Progressive lens wear can be a tricky subject for patients and practitioners alike. Traditional progressive lenses are produced from semi-finished lens blanks that are factory-molded in mass quantity and are designed for a few average prescription powers using average fitting parameters for standard frame sizes. In contrast, Zeiss Individual™ from Carl Zeiss Vision delivers ideal progressive lens performance for each wearer by employing the company’s proprietary optical design engine and patented free-form technology.

A recent unpublished clinical trial conducted by the Clinical Research Center of The University of California, Berkeley School of Optometry, by Han, Graham and Lin, of experienced progressive addition lens (PAL) wearers wearing customized free-form PAL spectacles and traditional semi-finished PAL spectacles revealed that there were statistically significant preferences for the optically customized free-form lenses over the traditional semi-finished progressive lenses.

The four optometrists interviewed for this article are no strangers to presbyopes or to progressive lenses. Here, they share their experiences, insights and opinions on progressive lenses—in particular the Zeiss Individual personalized lens—and we will see how they relate to the U.C. Berkeley trial findings.