Essilor celebrates better vision with World Sight Day

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Since the outbreak began in 2020, people have been spending a major part of their days looking at their screens, especially as schools and work have shifted virtually. As a result, there have been increased cases of eye strain, eye fatigue, and myopia progression. This year, Essilor celebrates better vision with World Sight Day and its mission to help everyone in the world to “see more, be more and live life to its fullest”

“Our sense of sight is essential to our day-to-day living. But with increased screen time during the lockdown, we were exposed to UV and harmful lights, we have pushed our eyes to the limits which may have led us to experience eye strain and eye fatigue more often,” said Ms. Jinky Navo-Palteng, Marketing Manager of Essilor Philippines. The celebration of World Sight Day reminds everyone to visit their eye doctor regularly and good eye health habits.”

During a media press conference via Zoom, Dr. Anthony Ayson, Essilor Philippines Lens Consultant, gave insightful presentations and discussed about eye health and how Essilor has improved lives with better eyesight through its various brands like Varilux and Crizal.

Meanwhile, JV Velasco, Essilor Philippines Consumer Marketing Executive, invited participants to join “Essilove: Celebrate Better Vision” Night. “As a leader in the eyecare industry, we are committed to promoting World Sight Day among our stakeholders in a powerful way,” said Velasco.

As part of the celebration, Essilor has lined up a series of exciting events to celebrate World Sight Day 2021. It will kick-off with the EssiLove Night, a digital concert featuring Ben&Ben to raise awareness about poor vision and the need for a regular eye exam. The online concert treat will be aired live on Essilor’s official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/EssilorPhilippines) on October 14, 2021 at 7PM. Essilor also developed a Facebook profile banner that users can post along with their profile picture to raise awareness on better eye health.

Viewers can get the chance to win exciting giveaways from Essilor when they share a selfie while watching the EssiLove Night and post it using the hashtags #WorldSightDay and #EssilorwithBen&Ben or they can also opt to join the digital quiz, answering questions alongside the Ben&Ben performance.

In addition to celebrating better vision, Essilor has extended its Multi Pair promo where customers who buy one (1) prescription eyeglasses can purchase 50% off on the second pair until December 31, 2021. They can visit and book an appointment online at our partner optical shops at Essilor website www.essilor.com.ph.

This World Sight Day, everyone is invited to go and give our eyes some TLC with Essilor. Let us put our vision first! To know more, visit https://www.essilor.com.ph and for more updates, follow Essilor Philippines’ Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/EssilorPhilippines.

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About Essilor

The world's leading ophthalmic optics company, Essilor designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of lenses to improve and protect eyesight. Its mission is to improve lives by improving sight. To support this mission, Essilor allocates more than €200 million to research and innovation every year, in a commitment to continuously bring new, more effective products to market. Its flagship brands are Varilux®, Crizal®, Crizal Transitions®, Crizal Eyezen™, Xperio®, It also develops and markets equipment, instruments and services for eyecare professionals.

Essilor reported consolidated revenue of more than €7.1 billion in 2016 and employs 64,000 people worldwide. It markets its products in more than 100 countries and has 32 plants, 523 prescription laboratories and edging facilities, as well as five research and development centres around the world. For more information, please visit www.essilor.com.

The Essilor share trades on the Euronext Paris market and is included in the Euro Stoxx 50 and CAC 40 indices.

Essilor’s Eye Can Succeed awarded Golden World Awards

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Eye Can Succeed, an advocacy campaign dedicated to improving Filipino lives by improving sight, won its first global award, the Golden World Awards for Excellence in Public Relations – Healthcare category. Held at the Hotel Catalonia, Barcelona Plaza in Spain and attended by delegates from 60 countries worldwide, the GWA awarded Essilor’s Eye Can Succeed for successfully providing free eye care services to 10,000 Filipino senior high school students and distributing prescription glasses to those in need. Eye Can Succeed campaign was spearheaded by Essilor Vision Foundation (EVF), the philanthropic arm of Essilor. Dubbed “Oscars of PR”, the annual Golden World Awards is organized by the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), the leading global network for Public Relations professionals. 

