DALLAS—The OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation is taking steps to encourage eye doctors to give back in their communities by holding a Changing Life through Lenses Day. Changing Life through Lenses Day is not one specific day, OneSight noted, but rather it’s any day an OD chooses to give eye exams to people in need and to use the Changing Life through Lenses program to provide glasses at no cost to the patient or the practice. Thanks to the generosity of EssilorLuxottica, which donates lenses, frames and lab services, the cost to serve is low, according to the OneSight Essilor Luxottica Foundation announcement this week.

This ongoing product donation has a significant impact, enabling the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation to offer free glasses to ODs and non-profits for patients in need.

Essilor Vision Foundation (now reorganized under the OneSight EssilorLuxottica name) first launched the Changing Life through Lenses program, a first-of-its-kind charitable solution equipping eye-care providers with the tools needed to eliminate poor vision among the underserved in their communities, in late 2018, and then enhanced the program a few months later, as VMAIL reported.

In 2022, eye doctors across the country are encouraged to host their own Changing Life through Lenses Day. ODs can get free glasses and resources, including:

  • A vision fest guide to help with planning

  • A checklist to help ODs make sure they have everything they need before, during and after their event

  • Free glasses for charitable patients

  • Free marketing resources to promote the practice
Giving back is good for business, and participating in a charitable program like Changing Life through Lenses can help an eye doctor grow their practice and build loyalty, the announcement noted.

Consider these facts:

  • A OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation survey found that 61 percent of consumers would choose an eye doctor who supports a charitable cause over one who does not.

  • 89 percent of consumers would switch brands to help support a good cause.

  • 85 percent of consumers have a more positive image of products or companies when they support a cause they care about.
Eye doctors in every state are using Changing Life through Lenses to make a difference for people with vision issues. Since 2018, more than 3,000 ODs have enrolled in the program to help them give back:

  • 84 percent of ODs surveyed said Changing Life through Lenses moderately or significantly impacted their ability to start or expand their charitable efforts

  • Nearly 50 percent said access to free glasses is the No. 1 benefit of the program
Here are two examples of how giving back positively impacts a community:

Mackenzie Weir, OD, has hosted two Changing Life through Lenses Days for children in her community. “Our whole practice donated their time to this event because we know that giving exams and glasses to kids in need can be really impactful,” she said.

Marcy O’Neil, director of Tundra Health Initiative, a non-profit that provides quality eyecare to the children of rural Alaska, said, “We have served many children who knew they needed glasses but their parents did not think to bring them to see the eye doctor when one came to their village.”

Poor vision affects millions of adults and children in the U.S. Eye doctors can visit Changing Life through Lenses to learn how to host a vision event and make a positive impact in their own community.