You may need prescription glasses to correct your vision, but there are so many factors to consider when choosing them. You want to choose a style of frame that enhances your appearance and expresses your personality. You also want one that’s comfortable to wear. When it comes to lenses, you need to decide whether to go for multifocal or bifocal lenses. You have so many options of coatings that it can be hard to make a decision. Here are the three most important factors to consider when choosing prescription glasses.
Choose the right frames
With the wide variety of frames available today, there is no longer any stigma about wearing glasses and some people who don’t even need to wear them choose to do so. Here are some tips to follow that will help you to choose the right ones.
Face shape: It is important to choose frames that suit the shape of your face. For example, if your face is round in shape, square glasses provide balance. Round frames can balance out angular features, and oval frames can soften and balance square face lines. If you have an oval face, look for frames as wide as the widest part of your face.
The best online providers offer same day prescription glasses, and you can provide your prescription, choose frames and get your glasses fast.
Your lifestyle: Your lifestyle and work will also impact what frames you choose. If you spend long periods wearing earphones, comfort around your ears will be a priority. If you participate in sports, athletic frames that conform to your face are the best option. Consider when and where you will wear your glasses to choose the right frames.
Personal taste: You will need to try on a number of frames to find what suits your personal taste best. You may enjoy bold, colorful frames or sleek, slimmer models. Perhaps you will prefer frameless styles that don’t obscure as much of your face.
Different materials: Frames are made from a variety of different materials today. A material like plastic is lightweight, durable and affordable. Metal frames are also lightweight, durable and flexible, but they are more expensive.
The right choice for your lenses: Optical assistants will usually give you advice on the best type of frame to choose for your prescription. The stronger your prescription, the thicker and heavier your lenses will be. This has an impact on what frames you can or can’t choose. High-index lenses can help to give great vision correction but with a minimal lens thickness.
Know the different types of lenses
Optometrists do an eye exam to establish what type and degree of refractive error is present. This is so they can prescribe the right lenses for you. In the past, lenses were made from glass, but today, many of them are made from high-tech plastics which are lighter and don’t break as easily.
Single-vision lenses can help to correct nearsightedness or farsightedness. The lenses focus light on the right spot on the retina. Nearsighted people have blurry distance vision because the eye focuses light in front of the retina, and convex lenses can fix this. Farsighted people can’t see up close, and they need a concave lens to focus the light on the retina instead of behind it.
Reading glasses tailor single-vision glasses to the right reading distance for you. Enhanced reading glasses can work at two reading distances – reading a book or working on a computer.
Bifocals or multifocals have two or more prescriptions to correct your vision. Multifocals combine close-up, intermediate and far-distance vision. This helps if you don’t want to have to wear different pairs and there is no visible line in these lenses as there is when you have a bifocal lens. They have your distance prescription at the top and progressively move to your reading prescription at the bottom. Fitting measurements are crucial in the performance of multifocals, so it’s important for dispensing opticians to be very careful about this.
Decide on the right lens coatings
You can also choose from a wide variety of coatings for your lenses. Anti-glare or anti-reflective coatings, which improve your visual acuity, are a common choice. An anti-smudge coating can help if an anti-reflection coating makes annoying smears more visible. People often choose to apply a scratch-resistant coating, especially to plastic lenses, to protect them.
Some coatings offer more comfort, such as those that offer protection against the blue lights of digital devices. They can help you to fall asleep better at night because blue lights can disrupt your sleep-wake cycle.
Many lens materials inherently filter UV rays, such as high-index lenses or polycarbonates. You can also choose a special UV coating.
In some cases, you are able to choose a multi-coat that offers many coatings in one, such as anti-scratch, anti-reflective and UV coatings.