Category: Frames and Lenses

Sunglasses help protect your eyes from the harmful UV rays from the sun. The most important feature to look for in sunglasses is blocking 100% of UVA and UVB rays. However, there are many other features of sunglasses you can select to meet the needs of your lifestyle. Here is a brief overview of prescription, polarized, and performance sunglasses.

Prescription Sunglasses

All prescription sunglasses purchased from our office protect your eyes from harmful UV rays of the sun and block 100% of UV rays. Prescription sunglasses are an excellent option for both glasses and contact lens wearers in many situations. Try keeping a pair of prescription sunglasses in your car so you are able to remove your glasses and switch to prescription sunglasses easily. These sunglasses will provide you with vision correction, minimized glare, and dimmed the brightness of the sun.

Contact Lens Wearers

Prescription sunglasses are a great solution for contact lens wearers when swimming at the pool or beach. It is not recommended to swim in contact lenses, so prescription sunglasses make an excellent alternative for clear vision during these activities.

Polarized Sunglasses

Polarized sunglasses have always been popular with boaters and fishers to reduce reflected glare from the water. However, others like hikers, bikers, golfers, and joggers also benefit greatly from polarized sunglasses. Polarized sunglasses optimize your vision for safety and performance by eliminating glare caused from light reflected off flat surfaces. Polarized lenses improve comfort and visibility. These lenses are also great for driving because they help reduce glare from the hoods of cars and off the road’s surface.

Performance Sunglasses

The goal of performance sunglasses is to provide you with the best vision possible under all conditions. These glasses are designed to be lightweight, flexible, durable materials, no-slip, and have lens color variations. Performance sunglasses are great for sports such as mountain biking, snowboarding, rock climbing, kayaking, skiing, golfing and in-line skating. While performance sunwear is most often used by athletes, they are also helpful for those who work outdoors, do a lot of driving, or are in the military.

Popular features of performance sunglasses include anti-reflective coating and changeable lenses. The anti-reflective coating applied to back surface of lenses to eliminate glare from light reflecting off the back of lenses when the sun is behind you. Changeable lenses allow you to switch out your lenses for the tint that will best match the lighting conditions for the day.

Selecting the best sunglasses for you is highly dependent on the needs of your lifestyle. Do you need help deciding the best type of sunglasses for your lifestyle? Contact our office we are happy to assist you in your sunglasses selection!

We believe that your glasses should complement your lifestyle and meet your vision needs! With everyone having different priorities, jobs, and activities in their life eyewear is not a one size fits all. We want to help you select the perfect glasses for your lifestyle!

Business Eyewear

The savvy business professional wants glasses that enhance their professional image. Your appearance can influence clients and colleagues initial impression of you. Therefore, we recommend eyewear that will instill trust and confidence in you. Typically, this includes a more conservative frame shape and color. Silver, gunmetal, gold, black, brown, and burgundy are popular options to wear and match with business attire.

Creativity and Fashion Glasses

The fashionista is looking to showcase their style and taste in every accessory they wear. Glasses are one accessory you wear every day and need to match with every outfit. Showcasing style in your glasses can easily be done through unique frame shapes, bright colored frames, or patterned frames. A significant fashion trend lately is retro or vintage styling!

Active and Sport Eyewear

When your lifestyle is revolved around sports and active living, you need eyewear that can handle any activity. As a result, your sports performance may benefit from sports sunglasses, sports eyeglasses, or protective sports eyewear! Optimize your performance with sports eyewear designed to meet your sports needs best. Standard features in sports eyewear include polarized lenses, polycarbonate lenses, and lens tints.

Frame Allergies

Always inform your eye doctor of any allergies you have to materials in frames or nose pads. Common frame allergies include metal allergies like nickel. As a result, we offer a wide variety of metal and plastic frames our opticians will help you select a pair you can wear. Some patients also have an allergy to silicone nose pads. For that reason, our opticians are familiar with non-silicone nose pad options. We want to ensure you can wear your glasses every day without an allergic reaction.

