You have seen these seducing eyewear offers before: “Buy the frames and get the lenses for free.” Or, “buy one and get one for free.” And on, and on. It seems like bargains, but are they really? Is there a difference between the cheap offers and the full-service offer from the team of doctors, front desk, technicians, and opticians at Vista Eye Care?
What makes our patients happy with their vision is the attention to detail in the testing, measuring, and creation of their eyewear. At each step along the way, we carefully consider the patient behind the eyewear, and that’s what allows you to see your best.
There is no shortcut to arriving at the perfect glasses prescription, and at Vista Eye Care we do it right!
Why We Stand Out
It starts with your glasses prescription, and the numbers that your optometrist arrives at from your annual comprehensive eye and vision examination. We carefully test your vision using the latest in vision testing technology. We’ve had automated phoropter units in all of our exam rooms for a long time, but just last year we upped our tech game by upgrading to Marco TRS 6100’s.
These units allow us to be more precise with astigmatism measurement and also allow our doctors to quickly toggle between glasses prescriptions while testing. For example, we could demonstrate the difference between this year’s, and last year’s prescriptions with the push of a button! Beside the high tech, our vision testing may also take a low-tech turn in utilizing a trial frame and lenses. This allows our doctors to test your prescription at your personal reading or working distance! It takes an extra few minutes, but the results are the confidence to say that your vision will be perfect.
We Tailor Your Eyewear to You
Your eye doctor will discuss with you how you use your eyes and will use that information to further fine-tune your glasses prescription. Every one of our patients is unique and uses their eyes in unique ways. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, we consider what our patients do for a living, and what their hobbies may be:
o Computer Engineer – This patient may spend the day working on two computer monitors under fluorescent lighting. We will test the specific monitor distance in our exam rooms to arrive at the perfect prescription.
- Hospital Nurse – A 12-hour shift is spent up and down halls, bedside with patients, starting IV’s, and completing the patient’s charts. We will test each one of those distances and work with the patient to learn which distances are most important.
- Middle School Student – If this patient is already showing signs of nearsightedness caused by myopia, our doctors would likely recommend Myopia Management. This will slow the elongation of the eye, curbing the development of myopia while providing clear, crisp vision for the patient.
- Fly Fisherman – This patient wants to see clearly outdoors while they tie flies, and cast their line out above the bubbling waters. We can test the patient’s fly-tying distance as well as determine their perfect distance glasses prescription.
- Airline Pilot – The epitome of needing perfect vision for their job, we would need to consider the view out of the cockpit window, as well as vision for the controls all around them. Careful selection of powers and lens design will allow for the perfect prescription for this patient.
After the doctor has worked with the patient to uncover their needs, the doctor will transfer the patient’s care to one of our talented opticians. The optician’s job is a big one: adapt the required lens powers to a frame and lens that will best meet the patient’s needs. Of course, besides holding our lens correction, eyeglass frames should also look good. The optician must guide the patient to the perfect set of eyewear, all while considering the fashion and style that the patient wants to project. Using the above example patients, the optician may opt for the following frame and lens designs:
- Computer Engineer – To allow for effortless viewing of data and spreadsheets, our opticians would likely recommend Computer Glasses that allow for perfect focus at the patient’s screens. An antiglare treatment on these lenses would also allow for effortless vision through the work day. Blue-blocking lens material would reduce fatigue and reduce the risk of early cataracts and retinal damage. The frame design is important here as it should be wide enough to allow for viewing of the two monitors that sit on this patient’s desk.
- Hospital Nurse – For clarity at multiple distances, a Digital Progressive Lens design is the best option here. Given the nurse’s long hours under artificial lighting, a blue-blocking material and antiglare coating are ideal. The frame here should be something comfortable and lightweight to allow for effortless vision for the long shifts.
- Middle School Student – Our doctor’s favorite method of Myopia Management in glasses form is a design we call Relax. The Relax design literally decreases the need for the eye to work to maintain close focal distances. This reduces the eyestrain on the patient, decreasing the stimulus for the eye to continue to elongate and become more myopic. To encourage full-time wear for an active young student, the lenses would also be made with Transitions to allow for darkening and UV protection when outdoors. The frame here should be something that matches the patient’s style, and something that they would be proud to wear and show off to their friends.
