When looking at our menu of options after you pick out a frame at any of our Eyewear Junkie stores, you might be a little surprised about how simple and transparent everything is. After the list of the different frame prices we have, you’re prompted to look at the different types of lens materials we offer. Don’t worry your Eyewear Addiction Specialist will look at your prescription, and the frame you picked out and they will know what the best option for you is. 

Single Vision Lenses

Single vision lenses are going to be your standard lens. They have one optical prescription in the entire lens which corrects nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. Being nearsighted means you can see close-up objects, but not far away ones. Farsightedness is the opposite, so close-up objects are unclear, but you can see far away. And then astigmatism is caused by an irregularly shaped eye and is very common in people who wear glasses. Single vision lenses combine your distance correction, with your astigmatism correction and give you the same prescription over the whole lens which allows you to be able to see. 

Progressive and Bifocal Lenses

Bifocal lenses are lenses with two prescriptions in them, distinctly separated. The prescription at the top of the lens is generally a distance prescription for things far away, and then as you move down the lens to the separated bifocal part where it is a close-up prescription. This is to help people change focus from far away to close-up, which can get more difficult as your eyes age. Progressive lenses are similar, except there is a third portion in the middle, blending the distance, and close-up prescription together to create a smooth progression. With the two prescriptions, however, it also has a transition portion, seemingly blending those two prescriptions together to help the eye transition between the two prescriptions. These types of lenses are for people who have a distance prescription, along with an additional reading power, which is the close-up prescription. When you’re young you generally have a single vision prescription, but as you get older and your eyes age they generally need a little bit more help, and that’s what progressive lenses are for. 

Lens Materials

Something that surprises many new glasses wearers is that glass is not a very common material for prescription glasses. We offer a few different lens materials the first of which is plastic, which we don’t generally recommend because it is a very brittle material so it scratches and chips quite easily. The material we recommend the most is called polycarbonate, it is one of the best options all around with scratch resistance, durability, and clarity, for a reasonable price. Up next we have Trivex lenses which are the best in combined clarity, durability, and scratch resistance, but a little bit more in cost. The only thing about Trivex is that it is a thicker material, so if you have a higher prescription it isn’t really an option. Next, we have our two Hi-Index materials, Hi-Index is great for those who have quite high prescriptions because it is a thinner material. There are two types of Hi-Index, 1.67 and 1.74, respectively super-thin and ultra-thin, 1.74 being the thinnest. That is quite a bit of information to take into account when choosing new glasses, and that’s why every step of the way you have an Eyewear Addiction Specialist to help you. 

When you are choosing which lens material is best for you, you have to keep in mind your prescription, and the frame. If you have a very small prescription, but choose a semi-rimless frame you might want to go with Trivex for your lenses, to make sure that the bottom of that lens is more durable and won’t chip. Or if you have a particularly high prescription and a thin metal frame, you would definitely want to go with a Hi-Index lens so that the edges of your lenses don’t stick out from your frame. There is a lot to think about when buying new glasses, so having one of our experienced Eyewear Addiction Specialists to help you every step of the way.