Ask for a back-surface anti-reflection coating on your prescription sunglasses to reduce bothersome reflections and get more advanced UV protection.

You can tell the difference between a basic pair of sunglasses and premium-quality ones by comparing the surfaces of the lenses.  If the front surface and back surface look different, they are the premium lenses. If yours look the same, ask your optometrist about adding a back-surface anti-reflection coating (AR coating) next time.  We recommend this addition with all prescription sunglasses so we can improve the comfort of your vision by reducing unnecessary fatigue and glare.

The AR coating is applied to the side of the lenses closest to your eyes and works to reduce annoying reflections of your eyes or objects from behind you. The reflections you see are caused by light coming in behind the lens and bouncing back into the eye - the AR coating allows this light to travel through the lens, reducing bounce back and therefore reflections. Some modern fashion sunglasses have wide, square frames with thin temples, which allows more light to enter behind the lens, making a back-surface AR coat even more important! 

By using an AR coating you'll also get the added benefit of better UV protection. That's because it prevents the reflection of harmful UV light from your sunglass lenses onto your eyelid skin, reducing the risk of skin cancer development around the eyes and eyelids. For this reason that the Crizal Sun UV AR Coating is endorsed by the Cancer Council of Australia. Ask your Optometrist about premium sunglass brands like Maui Jim or a Crizal Sun UV coating before making your next sunglass purchase.

Ask for extended focus reading glasses - no more looking up to a world of blur.

Do you wear glasses for reading but are annoyed when you glance up and see a blurry room? It might be time to consider extended focus reading glasses. These lenses are designed as a pair of reading glasses with a slight change in prescription in the top third of the lenses to allow you to see a little further away when you glance up. Rather than taking your glasses on and off whenever switching from reading to distance tasks, these can provide both.  They are great for tasks requiring frequent shifts from near-work activities to computer screens, or across the room and with a wide range of modern designs available they can be tailor-made to your individual needs, and are simple and easy to adapt to.

Ask for thinner and lighter lenses - reduce the weight of your glasses and improve their optical and cosmetic performance.

When you're wearing glasses all day the last thing you need is thick, heavy lenses weighing you down. Put your lenses on a diet and ask for high index lenses next time. The higher the refractive index of your lenses, the thinner and lighter they'll be. This is great for high or complex prescriptions, you'll be surprised at just how thin lenses can get these days. Combine this with specially customised aspheric optics and your premium lenses will not only weigh much less, but can hide the excessive magnification or minification common in higher prescriptions, resulting in a more attractive appearance with improved optics and performance.

Ask for Myopia control lenses - put your mind at ease when your child's short-sightedness increases yet again.

Are you worried that excessive screen time is causing your child's short-sightedness (myopia) to worsen? Maybe you're concerned they'll end up with coke-bottle glasses? Either way, the prevalence of myopia globally is on the rise, and with increasing levels of myopia at a younger ages comes the risk of significant visual impairment later in life from associated diseases. Finally, we have options now that not only correct myopia but also help control it. The newest advance from Hoya is their Miyosmart lens which can reduce myopia progression by 50-60%!  These lenses are easy to adapt to, and look very similar to ordinary spectacle lenses.

If you're looking for peace of mind when your child's myopia next increases, talk to your Optometrist about what's new in myopia control.

Ask for premium, customised progressive lenses - the perfect solution tailored to your eyes.

Anyone who wears progressive or multifocal lenses to maintain good distance, intermediate and near vision knows they can often be a challenge to adapt to. There can be unwanted swim, distortion and blur through the edges or peripheral parts of the lenses, and maintaining good focus often requires you to look straight ahead at the object you're looking at, rather than out to the side where it appears blurred. For these reasons progressives take time and patience during the adaptation period.

Thankfully, with the advent of modern lens designs, the experience of wearing a graduated lens has improved. Premium, customised progressive lenses offer wider fields of clear vision, reduced swim and distortion and shorter adaption periods. Improved optics mean we can consider individual frame characteristics like the distance from your eye to the back surface of the lens, plus the tilt of the frame and facial wrap of the frame, as well as eye dominance and your natural reading distance to improve the quality of the optics of your unique glasses prescription. The results mean getting used to your new glasses takes less time, whilst enabling more natural viewing pleasure.

Next time you need new glasses, ask your Optometrist about customised, premium quality progressive lenses today.

Here at Somerville & Merrin, we spend the time to get to know you so we can advise you on your perfect solution.

The recommendations we make for the combination of spectacle lenses, lens coatings and frames go far beyond just your prescription.  We tailor vision solutions to include your lifestyle, your frame choice, your work requirements, and your prescription to give you the best visual outcome possible. If you have any questions about what vision solutions we can offer you, book an appointment with one of our Optometrists today.

Stephen Lucas

Optometrist