Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, eyecare professionals have adopted strict hygiene protocols. That puts pressure on their ability to serve the same number of patients they used to see before COVID-19.

To address the situation, Zeiss Vision Care US is launching Zeiss UVClean technology, an optometry-specific UV-C disinfecting device designed especially for eyecare professionals and developed in conjunction with Voxelight, LLC.

Intended for the dispensary Zeiss UVClean alleviates the high costs that have become the new normal in a COVID-19 environment. Zeiss developed the device with the insight and support of several practices across the U.S. including Carrboro Family Vision in North Carolina.

Like many other businesses, Carrboro Family Vision has had to create protocols to sterilize frames after patients have tried them on, requiring the frames to be removed from the frame board, in order to keep patients feeling safe. Other cleaning options require downtime for frames, unattractive “buckets” of cleaning solution, and additional staffing and time to handwash each frame.

Carrboro Family Vision has been using UVClean in their practice for more than five weeks in order to evaluate how it stands up to daily cleaning, efficiency, gentleness on frames and ease of use.

“UVClean eliminates the burden on staffing to handwash frames each time they are tried on. Our staff loves it, our patients love it, and we can’t imagine how we ever functioned without it. We are always looking for innovative ways to adapt to our changing environment, and we think this will be a blockbuster,” said Lynne Yellin, office manager at Carrboro Family Vision,  who is pictured above.

“We don’t ever want to give it back. It makes such a difference. We pushed the button the first time and were surprised at how quick and easy it was. 40 seconds and it’s done. We didn’t believe it. We can get the frames back on the board before the next patient comes through.”