca Stoner took the position of head of professional affairs for the UK & Ireland and succeeded Jonathan Bench, who has moved to an international role at Alcon.

Stoner joined Alcon from Topcon healthcare where she worked for four-and-a-half years as clinical affairs specialist and global trainer.

Presbyopia film nominated for award An interactive film created by CooperVision to inspire practitioner confidence around presbyopia and fitting multifocal contact lenses has been shortlisted for the EVCOM London Film Awards.

The company’s film, entitled A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Opticians, followed a reluctant presbyope who was in denial about his age and growing need for near

CooperVision’s presbyopia film vision correction.

Samantha Armstrong, professional services consultant at CooperVision, designed and scripted the film. ‘When I conceptualised this film, I just wanted to produce an educational tool that was really helpful for the contact lens practitioner but in a lighthearted, interactive way,’ she said.

The film allowed viewers to choose their own adventure and explore the humorous wrong answers before convincing the patient to explore vision correction options.

Trial finds SightGlass slows myopia progression A two-year clinical study has found SightGlass Vision’s Diffusion Optics Technology slowed progression of myopia when compared to a group that did not wear the lenses.

It showed 85% of children who wore the spectacle lenses showed less than one dioptre of myopia progression after two years of wear.

Joe Rappon, chief medical officer for SightGlass Vision, said: ‘Applying our Diffusion Optics Technology to spectacle lenses makes myopia management straightforward to integrate within eye care practices and easy to become part of children’s everyday lives.’

In February this year, CooperCompanies and EssilorLuxottica jointly acquired SightGlass Vision to accelerate the commercialisation of the technology.

4 OPTICIAN 15 October 2021

opticianonline.net