Eyeglass basics

You would think that the availability of contact lenses and laser eye surgery would decrease the demand for eyeglasses, but eyeglasses are still extremely popular today. People choose to wear certain eyeglasses for all types of reasons. We will exam a few major reasons to incorporate eyeglasses into your daily life.

Eyeglasses and Fashion

Eyeglasses are not only for use of functionality, they are a fashion accessory. There are multiple frame styles branded with high profile designer names, and frame styles are always evolving with new trends.

Often people change the frames they wear to match their style of the day. Eyeglass frames can match your personal style, so you should consider your wardrobe, lifestyle, and appearance when choosing frames.

Current trends for eyeglasses include tortoiseshell frame patterns and clear plastic frames. As far as frame shape, the club master brow line glasses have made a comeback in recent years.

Before choosing a frame based on fashion, be sure that they fit your face comfortably and work functionally with your eyeglass prescription.

Eyeglass lens advancements

If you wear glasses specifically for improving your vision, new and improved lenses are being released constantly. Certain eyeglass lenses decrease glare when driving at night, or limit the amount of light impact when viewing a computer screen. Here are a few types of lenses your eye doctor may recommend to you:

– Aspheric lenses remove the “bug-eye” effect certain prescriptions can create. The lenses are thinner and more attractive than normal eyeglass lenses.

– Wave front technology lenses provide excellent clarity by incorporating precise measurements of the way light travels through your eye within the lenses.

– Polycarbonate lenses have a high impact resistance compared to other lenses. These lenses make great safety glasses, and are very light weight.

– Polarized lenses limit the glare from reflective surfaces, like water or snow.

– Anti-reflective coatings can be added on to any lens type. The coating minimizes the amount of light that reflects off your lens, which is beneficial for driving at night.

Presbyopia and Multifocal lenses

Presbyopia is the eye’s inability to focus correctly, which makes reading and viewing things close up more difficult. This eye disorder is fairly common as people age and can be corrected by multifocal lenses.

Bifocal lenses correct for distance and close-up vision clarity. These corrective powers are separated by a visible line on the lens

Trifocal lenses include correction for seeing things from far away, intermediate, and close-up. The powers are separated by two lines on the eyeglass lens.

Progressive lenses do not contain lines on the lenses, and allow the eyeglass wearer to view things at a distance and close up with a smooth, comfortable transition.

Variable focus lenses offer a larger field of view for people with presbyopia. These innovative lenses are much more functional then bifocals, trifocals, and progressive lenses, because they can be easily adjusted to give you the vision you need.

If you notice that viewing things up close has become difficult, but you can still see well distance wise, then single focal glasses should do the trick for improving your vision.


Still have questions about eyeglasses? Be sure to ask your doctor about different eyeglass options at your next routine eye exam.