It is the world’s most prestigious PR award-giving body that recognizes best in public relations practices worldwide in different categories. Receiving the gold award in behalf of Essilor Philippines were (from left to right) Essilor Spain Consumer and Categories marketing manager Hugo Velasco, PR manager Adriana Garcia, and FuentesManila president Edd Fuentes. 

Essilor volunteer tops optometrist board exam

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Morel Paul Abesamis, Essilor volunteer for eye health care campaign and graduate of Manila Central University (MCU), successfully topped the 2018 Optometry Licensure Exam with a rating of 87.23%. Conducted by the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC), this year’s Optometry Licensure Exam recorded 188 successful passers, out of the 222 who took the exam. Last year, Essilor scholar Jennifer Parmerola, who is also a graduate of MCU, also topped the 2017 Optometry Licensure Exam. As the world leader in ophthalmic optics and a key player in visual health, the Essilor Group provides solutions to protect visual health, as well as correct and prevent visual problems. Essilor is also dedicated to providing underprivileged people the opportunity to live a better life through various global philanthropic and scholarship programs. 

For more information, visit Essilor’s website at www.essilor.com.ph, and follow @EssilorPH on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Essilor wins Sustainable Business Award for UN Sustainable Development Goals

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Essilor was recognized by the Sustainable Business Awards, Singapore, in this year’s newly added category “UN Sustainable Development Goals: Understanding the company’s roles and initiatives in working to deliver the UN SDGs.” This award celebrates Essilor’s commitment to responsibly fighting the world’s largest disability, uncorrected poor vision. Through Essilor’s mission and the sustainable approach Essilor has adopted across its value chain, the company contributes to 13 out of 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Amy Hing, Singapore Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources Policy Deputy Secretary, presents the award to Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, Essilor’s Chief Mission Officer 

Essilor’s chairman and chief executive officer, Hubert Sagnières, commented: “Essilor’s mission to improve lives by improving sight, combined with the company’s unique principles and values, are at the heart of the Group’s long-term commitment to sustainable development. This Award will help raise awareness that good vision is one of the key enablers to the Global Goals and help us achieve our Mission to bring good vision to all.”

Essilor’s Chief Mission Officer, Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, said; “I am delighted to accept this award on behalf the 64,000 employees of Essilor. Our mission to responsibly provide everyone, everywhere, with quality vision care, pushes us to go further in our sustainability commitments. We’re very proud of our team’s achievements and stay strongly committed to the Sustainable Development Goals.”

For more information about The Essilor Group, visit www.essilor.com.ph, and follow @EssilorPH on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Have you had your eyes checked?

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Essilor, the world’s leading ophthalmic optics company, reminds everyone to go for an eye check-up as part of the educational campaign of Crizal®, one of the company’s flagship brands.

The campaign, Create beautiful moments, actively encourages the public to have their eyes checked as Essilor believes that beautiful moments in life deserve the clearest vision. 

“Protecting healthy eyes is as important as correcting vision problems,” explains Essilor general manager, Dr. Emelita Roleda. “Through the Create beautiful moments campaign, we can educate the public on the value of healthy eyesight, for everyone to realize that it need not take a missed moment to have a reason to visit your eye doctor. Everyone should have an eye check up at least once a year.” 

A visit to your optometrist will reveal more just your current prescription. Your eye doctor can also determine what preventive actions you should take against permanent damage and can even provide great insights into your general well-being. Aside from checking how well your eye muscles work, the optometrist can also gauge if you are suffering from any ailment that can affect your eyesight and your overall health, including diabetes and glaucoma.

Your vision dictates both how you see life and how you live it. Regardless of age and physical health, routine eye check-ups are vital to keep your eyes healthy and stay focused on life’s moments. 

