Are you bothered by glare and reflections, especially when driving at night or while working on a computer? Anti-glare lenses may be just what you need! Anti-glare or anti-reflective coatings can eliminate reflections from the front and back surfaces of eyeglass lenses. This technology can improve visual acuity, reduce eye strain and make your eyeglasses look more attractive by making the lenses look nearly invisible. Anti-glare is recommended for all lenses and is especially beneficial for higher prescriptions. Be careful when cleaning anti-glare lenses by only using products that our Opticians recommend. Anti-glare technology can be combined with photochromic lenses, sunglasses, and many other lens technologies such as a blue light blocker.
Photochromic lenses, or light adaptive lenses, are lenses that darken or lighten their amount of tint when exposed to differing wavelengths of light. You may have heard of these referred to as photogrey or transitions lenses. When these are made out of glass material they are called photogrey. Photogrey is rarely used anymore because glass lenses tend to be 2x heavier than newer and safer plastic materials. Transitions are made of lighter weight optical plastic. Transitions lenses automatically adapt to changing light, going from clear to dark and every shade in between to protect your eyes and reduce eye strain and fatigue. They offer the advantage of not having to switch from regular glasses to prescription sunglasses and back and forth.
Multifocal lenses offer more than one prescription focal range within a single lens. Patients over the age of forty and patients with eye muscle issues or focusing difficulty will need multifocal glasses either in the form of bifocals, trifocals, or progressive addition lenses (PALs). Bifocal glasses provide the distance vision correction in the uppermost portion of the lens and as one looks down and slightly in to read they will be viewing through the bifocal part. Most commonly, bifocals are shaped like a boat and are set in such a way that they should not interfere with distance vision. Various bifocal widths are available. Patients who require a different prescription for intermediate viewing (usually computer users) may do well with a lined trifocal lens. This lens provides optimal correction for distance, intermediate, and near/reading vision. Computer specific glasses may be a better option for patients that spend several hours a day on a desktop computer. These lenses provide a larger area for intermediate-range and also including a near/fine print portion of the lens. Progressive addition lenses (PAL’s) are sometimes referred to as “no-line” lenses. These progressively increase in magnification as you look down towards the bottommost portion of the lens. They more mimic your natural, before 40 vision. They provide clear vision at distance, intermediate and near. Approximately 95% of patients are able to adapt to progressive lenses as the technology has improved dramatically over the earliest versions of these lenses. All prescription lenses require precise measurements, taken by a licensed optician, with an appropriately chosen and adjusted eyeglass frame, while being worn on your face. For that reason, we do not recommend that you purchase your glasses online.
Blue light blocking lenses filter the high energy blue light coming from digital screens. In many patients filtering blue light will reduce eye strain, improve sleep habits and may help prevent eye disease. If you spend 6 hours or more behind a screen some type of blue light reduction technique is recommended. While using a computer or digital device it is also very helpful to look at something at least 20 feet away, every twenty minutes for 20 seconds. We call this the 20/20/20 rule and it is helpful in reducing the eye strain associated with extended digital device use.
EyeZen is a special brand of lenses specifically made for digital device users. Which seems to be most of us these days. These lenses are available for all ages and reduce eye strain, protect from harmful blue light, and provide sharp vision on computers and digital devices.
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