- Fly Fisherman – Besides selecting the lens design to allow for clear vision at those required distances, lens treatments such as polarization will allow for vision below the waterline. The frame here should emphasize UV protection with a wrap design whose concave lenses carefully hug the patient’s face.
- Airline Pilot – We would need this patient in carefully considered lens designs to allow for their best vision. An antiglare treatment for low light is a must. A tinted clip-on lens would allow for comfort in bright environments since polarized lenses wouldn’t work well for viewing their instrument panels. The frame should be unobstructive and minimal to prevent any distractions from the pilot’s careful work.
Lens Options to Suit Everyone
Lens materials are a wide-ranging topic that truly depends on the needs of the patient, their glasses prescription, their occupation, and their hobbies. Among the common lens materials are the following:
- Plastic – Basic plastic lenses have great quality optics for lower prescriptions. Because this material is thick and heavy, our opticians would likely opt for an alternate material in those patients who would otherwise have thick lenses in Plastic.
- Plycarbonate – The same material that fighter plane cockpits and compact discs (remember those?) are made of. Polycarbonate is shatter resistant which is why we recommend this material for kids and in the lenses of safety glasses.
- Trivex – A shatter resistant material that provides clear, crisp optics, even for patients with high astigmatism.
- High Index – This family of lenses is used by our opticians for those patients with high prescriptions. Through use of high index lenses, our patients can have glasses lenses that are thinner and more comfortable than could otherwise be achieved.
Finding the Perfect Fit
Once the optician and patient have successfully collaborated to find the best frame, lens material, lens design, and lens treatments for their needs, the optician then performs the Position of Wear measurements. Digital lenses are designed to consider each of these important measurements in order to best distribute the power appropriately across the lens.
Position of Wear Measurements are taken once the frame and lens design are determined. The frame is then carefully adjusted to the patient’s face since the adjustment of the frame, and how it is specifically worn, can affect the Position of Wear Measurement Numbers. Each one of these measurements is taken for each eye since most of us are not perfectly symmetrical:
- Segment Height – Where your eye vertically sits in your frame. This number is especially critical in lens designs that account for distance and near vision.
- Pupillary Distance – The distance between each pupil relative to the center of the nasal bridge. This number varies depending on the need of the patient’s glasses. For example, Computer Glasses will have a smaller Pupillary Distance than distance-viewing glasses since our eyes converge (move towards each other) when we are working at closer distances. This measurement is achieved with a digital pupillometer for accuracy.
- Vertex Distance – This is the measure from the back of the lens to the front of the cornea and is measured with a device called a distometer.
- Pantoscopic Tilt – This is the vertical “lean” of the frame on the patient’s nose.
- Frame Wrap Angle – The angle between the two lenses. For example, some sunwear has a more pronounced wrap angle which assists those lenses in shielding the eyes better from sunlight.
With the perfect pair of lenses measured and ordered, the attention then shifts towards our back-office team. Our ophthalmic lab technician is charged with taking all of that data and actually creating the eyewear for the patient. The lenses are generated and cut to carefully match the required needs of the patient. The frames are cut and assembled in our own office to allow us to control the quality of the work. Once the eyewear is complete, the patient returns for an appointment with one of our opticians to have the frame adjusted one more time, the features of the lenses explained, and to be provided with cleaning materials for their new eyewear.
Book Your Appointment at Vista Eye Care
There is a lot that goes into helping a patient find the perfect prescription! At Vista Eye Care, we respect that every step along this path is crucial to great vision and we don’t take shortcuts. You don’t have to pay a fortune for great lenses, but to skip any aspect of this process almost certainly results in a subpar vision.
Don’t cheat yourself out of having clear, comfortable vision for whatever it is that you do! Let us help you see your best by scheduling an appointment for your annual comprehensive eye and vision examination with one of our doctors. You can also bring your own glasses prescription in, and our opticians will take it from there.
So, go ahead and buy your bulk toilet paper and muffins at big box stores, but please leave the precision optics to the experts! We look forward to serving you.