Crizal® allows Filipinos to live life more clearly with its line of Anti-reflective lenses. Whether prescription, for outdoor activity, indoor use or part of a digital lifestyle, these lenses filter and deflect harmful UV and blue light, lowering the risk of eye fatigue and preventing long-term vision damage. Crizal® lenses are available at leading optical shops and through eye care professionals nationwide.

For more information, visit Essilor’s website at http://www.essilor.com.ph / www.essilor.com.ph.

Essilor and GMA Kapuso Foundation provide 500 prescription glasses

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In its commitment to provide better visual health for all, Essilor, the world leader for ophthalmic optics, reached out to Filipinos in need of vision correction at the annual Kapuso 20-20 Eye Project. 

Together with GMA Kapuso Foundation, Essilor provided 500 pairs of prescription glasses to underprivileged Filipinos at the GMA Kapuso Foundation booth. Apart from eye glasses, Essilor also gave free vision screening and eye check up. 

“Many Filipinos suffer from poor vision and it is our company’s commitment to help address this problem globally,” said Dr. Emelita Roleda, General Manager of Essilor Philippines. “That’s why we are very pleased to be part of outreach programs like this where we can help Filipinos see better, raise awareness on the importance of having healthy vision and emphasize the urgency of having your vision corrected.”

The event, which was held at the GMA Kapuso headquarters, was done in celebration of Sight Saving month. The outreach project was also supported by volunteer doctors from integrated phil assoc of optometrists (IPAO).

This project is a yearly partnership with GMA Kapuso Foundation. Last year, Essilor Vision Foundation, GMA Kapuso Foundation and Integrated Philippines Association of Optometrists (IPAO) provided free refraction and eyeglasses to 692 individuals (312 in Manila, 209 in Cebu, 181 in Davao) through the Kapuso 20/20 project. 

This outreach is part of the Essilor Group’s global strategy to address a global issue – the prevalence of uncorrected poor vision around the world and the need for governments and corporations to play a role in providing access to vision correction, particularly in emerging markets. 

“This is just one of the many projects lined up for this year that is geared towards better vision across the country,” Dr. Roleda added.

Essilor backs Philippine co-chairs to 2015 Social Impact Summit

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Essilor Philippines marketing executive Edwin Sunga and marketing manager Jinky Navo

Essilor Vision Foundation, under the Essilor Group, is focused on the importance of healthy vision in sports and in helping individuals with intellectual disabilities work towards generating acceptance and inclusion in the community. True to this commitment, the Essilor Vision Foundation backs the Philippine co-chairs to the 2015 Special Olympics Social Impact Summit. 

Special Olympics Philippines national executive director Kaye Samson

Lions Club of Manila representative Valentin Tio (left) and Chairman George Yuquico

Social Impact Summit, formerly known as Global Youth Activation Summit, is a six-day international convention that enjoins 120 youth leaders from 30 countries to generate critical social change around the pressing issues facing people with intellectual disabilities. It will be held in conjunction with the Special Olympics World Games at Los Angeles, California. 

Philippine representatives Brina Maxino and Sashi Montaňa proactively shared their experiences as delegates in the 2013 Global Youth Activation Summit in South Korea. Through the summit, they learned how to educate and motivate people into advocating acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. Because of their active involvement in this advocacy for years, they have been elected as co-chairs for this year’s Social Impact Summit. 

“Every person with disability can change the world, and I am very excited to be part of this journey,” said Brina Maxino. “We look forward to meeting other young people whose ideas can help people with intellectual disabilities develop their abilities, nurture their talents, and live with dignity and respect,” added Sashi Montaňa.

Special Olympics 2015 Social Impact Summit co-chairs Brina Maxino (left) and Sashi Montaña

Brina and Sashi’s presentation “Eye Can Play: A Healthy Eyeffair” uses an “edutainment” approach to help Special Olympics athletes, their caregivers and their families learn more about the importance of healthy vision. Supported by Essilor Vision Foundation, Eye Can Play has notched the Top 5 spot in the summit, granting $3,000 for the Philippines and earning accolades from the organizers and sponsors of the 2015 Special Olympics.

