Not All Lenses are Made The Same

Do you know why? These days, with all of the developments in the optical world, it is very easy to get confused about your lens options and what choices are best for you. When it comes time to purchase your new eyewear it’s important to understand that not all lenses are made the same. In the following blog, we’re going to walk you through some of the differences between lens technology, coatings and overall comfort when it comes to lenses.

One of the best analogies we can use to differentiate between lens technologies is to imagine shopping for lenses akin to shopping for clothes.

Imagine that you’re on the hunt for some fancy new digs for an upcoming wedding. There are 3 different avenues available to you when you go to purchase your outfit and which choice you make will alter the quality, the production, and the comfort of your end product. The basic design may suit your needs, but if it doesn’t there may need to be adjustments to either your expectations or your budget to compensate for your desired result.

The first option is to go into a department store, find an outfit you like in your size, pay for it and take it home. This is a positive purchase because it is cost effective, it suits your purpose and it’s relatively comfortable. However, if you look at the big picture, the garment that you picked out has been made by a mass retailer. It is cost effective to you, because you’ve had to trade some of the expectations of quality or fit for the price. When you get your outfit home you notice that it bags out a little bit under the arms, it isn’t as comfortable as you remembered it being in the store and the fit isn’t perfect. You ultimately accept that this will work and concede to your disappointment because it wasn’t very expensive and you didn’t put that much effort into buying it.

Now, let’s apply this analogy to single vision lenses. The optical “off the rack” refers to our “finished stock” lenses. As Suzy Shier or Reitman’s have clothing in their stores, labs have lenses “In Stock”. These lenses are large, uncut, spheres called “blanks” and generally come in a simple range of prescriptions. This means that the lenses are already made for you and after a few minor calculations, the lab can cut the blanks to size, place them your frame and send you on your way with a new pair of glasses. These are often easy to put together, speedy to produce, and convenient for people who have small vision corrections or only wear glasses part-time. However, these lenses have a “what you see is what you get” quality based on how they are mass produced and manufactured that make them an undesirable option for patients with specific requirements or high expectations. When they cut a blank to fit into your frame, the majority of your prescription is focused in front of your eye and blends away towards the edges of the frame. This means that your peripheral vision isn’t going to be as clear, especially if you have a high or more complicated prescription. Not to mention, the fashion these days is calling for larger than life frames which also calls for larger than life lenses! Excess space around the eye leaves space for excess distortion. Since these lenses come “as is” we, as opticians, have very little control over lens weight and thickness; which can result in the lenses not being as aesthetically pleasing or as comfortable.

Ok, let’s get back to shopping for that wedding! Let’s say the last time you bought fancy clothes, you purchased a gorgeous top from Ricki’s and due to it being slightly too big, you had a very public, very embarrassing, wardrobe malfunction at your event! Well, you won’t be purchasing your clothes that way for a formal dinner ever again! You aren’t Janet Jackson at the Superbowl after all! So, you resign to buying your clothes off the rack and taking it to a seamstress to have it tailored to fit you. Even though, you’re spending a little bit more money to have a custom-fit, somebody who understands clothing has looked at what you’ve brought them and used that blueprint to create something more comfortable and durable.

This “middle of the road” option also applies to lenses and optics. When we start expanding the scope of technology used, we’re able to further customize the design. This gives you a wider field of view and more individual points of focus throughout that lens. Even though we use digital technology to create these lenses we still use a basic template to create them, therefore, we’re still working with the properties provided to us by the original lenses. While we have considerably more options available to us than we do a stock lens, we are still confined to the parameters of the original lens and only have so much control over the quality of vision.

Let’s go back to your wedding outfit one more time. In your journey to find wedding clothes, you have one final option. You have exhausted your first two options for other big events in the past and haven’t been happy with the comfort and quality of your clothes. You are between sizes so they never fit well when you simply buy them from the store and even though the seamstress you’ve been seeing is lovely, the clothes from the store just aren’t good enough quality to withstand the numerous alterations you want to make it fit your specific size and requirements. You’ve resigned that in order to get a fantastic, well designed outfit, that meets all of your expectations, you’ll also need to expand your budget. So with all of these things in mind, you go back to your seamstress and ask her to custom design your outfit from the ground up.

This final analogy is probably the most accurate comparison to digital, free-form lenses. High end optical lenses are custom created for both your frame and your prescription with optimum vision in mind. They take into account where your eye sits in the frame, how wide a field of view you require, what you use your lenses for and then the lenses are specifically made for you. When an optician and the digital technology they use look at lens construction as a big picture without the confines of an existing blueprint, they can better balance the medical necessity with the fashion trends and aesthetic appeal demanded by today’s patients. Not only does this create a more versatile solution for vision correction, it also means that the optician can prioritize the points of focus required for the individual prescription and ensure a crisper picture through the lens.

These are very simplistic comparisons to give you an overview of the options available to you and why you should invest in one lens over another. Lens coatings and materials also play a role in optics. Higher end blue light filters and anti-reflective coatings are best and often matched with higher end digital lenses. Patients who need a large amount of vision correction will need their lenses made out of thinner materials and because of the properties of that material are more likely to notice poor quality anti-reflective coatings. Since higher end coatings are made with better quality lenses in mind, labs are often more likely to warranty these coatings. If crazing or scratching occurs in an untimely manner, labs will often replace the lenses for little to no cost.

It is possible to mix and match stock lenses with higher end coatings, higher end lenses with lower end coatings or even to walk the line in the middle. Higher prescriptions may not necessarily be best suited to the thinnest material. The best person to help you navigate a (sometimes) confusing sea of optical choices, is your friendly neighborhood optician! At View Optometry we’re always available to help you with your options and to discuss what will best suit your requirements. Find out more about our Eye Care Products.