Quality Reading Glasses- know what to look for

Shopping for reading glasses is much more complicated than you ever expected. Besides figuring out your lens power, there's the whole question of quality-luxury, premium, prescription-quality, drugstore, optical-quality, high quality. There's a lot more ways to describe reading glasses than you ever imagined!

 A little information goes a long way so know what to look for...

• THE FRAME: 

The FOUNDATION to great style, comfort + long-use

Thoughtful design not just in style but in fit, function, construction + symmetry.

• Plastic frames should be made from premium grade cellulose acetate. It is only readers made from the premium frame materials that will provide you with all-day comfort + long-wear + lasting looks.

Having been used in prescription eyewear for decades the manufacturing of cellulose acetate has evolved to make available a selection of high-grade frame materials that are also lightweight, hypoallergenic, retain their looks, adjust easily + are suitable for prescription lenses.

Newer forms of plastic frame materials have still to prove the same qualities as cellulose acetate including longevity.

• Metal frames formed from premium grade metals such as stainless steel, titanium + some metal mixes produce enduring designs of lightweight comfort.

Premium metals are malleable which makes frame adjustments easy + most mishaps repairable. Most metal frames have adjustable nose pads, advantageous to achieving an optimal fit for wide or narrow nose.

• THE GUTS:

Frame components STRENGTHEN frame integrity + make adjustments do-able

This is what assures reliable all day on and off wear. 

• stainless steel screws 
• high-quality hinges 
• temples reinforced with core wire, standard to prescription quality eyewear.

• THE LENSES: 

At the CORE of clear reading

Manufacturing standards + measurements are important for clear + healthy reading.

• Premium quality optical grade lens materials fabricated to precise ANSI Standards.  The range in quality of ophthalmic plastic lenses varies from low grade to premium grades and as you would expect visual clarity varies with quality levels.
• Lens materials + manufacturing should follow strict quality control standards. Clear + uniform lens surfaces ground to precise ophthalmic standards, not just acceptable tolerances will give you the clearest vision.
• More important lens features such as an aspheric lens design adds to continuous clear vision throughout the lenses + keeps your lenses thin + attractive. A hydrophobic lens coating makes for easy cleaning + a hard coating improves scratch resistance.

Premium lens coatings + treatments enhance vision, wear well; they do not craze, crack or break down.

More than a name, what is behind that classification is what’s most important to you. There are many frames and lens materials that are used in manufacturing reading glasses but it is only premium optical materials that are worthy of any form of quality labeling.

Renee
Licensed Optician
New York