“Essilor Vision Foundation has been a proud sponsor of Special Olympics for more than a decade by providing prescription eyewear, protective eyewear, as well as visual counselling for Special Olympics athletes,” said Essilor marketing manager Jinky Navo. “We are honored to be supporting the 2015 Social Impact Summit particularly with our Filipina co-chairs in the lead.”

Special Olympics Philippines team guardians Mac Palafox-Pascua (left) and Winston Maxino

Essilor supports Philippine ambassadors of this year’s Social Impact Summit

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Essilor Vision Foundation has joined non-profit humanitarian organization Special Olympics in support of the country’s chosen ambassadors Sashi Montana (fifth from left) and Brina Maxino (sixth from left) in this year’s Social Impact Summit, a six-day summit designed to generate critical change around pressing issues facing people with intellectual disabilities.

The delegates recently visited Essilor’s Manila office to meet with executives of the brand and discuss activities for the upcoming event.

Photo shows (from left): Special Olympics-Philippines Head Coach Kaye Samson, Essilor Philippines General Manager Dr. Emelita Roleda, Essilor Vision Foundation Director of Communications Laura Viscovich, Essilor Vision Foundation ASEAN Head Yvonne Siow, Special Olympics International Director of Operations for Asia Pacific Simon Koh, Essilor Philippines Marketing Manager Jinky Navo and Essilor Philippines General Manager-Commercial Dr. Kyle Galias

Essilor brand ambassador Piolo Pascual shares tips for healthy eyes

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Essilor brand ambassador Piolo Pascual always wears his lenses when using his mobile device

Of all the good-looking men in the entertainment industry, Piolo Pascual is known to stand out from the rest. With just one look from those dreamy and mesmerizing eyes, he can make any girl swoon. But Piolo himself is quick to point out: Having beautiful eyes is not enough. One must have healthy vision as well because this will help you perform tasks and achieve your daily goals. 

“In my line of work as an actor, it is very important to read your co-actor’s facial cues properly in a dialogue, and you can only accomplish it with good eyesight.  That is why eye care is a serious matter for me. Without good vision, we can only do so much, and this limitation can stand in the way of achieving our goals.” 

That’s what Piolo shared with media friends during the launch of “Seeing the World Better,” a public awareness campaign on the importance of good vision organized by Essilor, the world leader in vision solutions.

Here, Essilor’s brand ambassador Piolo Pascual shares some important tips for healthy eyes: 

Keep your eyeglasses on. 

“I am fond of surfing the internet through my mobile device, but I have learned that the blue light from electronic devices can harm our eyesight, so I always wear my eye lenses on,” Piolo shared. Harmful blue light is a risk factor for the onset of age-related macular degeneration, a deterioration of the part of the retina responsible for sharp, central vision. To prevent its damaging effect, eye doctors recommend wearing lenses that effectively blocks the harmful blue light. Reading in a dark room should also be avoided. With only your mobile device as your main light, the glare on the screen can cause eye strain. 

Follow a healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet. 

Eating a healthy, nutritious diet is beneficial to our eyes. Vitamins C, A and E, folic acid, selenium and zinc, which are present in fruits and vegetables, can make your eyes healthy. Have a daily dose of fruits and vegetables like grapes carrots, spinach, kale, or collard greens, for a clearer, better vision. 

Keeping a healthy lifestyle can also be helpful to your eyes, and your overall health. Piolo, who is a known triathlete, maintains a healthy lifestyle by engaging in sports like swimming, biking and running. By maintaining healthy weight, it reduces the chance of getting eye diseases. According to National Eye Institute, being overweight or obese increases your risk of developing diabetes and other systemic conditions, which can lead to vision loss, such as diabetic eye disease or glaucoma.

