June 18, 1997 For Immediate Release Andover Communications, Inc. Steve Clark 201-947-4133

For Information Contact Jon Torrey 503-636-3707

Consumers With Untreated Computer Eyestrain Fuel
PRIO Corporation & Optical Industry Growth

Consumer response to PRIO's computer-related eyestrain solution increases demand
for PRIO testers and training among O.D.s, M.D.s

(Portland, OREGON) PRIO® announced today that 722 optometrists and ophthalmologists across the United States are using the PRIO computer eyestrain tester to diagnose and prescribe eyewear solutions for patients suffering from computer-related eyestrain. The number of eye doctors using the PRIO vision tester has nearly tripled since June 1995 (up from 266 to 722), and reflects the need for an effective consumer solution to the physical and visual discomfort experienced by many computer users after just a few hours in front of their personal computer.

"Our recent growth suggests that we've struck a nerve with consumers, because they're walking into eye doctors offices and asking for PRIO prescriptions," said Jon Torrey, co-founder and PRIO's vice president of marketing. "It appears that PC users have been aware of suffering from a form of repetitive stress to their eyes for sometime and are wanting an immediate solution. It's these vocal consumers who prompt eye doctors to call about PRIO."

Consumer Response Confirms PRIO Approach
From fewer than 20 doctors just four years ago, PRIO has attracted over 700 eyecare specialists in 40 states who employ their vision tester to prescribe a solution to their patient's computer-related eyestrain problems. "Until now, all any eyecare specialist could do for patients complaining of computer eyestrain was to suggest environmental and ergonomic solutions," said Dr. Hal Ostrom of Clinton, CT. "But these solutions addressed only a small part of this problem. By using a PRIO Vision Tester in my practice, I have an effective tool for treating computer eyestrain for the first time. I even have patients walking in and asking for PRIO eyewear."

The Real Cause of Computer Eyestrain
Mr. Torrey, who is also the co-inventor of the PRIO vision tester, claims that the increasing consumer risk of computer eyestrain correlates directly to the increased use of PCs at home and in the office. He classifies computer eyestrain as "repetitive stress syndrome for the eyes." Like other repetitive motion injuries, including carpal tunnel syndrome and tennis elbow, computer eyestrain can result in a painful set of physical symptoms. "Studies show that most computer users start to feel the effects of eye-muscle stress after two or more hours at a computer," said Torrey. "Computer eyestrain sufferers often complain of a wide variety of symptoms. These usually start with feeling tired, even exhausted. With more time at the computer, discomfort frequently expands to include headaches, burning or tired eyes, blurred vision, loss of focus, double vision, and neck and shoulder pains."

These symptoms are caused because the letters on a computer screen are made of small dots of light. Unlike printed characters, the computer screen's dots of light (pixels) are brighter at the center and grow dimmer at their edges. "We now know that the human focusing system evolved to 'lock on' to a sharply-defined edge," said Torrey. "Because pixels don't provide adequately defined edges, the focusing system can't 'lock,' so the eyes tend to drift toward the place they would go if they had no information. For most people, that place (called the 'resting point of accommodation') is well behind their computer monitors. The eye-muscles' repetitive efforts to re-focus are what cause the repetitive stress, and the resulting painful symptoms."

About the PRIO Tester
The PRIO testing device was developed by Jon Torrey and an optometrist in private practice, and is a clinically-validated, FDA-released vision tester that exactly simulates the visual characteristics of a computer screen—which are substantially different from the black-ink-on-white-paper characteristics of most eye tests—so that an examining doctor can generate a computer-specific prescription which will help cure computer eyestrain. This testing procedure offers computer-eyestrain sufferers a way to relieve their symptoms which, according to a government agency—the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)—affected in excess of 60 million people as far back as 1991.

For more information on PRIO Corporation and the PRIO Provider Network of eye doctors, call or visit the company's website at www.prio.com.

PRIO® is a registered trademark of PRIO Corporation.