Eyeglass Lenses and Coatings, Crafted Around Your Prescription

Single vision lenses carry one power across the whole lens and suit most patients under 40 who need correction for distance or for reading. After 40, most of us develop presbyopia — age-related farsightedness that makes near work harder to focus — and that calls for a lens with more than one power.

Bifocals and multifocals put a distinct reading segment in the lower part of the lens. Progressive lenses do the same job with no visible line, blending distance, intermediate and near vision in one seamless surface. Progressives are the most popular choice for presbyopia, and they depend on careful measurement: the frame needs enough depth for the near zone, and the fitting height has to be taken precisely to your eyes.

Standard plastic lenses serve mild prescriptions well. As a prescription gets stronger, the lens gets thicker and heavier, and that is where material choice pays off. High-index lenses bend light more efficiently, so they can be made noticeably thinner and lighter for the same prescription. Aspheric designs flatten the lens profile, reducing the magnified or minimized look strong lenses can give your eyes. Polycarbonate lenses are lightweight and far more impact-resistant than standard lenses, which is why we recommend them for children, sports and safety eyewear.

Coatings are what turn a good lens into a comfortable one. Anti-reflective coating cuts the glare and reflections that come off the lens surface — the halos around headlights at night, the reflections on your screen, the shine that hides your eyes in photos. Scratch-resistant coating protects the surface for long-lasting clarity. UV protection blocks ultraviolet light through the lens itself, and a blue-light filter reduces the portion of the spectrum that many patients find fatiguing on screens.

We will recommend the treatments that suit how you use your glasses, and we build them into every lens we make rather than treating them as an afterthought.

Photochromic lenses such as Transitions darken automatically when exposed to sunlight, turning your everyday glasses into UV-blocking sunglasses, then clear again indoors or in low light. They are ideal for people who move in and out all day and do not want to juggle two pairs, and a practical choice for children, for whom one pair means nothing to lose. One honest caveat: because car windshields block most UV, standard photochromic lenses do not darken fully while you drive.

Tinted lenses reduce brightness and give a frame its character; polarized lenses go further by cutting the reflected glare from water, snow and roads. Both belong in a dedicated pair of sunglasses, and both can be made in your prescription. Our sunglasses page covers the differences in detail.

It starts with your prescription and ends with a conversation. Do you spend the day on screens or outdoors? Do you drive at night? Is this an everyday pair, a second pair for the office, or sunglasses for the lake? Our opticians in Old Forge and Clarks Summit walk patients from across the Scranton area through the options and recommend the combination — design, material, coatings — that will give you the clearest, most comfortable vision in the frame you chose. Call Old Forge at 570-451-2020 or Clarks Summit at 570-585-0000 to get started.