Visit your optometrist regularly 

Piolo shared that he has 20/20 vision, but despite having perfect eyesight, he regularly sees an eye doctor to make sure his eyes are in good condition. Regular visits to an eye doctor are very important because it can pick up early signs of eye conditions. You need not wait for symptoms like headaches, dizziness, nausea and cloudy vision before visiting your optometrist. At the same time, eye check-ups may also detect most diseases, such as diabetes, arthritis, heart diseases, and even certain cancers, and can help cure or prevent these diseases from worsening over time. Make an appointment with your eye doctor once a year to keep your eyes and whole body healthy. 

There you have it -- Straight from the man whose expressive, healthy eyes have captivated legions of admirers. By simply keeping these tips in mind, we can keep our precious peepers looking good and healthy and be able to perform our daily activities the best way we can. 

Crizal launches first preventive lenses for selective protection against blue light and UV rays

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Essilor, the world leader in corrective lenses, is launching the first lens to offer selective protection against harmful blue light and UV rays. Crizal Prevencia lens lets in essential light, which your body needs to function properly, while filtering out harmful light. It thus helps to protect your eyes against the risk of retina damage, caused by Blue-Violet light, and to reduce the risk of cataracts, which can result from overexposure to UV.

Prevention is essential, especially for children & adults over 45

Prevention with Crizal Prevencia is currently the first line of defence against the worldwide problems of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and cataracts. These conditions affect more than 350 million people around the world, a figure that may double in the next 30 years as the worldwide population ages. 

Dr Emelita Roleda, General Manager of Essilor Philippines, sums up the importance of this new lens: “It is a landmark discovery in the field of optical science and we are very proud to have contributed, to this major step forward in the battle against one of the most devastating eye conditions. With Crizal Prevencia, we are pioneers in addressing the challenge of preventative innovation today. This perfectly fits in with Essilor’s strategy of playing a predominant role in the implementation of solutions for better visual health for everyone, all over the world.”

Children and adults over 45 are the most vulnerable to the dangers of light. Children’s developing eyes are very transparent, letting visible light and UV pass through the retina. This is a pressing matter, as they tend to spend their days outdoors, accumulating high exposure of UV. As for adults over 45, their eyes’ natural defence system is weakened and more susceptible to the effects of Blue-Violet light and UV.

Prevention is critical in current digital times

LED-based equipment such as the environmentally safer LED lights and LED screens of smartphones, tablets and laptops, have been shown to emit larger proportion of blue light as compared to the old incandescent lamps and fluorescent tubes. Out of the blue light emitted by these devices, it is the Blue-Violet light that is raising concerns. 

With more people embracing digital lifestyles, exposure to Blue-Violet light increases. Over long hours, it can lead to eyestrain and fatigue, thus overexposure to Blue-Violet light may increase the likelihood of AMD.

Good and bad blue light

Emitted by the sun, as well as by artificial light sources, such as LEDs, blue light is part of visible light and is close to UV on the light spectrum. 

A certain part of blue light, known as Blue-Turquoise light, is a natural form of light therapy. It acts as a “natural regulator” for our bodies, helping balance our sleep cycle and keep us energised and alert.

However, recent research by Essilor and the Paris Vision Institute, one of Europe’s largest eye health research centres, confirms that a specific band of blue light is more harmful for our eyes. The joint team developed a completely new protocol in this scientific domain: an in vitro test on retinal cells to determine the harmfulness of different light rays. This enabled them to identify Blue-Violet light as the portion of the visible light spectrum that presents the biggest risk of causing gradual degeneration of retinal cells, potentially leading to serious eye conditions.

A lens that selectively filters light to reduce the risks of AMD and cataracts

In response to this finding, Essilor has developed the Crizal Prevencia lens, which protects your eyes from the Blue-Violet light that contributes to retinal cell degeneration while allowing beneficial Blue-Turquoise light to pass through. 

This is new category of preventive lenses developed thanks to Light Scan™, an exclusive technology that filters light selectively by letting beneficial Blue-Turquoise light pass through, filtering out harmful Blue-Violet rays that can contribute to AMD and UV rays that are a major cause of cataracts, while maintaining the transparency of the lens, ensuring an optimal visual experience for prescription glasses wearers.

