Lenses

There is a wide range of lens materials you can have in your spectacles:

Glass Not very widely used these days, it’s heavy and prone to breakages. Has good level of resistance to surface scratches

Polycarbonate Extremely difficult to break and often found in rimless and sports frames because of the resilience of the material. However it is extremely prone to surface scratches.

Plastic Offers light weight comfortable wear. There are a number of options from standard to high index, for those of you with stronger prescriptions.

Coatings

These are put on the lenses to enhance the performance or durability of the lenses:

Hard Coat: This is applied to the surface of polycarbonate and plastic lenses to make them more resistant to scratches. 

Anti-reflection: This enhances the performance of the lens by allowing more light to pass through the lens and not losing quality of vision by light being reflected back off the surface of the lens. This coating can be applied to all lens materials. However, this coating is easily marked with fingers and needs regular cleaning to maintain optimum vision.

Easy Clean coating: This coating can be called many different names, but essentially it is the same as the anti-reflection coating with the added advantage of resisting marks to the lenses. 

Photochromic

It is now possible to get lenses that change colour with light in most materials. Most modern photochromic lenses are very sensitive to changes in lighting conditions and are able to darken themselves as soon as the sun comes out, sparing the wearer the discomfort of the sudden glare in the sunlight. 

Polarized

These lenses are able to cut out glare more effectively than ordinary sunglasses. They are extremely useful people doing a lot of water sports. Often light is reflected back off the surface of the water making it difficult to see through the water, however the polarizing filter is able to cut out the glare making it easier to see through the water. 

Lens Designs

Depending on what you need your spectacles for, there are a number of lens options:

Single Vision These lenses have the same prescription through out the lens.

Bifocal Lenses The top half of the lens is for distance and the bottom segment for reading. 

Progressive Lenses The Top of the lens is used for distance, the middle of intermediate viewing (e.g. computer) and the bottom section is for reading. 

Choosing the correct lenses for you

As you can see there are a number of options available. The choice can be quite bewildering, that is why the most suitable lens for you will be discussed with our knowledgeable staff following a discussion into your life style, occupation and recreational requirements.