Computer Worker

Does your job require long hours spent on a computer? As your average computer time per day increases your risk for developing eye strain and computer vision syndrome increases as well. Computer glasses are designed to optimize vision at the intermediate distance and eliminate digital eye strain symptoms. Additionally, the lenses in computer eyewear protect your eyes against the harmful blue light.

Driving Glasses

Studies have shown glare to be a factor in automobile accidents. Sun shining in your eyes and glare reflecting off the road can make it difficult to see other cars or pedestrians. Driving glasses can be either polarized plano sunglasses or prescription eyewear. Polarized sunglasses reduce glare from the sun and increase contrast for sharper vision while driving. Prescription glasses with an anti-reflective coating minimize glare from light and better vision during nighttime driving.

Safety Eyewear

Protect your eyes by wearing safety glasses, sports goggles, or shooting glasses. Safety eyewear is durable, provides more coverage, and is impact resistant. Certain occupations require safety eyewear because they work in hazardous conditions. However, when completing home renovations or repairs, you can also face eye dangers. Always wear safety eyewear when completing any task that includes dust, flying shards, chemicals, or UV radiation.

Ready for a new pair of eyewear? Stop by our office anytime to view our selection of frames and talk with our staff about the best pair of eyewear for your lifestyle.

We understand your eyewear has become part of your style and fashion. Not only do you want to show off your cool new frames, but you also want to make sure to reduce the glare on your lenses so people can see the natural beauty of your eyes. A non-glare coating is a simple lens treatment virtually eliminating those unattractive glares and reflections!

Benefits of Non-Glare Coating:

• Reduce eye strain
• Invisible-looking lenses
• Sharper vision with less glare
• Anti-scratch for better cleaning

Improve Vision

The non-glare coating allows 99.5% of light to pass through the lenses and reach your eyes. Regular plastic lenses only allow 92% of light to pass through, and high index plastic lenses only allow 88% of light to pass through. Why does this matter? The smaller amount of light that gets to your eyes the more work your eyes have to do to see. Non-glare coatings have become popular because they allow for clearer vision and reduces eye strain.

Eliminate Reflections

Non-glare coatings eliminate distracting reflections from the front and back of your lenses. With reflections gone, light is able to pass through the lens for better visual acuity. This becomes particularly noticeable during night driving. Individuals with a non-glare coating on their lenses find night driving less difficult because the coating reduces glare and halos around lights.

Enhance Appearance

Overall, non-glare lenses improve the visual appearance of your glasses. Have you ever looked at someone and the overhead light was reflecting off their lenses so you could barely see their eyes? A non-glare coating prevents those reflections which then allows you to see better through your glasses and for others to see you better! It helps to draw more attention to your eyes and provides the opportunity for better eye contact. Additionally, a non-glare coating will help to eliminate the distracting reflections off your lenses in photos.

The non-glare coating makes your lenses appear nearly invisible. What’s stopping you from adding non-glare to your next pair of eyeglasses? Chat with our staff today about the potential of non-glare lenses!

Eyeglass lens options have grown incredibly in the last several decades. Whereas early eyeglass lenses were made from glass, advancements in lens materials have made them safer, thinner, lighter, and featuring benefits that early inventors never could have imagined!

Glass lenses revolutionized so many aspects of life for people of that time. Glass can provide crisp, clear views, but it is heavy and breakable. It was not uncommon for lenses to break on impact, which could cause someone to lose sight or lose the eye entirely. For that reason, glass is rarely used for eyeglasses today.

In the 1940s, plastic lenses were introduced. Armorlite Lens Company created a lightweight plastic lens made of plastic polymer. It was light, weighing about half as much as a glass lens, and was inexpensive. These plastic lenses were a hit, and are still a common option for eyeglasses today.

Polycarbonate lenses were introduced in the 1970s. Polycarbonate is a highly durable polymer that is impact-resistant, but can scratch. For this reason, the lenses are recommended for children and used in most eyeglasses, but have the addition of a hard coating to deliver greater scratch resistance.

