More Images
Mark Mattison-Shupnick (l) facilitated a panel with eyecare professionals Johnna Dukes, Melissa Huebner, and Dr. KJ Shaheen II at EnChroma's booth.
LAS VEGAS—A crowd of eyecare professionals and optical retailers gathered at EnChroma’s booth at Vision Expo West last Friday for a panel discussion focused on color blindness and how prescribing EnChroma’s eyewear and technology have positively impacted patients and practices. The panelists included optician Johnna Dukes of Optique, KJ Shaheen II, OD, of Hills & Dales Vision, and optician Melissa Huebner of Insight Eye Care, all of whom are authorized EnChroma retailers. Mark Mattison-Shupnick, vice president of business development at EnChroma, facilitated the event.

“Every office has color blind patients as part of their practice,” said Mattison-Shupnick. “Every community in which practices are located have color blind individuals so this is an opportunity for the eyecare professional to ask their peers a variety of questions of how EnChroma might be the right fit for their practice.”

Mattison-Shupnick told VMAIL that he organized the panel to address color blindness, an inability to distinguish between certain colors affects, and answer questions eyecare professionals may have about EnChroma eyewear.

Huebner said EnChroma eyewear offers a solution to color blindness, a condition that affects 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. Prior to that, there were very few options for clients suffering from color vision deficiency.

“We would give them color blind tests, but that was the end of it,” Huebner said. “Patients would ask ‘What’s next?,' but there was nothing really out there.”

The panelists also discussed how using EnChroma eyewear has helped them differentiate themselves from other practices. “If you offer people a solution they’ve never seen before it does help establish you as an expert,” said Dukes.