How to Choose Eyeglass Lenses

Possibly the most important part of the eyewear buying process is choosing the right glasses lenses. The quality of your lenses, their attributes and their coatings all contribute to how happy you are with your eyeglasses. There are so many options available on the market today, so it can be difficult to decide which type of eyeglass lens is best for you and your unique lifestyle.

This guide to eyeglass lenses will help you better understand what options are available to you and help you choose lenses and coatings to fit your preference and lifestyle.

The right Glasses Lenses for your visual needs

The lenses you choose are primarily determined by the vision-correcting properties you are seeking. Depending on your visual needs, you may need either single-vision or multifocal lenses.

For many people, single-vision lenses correct their vision sufficiently, either for distance or for reading.

1.Single-Vision Distance

If you are part of the 42 percent of the American population living with nearsightedness, you may be looking for single-vision distance lenses to correct your vision. If you have distance-corrective glasses, your prescription will begin with a (-), and your lens will be concave, or curve inward, to correct your vision properly.

2.Single-Vision Reading

Reading lenses are designed to help you see things at a close distance, typically between 30 and 40 cm(11.8 to 15.8 inches). These lenses are convex, or curve outward, and are appropriate for people with prescriptions beginning with a (+).

While single-vision lenses are suitable for a large portion of eyeglass wearers, your eyes may be unique. If you have difficulty seeing at both close and long ranges, you may need bifocals or multifocals. These glasses correct your vision at multiple distances, allowing you to see clearly — both up close and from a distance.

3.Progressive Lenses

Progressive Lenses are unique lenses, designed to seamlessly incorporate distance, middle- and near- vision correction. Because these lenses are highly personalized, they can correct even the most unique eyes, and provide all the benefits of bifocal lenses without the obvious horizontal line.

If you have particularly unique eyes, or need bifocals but do not want the obvious line in your lens, consider progressive lenses.

4.Bifocal Lenses

Bifocal lenses are the most common type of multifocal lens. These lenses correct both near- and long-distance vision by combining two prescriptions into a single lens. The upper part of the lens is designed to correct distance deficiencies, while the bottom portion is a near-distance lens meant to correct up-close vision.

These are excellent choices for people who use both distance and reading glasses, so they do not need to carry around two pairs of glasses wherever they go.

Lens Coating

Coating can give your lenses different attributes, making them behave differently according to their environment. Some change colors based upon the lighting, while others offer protection from scratches or the sun. To better understand the options available to you; we’ve listed some of the coatings available in our catalog and what they can do for you.

1.Anti-Scratch Coating

No pair of glasses is indestructible, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be protected. Anti-scratch coating defends your lenses against scratches and abrasions from everyday wear and tear, and helps reinforce them against drops.

2.Anti-Reflective Coating

Anti-reflective, or AR, coating is another beneficial coating for any pair of eyeglasses. This coating gets rid of annoying glare, halos around lights and reflections on your lenses caused by computers and lights. They also make your lenses nearly invisible by removing reflections, making your lenses less of an obstruction during face-to-face conversations or photography sessions.

Anti-reflective coating is especially important for people with high-index lenses, as these lenses have higher refractive indexes. This increased refractive index means these lenses will tend to reflect up to 50 percent more light than traditional lenses, causing more glare unless they are equipped with AR coating.

3.Light-Adjusting Coating

Gradient-tint lens coatings are excellent choices for sun wear. These lenses have a dark tint at the top of the lens and then progressively lighten toward the bottom. The resulting lens gives the wearer plenty of sun protection, as well as privacy, but offers you varying degrees of light. Gradient tints are only applicable to lenses for frames above 36mm in height.

5.Color Tint Coating

Color tint coating glasses can filter the sun's rays and block harmful rays. They can protect you from being hurt under strong light, reduce visible light transmittance, and protect eyesight. Colored lenses can also play a decorative role.

6.Polarized Coating

This coating reduces the annoying, and sometimes dangerous, reflections on your lenses created by water, roads and other surfaces. These reflections can be distracting or obtrusive, posing a danger to you and your well-being if you are traveling.

7.Water-repellent Coating

All eyeglass wearers dread getting rain or water on their eyeglasses. Droplets can leave behind smudges or dirt on your lenses and cleaning them properly can be a hassle — especially in rainy weather. 

Water-repellent coatings keep water droplets, dirt, and smudges off your lenses, which helps to maintain their cleanliness and reduces the need for you to clean them regularly. Lenses with this premium coating stay crystal-clear up to twice as long as your normal eyeglasses!

8.UV Protective Coating

Exposure to the sun’s harmful UV radiation is associated with numerous age-related eye problems, such as cataracts and macular degeneration. Because of this, doctors encourage people to protect their eyes from UV radiation. This is why UV protective coating is so important for everyone. By deflecting harmful UV rays from the sun before they can damage your eyes, this invisible UV protective coating works like sunscreen for your eyes.

9.Blue Light Filtering Coating

Blue light glasses are popular for good reason. We spend a huge portion of our days looking at screens — people check their smartphones every 6.5 minutes on average, and 55.5 percent of employed Americans work with a computer every day.We rely on our digital devices,and our connectivity is not going anywhere anytime soon. In the past four years alone, the number of smartphone owners has increased by 82 percent,and this number is still on the rise. However, this increased connectivity comes with risks — especially to our eyesight.

The biggest source of potential harm from digital screens is blue light. This part of the visual spectrum is a short- wavelength light, which can be found in just about everything from sunshine to computer screens. Unlike blue- turquoise light, which is healthy and beneficial for us, blue-violet light, such as the high-energy visible (HEV) light from backlit screens and artificial lighting, can be damaging to our eyes after excessive exposure.

Up to 75 percent of computer users experience discomfort after using their screens for a long period of time, and considering what looking at screens does to our eyes, it’s not surprising. Extended use of digital devices makes our eyes work harder, requiring them to constantly maintain focus. This can contribute to eye dryness and fatigue, an inability to maintain focus, headaches, and long-term wear on your vision.

This damage can be especially devastating for kids growing up around digital devices, as they are at greater risk for long-term damage than adults.To help protect your eyes from damage, we offer blue light glasses.

Lens Index

The index of your lens, also referred to as the index of refraction or refractive index, is a number that indicates how efficiently the material bends, or refracts, light. The higher the refractive index of the lens, the more slowly light moves through it, and the more the light bends. For you, this means a thinner high-index lens will perform the same as a thick set of standard low-index lenses.

1.56 Index — Thin and Light Lens

For people with somewhat stronger prescriptions, these lenses may be a better choice than the standard lenses. These lenses are thinner and stronger than their 1.5-index counterparts, handling SPH corrections between +/-5.00 and +/-4.00, and CYL corrections of +/-3.00 and below.

1.6 Index — Super-Thin Lens

These stylish, super-thin lenses are an excellent choice for people with strong prescriptions or particularly thin frames. These lenses are suited to people with SPH corrections between +/-4.25 and +/-6.75, and CYL corrections between +/-2.25 and +/-3.00.

1.67 Index — Ultra-Thin Lens

These lightweight, thin lenses ensure your eyes do not look distorted from a higher prescription. If you have a particularly strong prescription, this is likely the best choice for you. We typically recommend these lenses for people with SPH corrections between +/-7.00 and +/-9.00, and CYL corrections between +/-3.25 and +/-4.00.