Posts Tagged ‘Anti-Reflection Coatings’

Keep up with Coatings

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

We take so much for granted nowadays – perfect Cappucino one every street corner, full signal even at the very ends of the earth, another desperate ex-politician to make us giggle during Strictly – and shouldn’t the very best sight you can achieve be another ‘given’ on the list? And it’s pretty simple, to manage the latter all you need is to keep up with all that’s new and best in coatings….

We’ve come a long way in the past thirty years in terms of spec lens technology, with heavy, chunky glass lenses thankfully now a thing of the past. We went to plastic materials during the eighties, and now we rarely use glass. An early problem with plastic was the fact that they scratch very easily, and over the years manufacturers have made our lives easier with excellent, durable, scratch resistant coatings. These prolong the life of your lenses, helping you to retain blemish free vision through the life time of your prescription.

Anti-reflection coatings continue this work by giving you the best vision possible through those sparkling, scratch free lenses. This layer allows the maximum amount of light to travel through your lenses, by preventing reflection back from the front surface. To you this means glare free sight for night driving, at the computer, and under all lighting conditions. People looking at you see through the lenses too, meaning they see your eyes, not their own reflection!

The ultimate in these new coatings combines the technology of the anti-reflection layer with the scratch resistant and adds a clean coat. This is an added bonus that stops rain sticking to lenses, makes them easier to clean and makes the coatings themselves more durable.  This three-in-one approach is an all singing, all dancing product that does everything possible to improve sight, ease of wear, and longevity of your lenses – so keep up with coatings!

Varifocal Glasses

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Questions about Coatings

Monday, May 31st, 2010

As we optimistically brush off the BBQ and dig out our sunhats, thoughts often turn to sunglasses and sun protection for the summer months. Anti-reflection coatings crop up again and again in our query box, as people wonder if they give relief from glare. The coating actually helps for night driving, stops eye strain under bright lighting, and makes your lenses look invisible.  Here are a few Q and As that might help your buying decision…….

What does the coating look like? How do I know if it’s on my specs?

The coating is not visible like a dark tint, but if you look at the back of your lenses, and tilt them under a bright light, you’ll see what we call a residual colour, like an oil slick on water. Colours vary from greeny-blue through to gold. With the specs on the coating is invisible, and it looks as if you have no lenses in your glasses.

Does the anti-reflection layer work like a sunglass colour?

The short answer to this is no! However the anti-reflection coating does have some value on bright days. The coating cuts glare by allowing all visible light through to the eye. On an uncoated lens some light is reflected back, which interferes with your vision, causing discomfort. So although it doesn’t darken things down like a sunglass tint, a coating does make your vision sharper and clearer, even on sunny days.

Do you need an anti-reflection coating on sunglasses?

The point to note here is that the dark tint and the AR coating do two different things. The coating makes your vision sharper; the coloured tint dulls everything down. The AR coating will help you to make the most of your sight; it will also cut annoying back reflections, like being able to see your own reflected eye in the back of your lenses. So for most people it helps to have both.

The coating has peeled off my specs in the past – what did I do to it?

In the early days, coatings were only expected to last the life-span of the prescription, and often degenerated over time. Nowadays, they’re a lot tougher. Do be careful with them though – don’t leave them anywhere really hot, clean as instructed by your supplier, and take care not to get anything sticky like hairspray on the lenses.

We’re always happy to help, so if we haven’t covered your query here, feel free to mail us at TheinternetGlassesCompany  We’ll try to help with any aspect of eye wear, so come, on, give us a challenge!

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A Look for a Lifestyle

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

It’s all to easy nowadays to get online and order your new glasses, or call in to the high street optician and just order some specs like the ones you’ve had before. The choice may seem bewildering so it’s easy to see why sometimes we want the simple option, and go for what we’re used to. If you’re thinking of new specs, take a few minutes to think about your lifestyle, and your next pair may even make life a little easier for you.

If you spend hours twittering or poking, or playing online is your main occupation, you may need to consider a coating that will make your vision more comfortable. Anti-reflection coatings cut glare, reduce eyestrain and fatigue, and generally make your eyes more comortable. They look good too as they make your lenses look super clear.

UV protection becomes an issue if you spend lots of time outside, or have very pale eyes. UV can damage the retina, and increase your risk of cataracts. If you do have pale eyes and therefore little natural protection from UV, a UV coat will stop the damaging rays from entering the eye. This is especially important if you ski or spend time on the water.

If your outdoor time is spent in sunny climes, you’ll need protection from glare as well as invisible UV. Bright sunshine can be uncomfortable and distracting, especially through the windscreen. You might want to consider photochromic lenses, which darken in the sun, or fixed tint, prescription sunglasses. Fixed tints work better behind the windscreen, but you have to remember to keep clear specs with you for night driving.

If you need reading specs and spend intense periods of time on specific hobbies, you may benefit from prescription lenses that give you the exact magnification for your working distance. This will be different for embroidery, or a work bench, or a VDU screen. Measure your working distance and tell your optician what you want the specs for. They’ll calculate the strength you need for perfect vision.

There’s a solution for every eye wear dilemma nowadys, so don’t be afraid to talk about your needs and see what product will suit you.

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Spectacle Lens Coatings

Friday, July 17th, 2009

When you visit an optician or online optician there are choices available to add coatings onto your spectacle lenses. The purpose of these coatings is to enhance the longevity of your lenses, and/or improve your vision while wearing your lenses. Here we take a close look at coatings, and explain the advantages to you.

Anti-Scratch Coatings

These are also called hard coatings. They are available on their own or as a part of multi-coatings. Nowadays the vast percentage of lenses sold are made of plastic, which are safe, light and comfortable, but scratch more easily than traditional glass lenses. A hard layer will protect the lenses, and increase their lifespan.

If your lenses are thin plastic – also called hi-index or high density lenses – they will be softer than standard plastic, so make sure you order a coating on the lenses. It will make them last longer and give you clearer vision.

The anti-scratch layer makes the lenses resistant to every day, surface wear and tear scratches. You should still make sure that you never put the lenses face down on a surface, and wash plenty of fluid across them before wiping them with a cloth.

Anti-Reflection Coatings

These coatings actually make your vision sharper and clearer by eliminating the glare and interference caused by reflections in the lens surface. While they improve vision for all spectacle wearers, they are particularly useful if you use a computer and for driving at night. They allow all light through to the eye, unlike an uncoated lens where some light is reflected back.

If you are myopic (short-sighted) and your lenses have thick edges, you will see white rings around the lens edge – hence the phrase bottle-bottom lenses – the coating will help to reduce this effect. Even for lower prescriptions the appearance of the lenses is still improved, allowing people to see your eyes, not their reflection in your lenses.

As with hard coated lenses above, thin material lenses will benefit from this coating too. The best quality thin lenses have a coating which is tailor made to match the lens material. To protect the coating an added hard coat will go on top of it, so it is unusual to find anti-reflection coated lenses without an added hard layer.

Although the coating is not a tint, it will cut glare and be more comfortable in bright light. You can identify a coated lens as it will have an oil-on-water type colour on the back surface of the lens.

Clean Coatings

Lenses are often offered with a 3 in 1 coating, incorporating hard, anti-reflection and clean coatings. The clean coat stops dirt from sticking to the lens. Again, this coating improves both your vision and the performance of the lenses. It does not add visible colour, but you can tell it’s there if you run water across the lens, as it will bead and bounce off as the lens repels it.

These three coatings when used together will make your spectacle lenses last longer, give you the best possible vision, and make you look your best in your glasses.

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