Good vision is essential for our everyday wellbeing and quality of life. Seeing well enables us to learn, work, and fully interact with the world around us. That’s why Essilor is driven by our mission of
improving lives by improving sight.
There are two million people in the UK that live with sight loss. It is predicted that by 2020 the number will rise to 2,250,000. By 2050 it will be over four million (RNIB) with one in five people living with sight loss in their lifetime due to the ageing population and the associated eye diseases of macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts and diabetic retinopathy.
Together with our partner company Humanware, we have a
range of low vision aids to assist people whose sight cannot be helped with regular spectacles, or when surgery or medical treatment is not appropriate.
Almost half of blind and partially sighted people feel ‘moderately’ or ‘completely’ cut off from people and things around them. With a little help from a low vision aid, we aim to connect these people with society giving them the ability to interact and at the same time to be independent and enjoy a more complete life.
There are over 25,000 visually impaired children aged 16 years and under in the UK, and only one in four registered blind or partially sighted people of working age is in employment. The
Connect 12, and the
Explore 8 are products that can help in the classroom and the workplace.
![Low Vision Aids]()
The most advanced product we have for the visually impaired is OrCam MyEye, a wearable device that with its artificial intelligence can read any printed material, recognise up to 100 faces, store over 150 products and distinguish monetary value on banknotes and coins. Thus, giving independence and confidence back to the visually impaired as they gain the ability to do everyday tasks that the rest of us take for granted.