Choosing the Best Lenses for You
Selecting the right frame is just half the story. It’s essential that the lenses you choose complement the frame and provide you with excellent and comfortable vision. Our team of specialists will guide you through the many different types of lenses available to ensure that you’re informed before you make your decision.
Different Types of Lenses
The simplest form of spectacle or contact lens is the single-vision lens, made to a single prescription to correct a particular eyesight problem. The curvature of the lens, its thickness and weight will depend on the amount of long or short sight it’s designed to correct. The lens material will also influence the thickness and weight of your lenses, as will the size and shape of the spectacle frame you choose. Spectacle lenses used to be made of glass but most lenses are now lightweight plastic and there’s a wide range of materials available to suit your prescription and lifestyle.
Thanks to a unique, breakthrough technology called Eyecode, Eyesite can offer you spectacle lenses that are an astonishing five times more precise than before. As lenses are traditionally manufactured to give optimum vision when looking straight ahead, your vision may not be as sharp when you look sideways or down. Eyecode measures your individual eye rotation centre so that we can digitally manufacture your spectacle lenses to work better for you, giving you precise vision at all times.
Another popular lens option offered by Eyesite is the Transitions lens which can take the strain off your eyes by automatically regulating the light that reaches it. Using intuitive photochromic technology, the lenses adjust from ultra clear indoors or at night, to dark when outside, so your eyes feel more comfortable and less tired.
Bifocal & Varifocal Lenses
Bifocal lenses contain two optical corrections with a distinct dividing line between the two parts. The most common use for bifocals is for correcting presbyopia. This is the condition that tends to occur with age when the eyes become less able to focus at close distances, meaning two different prescriptions are needed. Although varifocals are generally preferred to bifocals, certain prescriptions and lifestyles are better corrected using a bifocal lens.
Varifocal lenses, or progressive lenses, are also used for correcting presbyopia but, unlike bifocal lenses, have no visible dividing lines between the different corrections. Instead they have a graduated section in which the power of the lens progresses smoothly from one prescription to the other, allowing the wearer to see clearly at all distances.
Choosing Your Glasses Lens Coatings
Depending on your needs and preferences, there’s a range of coatings available to enhance and protect your lenses.
Reflection-Free Coating
Anti-reflection coating virtually eliminates distracting reflections from the lens surface. Reducing reflected light is particularly helpful for computer users and for night driving. Anti-reflection coatings also improve the cosmetic appearance of your glasses and can make thick lenses look thinner.
Scratch-Resistant/Hard Coating
What is hard coating?
Plastic lenses are lighter than traditional glass lenses but they scratch more easily, which can be irritating for the wearer and look unsightly. Scratch-resistant hard coatings ensure your lenses are more durable, protecting against damage and prolonging lens life.
Multi-Coated Lenses
Multi-coated lenses incorporate a combination of coatings – anti-reflection, scratch-resistant, water repellent and UV blocking – to provide ultimate protection for your lenses and ensure optimum performance of your spectacles.
Crizal® Prevencia™
Essilor’s Crizal Prevencia is the first preventive lens offering selective protection from harmful blue light and UV rays.
- UV Light is not only a major risk factor for many skin diseases, but is also a risk factor for eye diseases, including cataract.
- AMD is a major cause of severe vision loss and legal blindness in adults over 60—having a family history can increase your chances of developing AMD.
Crizal Prevencia is designed to selectively filter out harmful light while letting beneficial light pass through:
- Crizal Prevencia is proven to deflect harmful Blue-Violet Light by 20%.
- Crizal Prevencia has an Eye-Sun Protection Factor (E-SPF®) of 25, which means it provides 25x times more UV protection for your eyes compared to wearing no lens at all.
Crizal Prevencia lenses work in 3 ways:
1.Selectively filter out harmful light (Blue-Violet & UV).
2.Allow beneficial light to pass through (visible light, including Blue-Turquoise).
3.Maintain excellent transparency (clear No-Glare lens) for optimal vision at all times.
Crizal® Forte™
UV Protection Glasses that go one step further
In addition to Essilor’s Crizal Prevencia lenses, they also offer their Crizal Forte lenses. These lenses work to offer complete protection from harmful UV rays. Where UV protection normally helps to protect your eyes from UV rays entering through the front of your glasses, Forte lenses go one step further – ensuring UV light reflected off the back of your lenses is also prevented, protecting your eyes from both angles.
Crizal Forte lenses offer:
- The best available protection through a clear lens
- Anti-reflective technology on both sides of the lens
- A two-year guarantee
If you’d like to speak to someone about choosing the best lenses for you then please come into one of our local branches and speak to a specialist.