Choosing lenses for designer glasses/spectacles/eyewear

Which are thebest lenses for your glasses?

Lenses come in many variations and at times can be confusing. But dont worry, we arehere to explain them all in detail so that you can understand and choose the best lens option for you.

Lens materials

Firstly lenses can be made in two materials Organic (Plastic) or Mineral (Glass). Most lenses sold today are of the Plastic variety as they are far lighter than glass andsafer due to strength and shatter resistence. Most people think that when we say a 1.6 lens that this means it is going to be 1.6mm thick, this is wrong. Basically the higher the number the thinner the lens will be.

Standard Plastic CR39 (1.56) Ideal for most prescriptions (Prescriptions with powers stronger than +3.00 and -3.00 will start to look thick, powers between the two will look fine).

Plastic (1.6)An ideal option for prescriptions up to +5.00 and down to -5.00. 1.6 lenses are 23% thinner than standard plastic. Prescription outside this range will start to look thick.

Plastic (1.67)Probably the most popular of the thinner lens options. 15% thinner than the 1.6 and 25% flatter. Ideal for prescriptions up to +7.00 and down to -7.00 prescription outside this range will look thick.

Plastic (1.74)The thinnest plastic lens available on the market. 50% thinner than the 1.56 standard plastic and 30% lighter than the glass equivalent. Great for mid to high prescriptions.

Glass (1.7)An ideal budget thin lens for - power prescriptions up to 10.00. However, they will be heavier than plastic

Lens Types

There are also many different styles of lenses. Lenses for single vision correction e.g., distance or reading to Bifocals and Varifocals for the correction of both distance and reading within one pair of glasses.Varifocals

Varifocals blend gradually from your distance prescription trough your intermediate prescription in to your reading prescription. This means that the lens has to be set at exactly the correct height in the frame to start with. The crucial measurement required to align varifocals is the height in millimetres from the centre of your pupil to the bottom of the new frame, this measurement cannot be taken online. BifocalsBifocals are basically distance glasses with a reading segment in the bottom. Unlike Varifocals Bifocals are commonly sold online as the height measurement is far less crucial and averages can be used with great success. Due to the fact that there is no gradual phase from distance into reading and they are just distance with a reading segment Bifocals have a far wider corridor for reading than Varifocals but have no intermediate correction.Single visionSingle Vision lenses can be used for Just distance, just intermediate or just reading hence the name single vision. However, many people who are short sighted - Power SPH prescriptions will be able to read with their distance glasses. Single vision lenses are available in both materials and all indexes.

Tints, Photochromics