Essilor's Ambassador Piolo Pascual launches campaign for healthy vision

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Philippine's top actor, a sportsman and a known health buff, Piolo Pascual headlining the Essilor's campaign for healthy vision. Essilor's campaign launches today, Monday February 16, 2015 held at the 55 Events Place, Quezon City. 

As Piolo believes prevention is the first step towards healthy vision, will appear in Essilor’s latest TVC and educational materials.

“Good eye health is a serious matter because it is essential to performing practically all our daily tasks. Without good vision, we can only do so much and this limitation can stand in the way of achieving our goals," Piolo said.

In response to reports that over 20 million Filipinos are in need of visual correction, top global ophthalmic lenses manufacturer Essilor has launched a public awareness campaign on the importance of good vision, with top celebrity Piolo Pascual as brand ambassador.

Essilor is the world leader for corrective lenses. The success of the company, which is present in more than 100 countries, is the result of a strategy that has been driven by innovation for more than 160 years. It has been awarded by Forbes magazine as “The World’s Most Innovative Companies” for four consecutive years.

From design to manufacture, Essilor develops a wide range of lenses to protect and correct eyesight. Its mission is to enable everyone in the world to see well using lenses tailored to their needs. The company devotes 150 million euros a year on research and development to offer increasingly efficient products. 

“Across the globe, 4 billion people need visual correction, and in the Philippines, over 20 million individuals need visual correction. As a leader, we feel it is our responsibility to do something to alleviate the situation and this is the reason we are doing this campaign,” said Dr. Emelita Roleda, Essilor general manager. 

“Essilor's ‘Seeing the World Better’ campaign is our company's way of helping the world see better by raising awareness about the importance of healthy vision and address the alarming number of visual impairment cases in the country. We also hope that through this campaign, Filipinos will start paying more attention to their eyes so they can see the world in a clearer and brighter view,” Dr. Roleda added.

To effectively raise awareness, Essilor launched its latest infomercial featuring brand ambassador Piolo Pascual performing various activities – swimming, reading, driving – and how good vision helps him accomplish these tasks effectively. The newest TV ad will air on March 1, at primetime slots on select cable channels.

The campaign will drive three important messages: 

1) Prevention: Essilor lenses help prevent age-related eye diseases

2) Protection: It also helps provide everyday protection from ultraviolet (UV) rays 

    and harmful blue light

 

3) Correction: promote the initial purpose of Essilor which is to help correct eyesight.

Dr. Roleda cites the plethora of electronic devices that we are exposed to everyday, which emits harmful blue lights that damage the retina. “Repetitive exposure to blue light posts threat to our eyes. It may cause oxidative damage, and may be responsible for causing age-related macular degeneration, which can result to blindness.” Wearing protective lenses like Crizal Prevencia, she adds, can do a lot in preventing the detrimental effects of harmful blue light. Crizal Prevencia is the only clear lens that selectively filters harmful blue light from gadgets, LED and UV light while letting through the healthy blue light.

Ultraviolet (UV) rays, on the other hand, contribute to the development of cataracts. Wearing Crizal Forte UV lenses can protect our eyes from these harmful rays. 

For those starting around age 40, our eyes can gradually lose the ability to focus on nearby objects; this is an unavoidable condition but it can be corrected, says Dr Roleda. “Essilor Varilux progressive lenses offer a smooth transition from distance vision through intermediate vision to near vision. This means that instead of having just two different viewing zones (near and distant), like with bifocals, Varilux provides the most natural vision correction,” said Dr. Roleda.

Founded in 1972, Essilor is a worldwide leader in developing and manufacturing ophthalmic lenses, lens coatings and dispensary technologies. Premium eyeglass lenses from Essilor are the result of more than 150 years of advanced research, innovation and technology.

A true leader in innovation, Essilor revolutionized the vision correction industry in 1959 with the invention of the world’s first progressive lens. The brand provides consumers and the eye care professionals with quality spectacle lenses, diagnostic tools, services and support in business. 

Photos: Arts Travel Magazine