Lenses Types
Glass:
The Romans and Chinese were the first to use glass for eyeglass lenses. It is an optimal product for a lens, with its scratch resistance and being the clearest of all other products available today. However, with those qualities, it is also chips and shatters, and the weight makes for a very heavy object resting on the bridge of your nose for all the hours you need to wear your glasses. They then become a nuisance with constant re-adjusting. The majority of the frames today cannot carry "glass" for the lens. There are many customers that still prefer "glass" for their lenses, so they continue to be produced. The biggest problem with glass lenses are, Optical stores will not make the lenses out of glass, they will ship to another manufacturer for the lens and that becomes very costly to the consumer, not to mention the long time frame for receiving them. As a convenience to our customers, we make glass lenses in our own lab, giving you a much shorter wait time for your prescription glasses.
CR-39:
In 1962, the very first product was made, to become the ideal lens material to take the place of glass, and with its light weight and clarity of its material, CR-39, as it is known, takes its place as the leading material for eyewear lenses. A negative for CR-39's use is it scratches easily. A product was made to lessen this and a scratch resistant substance is now applied to the lens to lessen the destruction.
This resin, CR-39, while it has many advantages over the glass for lenses, it still ranks lower to other resins, for breaking. To gain the optimal lens, this product has to be very thick, thicker in most instances, than glass. This is the main drawback for using CR-39 for eyewear. The "value deals" for eyewear, use CR-39 because it is readily available and offers lower cost for production. There are other options, and we want the consumer to be aware of this fact and ask what else is there for lens material?
Polycarbonate:
In 1980, we were introduced to polycarbonate for the new material used for the eyeglass lens. Its advantage was many comparing what was on the market. It is lighter in weight, almost indestructible and thinner for a more comfortable wearing experience. This material, at the beginning of its manufacturing was inferior for its clarity so the industry looked to the music world and their products for their CDs. Their technology gave us the ability to filter our polycarbonate, rendering a clearer product. It is now the leading material for lenses in safety glasses and children's prescription eyewear and all the other lenses being worn today.
Hi-Index:
Chemist and engineers began a research and development in 1987-1992, for other resins that could be compatible for prescription eyewear. They developed a lighter weight, thinner resin and this research is always searching for a better substance for eyewear lenses. It is what is being used today for the "rimless" lens, being nearly indestructible and rendering this product virtually unchanged to contact with solvents. High end prescription eyewear and middle of the scale eyewear uses this newly discovered resin in lieu of polycarbonate.
Trivex:
The product, Trivex made its debut In 2001. This new product, Trivex, is superior in all aspects of comfort, resistance and durability, being the lightest weight of all products to date. It appears that this is a product that will be in use for quite some time for high fashion eyewear. More and more producers of eyewear are turning to Trivex for their choice of material to represent their finished product. Due to the higher cost of this superior product, it is not offered in "chain stores" and discount stores, however, Salem Eye Clinic is benefiting from their connection to all the Trivex suppliers. We offer Trivex products in all lens models, and Trivex is available in our lab, to give our clients the quickest time for filling a prescription.
Lens Treatments and Tints:
Anti-Reflection:
To add to the quality of the products at Salem Eye Clinic, we are recommending an Anti-reflection product to be applied to the new lens for minimizing reflection. This product can allow more light to travel through the lens, therefore reducing reflection and glare. This benefit is maximized in low light, as using your glasses for indoor activities or nighttime driving. The process for this application is as follows. A primer is applied first. This contains the anti-scratch and this primer coat is adaptable to cold or hot conditions, allowing the flexibility that is necessary for those conditions. This is the foundation for many metal oxides that are heated and the bonded to the surface of the lens and this is done in very thin layers. A protective coating is then applied rendering the surface smooth, for easy cleaning.
Scratch Resistant Coating:
When you purchase your lenses with us, we will apply a scratch resistant coating to both sides of the lens and of course both lenses. You will find that most companies will apply this coating to only the outer surface of the lens. We can offer this service because we added state-of-the-art machinery that will coat both the inner and outer surface of your lenses. We chose this equipment after researching the field for the best available
Photochromatic tints:
Photochromatic has a brand called: Transitions©. This brand is well known for its ability to change color automatically when the light changes. This happens because the ultraviolet rays from the sun trigger this action.
In our cloudy climate, the Pacific Norwest can really benefit from this addition to your new eyewear, for the sun is either shinning one moment and then cloudy the next. All the carriers of the leading fashions in eyewear carry "transitions".
Polarized:
The uniqueness of this lens is "polarized" which a tinted film is sandwiched in between the lens materials. This does limit the color the glasses offered, as the film is what is colored and not the lens. Popular colors are brown and shades of grey.
For this method to be beneficial, the film that is polarized will have to be colored dark enough to take in the light. This is the reason this method is used for sunglasses. This method of tinting also blocks any glare that reflects from surfaces that are flat.
Examples would be water on a roadway.
Mirror Coatings:
This mirrored coating can be a simple application to the front (top) side of the lens, for maximum light reflection. This automatically makes any lens darker and allows less light through the lens. This coating can be covered over the entire lens surface or it can be graduated from top to bottom or bottom to top. Mirroring the front and anti-reflective coating on the inside of the lens is the ultimate in sunglass eye wear. We can also help with the best choice of frames for this type of sunglass.
Ultraviolet Protection:
Most lenses made today have a UV blocker built into the lens itself. The regular plastics and glass type lens need a protective coating to give you the same benefits that the UV blocker can give you. We, at Salem Eye Clinic, always recommend adding the UV protection to your lens no matter what type of lens you order. We also test all our sunglasses we dispense in order to offer the consumer the highest quality and protection any eye center can offer.