High-index lenses are another lens option that many people aren’t aware of when they begin shopping for eyeglasses. High-index plastic materials make lenses thinner and lighter for people who have a strong prescription. Instead of thick lenses that used to give people fewer options for lenses and make their eyes look distorted from the front, high-index lenses can pack a stronger prescription into a thinner space. This opens more frame options and takes the weight off of your glasses if you have a high prescription!

In addition to lens materials, there are a number of other features that you can add to your lenses for various functionality. For instance, anti-reflective or non-glare treatments are one of the most common upgrades. Often, they give added scratch-resistance as well as cutting glares and giving a clearer view of your eyes from the front. Tints are another option you can add to your lenses. For sunglasses, wearers might choose around an 85% tint, but lighter options exist, too. Many lenses can be tinted gray, brown, or yellow. Fashion tints come in rose, blue, green, or even more possibilities. Polarization is a great addition for sunglass lenses, too, because it filters the bright glares that can be uncomfortable, even with sunglass tints.

If you have any questions about the best lenses for your eyes, speak with an optician. They are trained in eyecare products and can assist you with these choices, as well as helping you pick frames that look great on you!

Picking eyewear for your child can be stressful. There are many options for lenses and additional features to make lenses better suited for the wearer’s needs. Children often want to be involved in the decision, but it’s ultimately up to the parent to be sure that their child has the eyewear they need. Well, we’re here to help make the process simpler, and to give information for every step of the way.

There are a few main things that you need to think about. After all, your child’s eyewear needs to be safe, durable, effective, and your child needs to actually wear them! Here are the main things you need to consider in making this decision.

Lens Material

Eyeglass lenses used to be made from glass, but modern lenses come in various materials that are safer and last longer. Children’s eyewear needs polycarbonate or Trivex lenses because these are more impact-resistant. These options also make the lenses thinner and lighter, even for strong prescriptions. They have built-in UV protection, too!

Coatings or Treatments

Anti-reflective treatments or non-glare coatings provide many additional benefits that you can consider when getting eyewear for your child. Non-glare materials on the front and back of lenses may help resist scratches, dirt, debris, water, and fingerprints. These coatings also usually protect against UV rays. Most notably, AR treatments guard against glare. Glares are distracting when looking at someone’s eyes, but the brightness on your lens can also wash out what you’re seeing and cause eyestrain. We suggest anti-reflective options for all glasses wearers.

Size and Fit

Of course, a child’s head is smaller than an adult’s so they need a different sized frame. You don’t want frames that are too big and will look over-sized on their face, but you also don’t want wants that are too big because they’ll be too heavy and slide down the nose. Children’s frames come in many shapes and sizes to be sure you get a personalized fit for your child. Additional sizing can be done with certain adjustments. Many plastic frames don’t allow for a custom bridge fit, but metal frames have nose pads and a bridge that may be adjustable to be sure they won’t slide off your child’s face.

Style

Picking the frames is the most fun part! There isn’t a stigma with glasses now like there used to be. Celebrities and eyewear brands have made glasses cool. Even kids who don’t need glasses often want a pair as an accessory. This means that parents have an easier time helping their child settle on a nice pair of frames. Think about things like the color—do you want them to stick to a certain color that will look good with their eyes, hair, or wardrobe? Does a certain shape fit their face better than others? Do they like metal frame styles or trendy plastic ones? Set aside enough time to look at several options, then give them the decision between the final two. Kids can have a hard time choosing if you don’t narrow down the best options with them.

Backup Pair

We strongly suggest getting a backup pair for all children’s glasses. It is so common that children get caught up in activities, visit somewhere engaging, or simply forget and end up losing, leaving, or breaking their eyewear. Accidents happen, but it doesn’t have to be an emergency if you have a backup pair. Often we can do special pricing to make the second pair a great deal, too. You don’t want your child to go without glasses until you get a new pair (or find the ones that went missing).

If you need any help from an optician, don’t be afraid to ask questions. The optician can help inform you on features, prices, maintenance, and more