High Index Lenses

10 Signs that High-Index Lenses are Just What You Need

Sometimes science does something truly amazing. For every hundred scientists discovering new types of insects, studying the chemical makeup of tide pools, or following the migration patterns of dolphins, there is an invention that can genuinely change the lives of every-day people. And for those of us who wear glasses every single day, high-index lenses are one of these great miraculous inventions.

Discovered by accident in the 80s during the development of sturdier, lighter-weight lense plastics, high-index lenses bend light more efficiently, meaning that strong prescriptions can be made with thinner lenses both in the center and at the edges of each lens. Every few years, another innovation is made in the field of high-index lens-crafting, and it becomes possible to find even thinner lenses in your prescription.

So are high index lenses right for your next pair of glasses? These ten signs can help you discover if you’re the perfect fit for these impossibly slim lenses.

1) You Have a Very Strong Prescription

Unlike almost everything else in the world, high-index lenses were made specifically for people who need a lot of visual correction. These lenses pack a punch, in that they can help you see with more clarity and accuracy with far fewer millimeters of lens between you and the outside world.

Highest range of indexes that have recently been invented are actually only useful to people whose lenses are usually quite thick. The reason for this is a simple, practical, and wonderful one: It is now possible to make your lenses too thin! Weak prescriptions with usually thin lenses will have to settle for polycarbonate while you are looking exceptionally pretty with 1.69’s or elegant 1.74’s and perfect visual clarity for your scant millimeters of lens.

2) Your Glasses Distort How Your Eyes Look to Other People

Of course, prescription strength isn’t the only reason to seriously consider a new pair of high-index lenses. No matter how thick your lenses have been, one of the best services this new eyeglasses technology can do is to eliminate eye-distortion. Distortion is what happens when the thickness and necessary bending of your lenses makes it difficult for people to see what your real eyes look like behind the glasses.

This is often depicted in cartoons as making the glasses-wearing character (think Velma from Scooby Doo) look like they have enormous eyes behind their glasses, and perfectly normal eyes (if squinting) when the glasses are removed. If you have noticed either eye-magnification or shrinking when you put on your glasses, high-indexes can help! Because the lenses are thinner and less bent, they also significantly reduce the amount that your face is distorted from the viewpoint of other people.

3) Your Lenses Don’t Fit in the Frames You Want to Wear

We all have a favorite kind of frames, but your favorites may not actually line up with what you are able to wear. Many men and women alike dream of the sleek, classic look of wire-frame glasses, half-frames, and even the gravity-defying appearance of glasses with no frames around the lenses at all. Unfortunately, these styles also only look best when used with slender lenses.

Otherwise, the edges (or center) of your glasses will flare in an ungainly way out around the edges of those delicate metal and wire frames. So we settle. For clunkier metal frames or even big plastic “hipster” glasses. But the settling days are over! With the help of high-index lenses, you can now choose any pair of frames your heart desires, no matter how delicate and slender. Because your lenses can also be the perfect amount of slender to match.

4) You Want to Avoid Looking Like a Stereotype

For most people who wear strong prescriptions as adults, you probably also had glasses as a child. Every elementary school class has at least one kid who is “the glasses kid.” You know the one, you’ve probably been them. The kid that can’t play ball-sports or risk getting hit smack in the nose-bridge, either snapping your glasses or just painfully inserting them directly into your face.

During childhood and adolescence, you get to know the glasses stereotypes. While no one changs “four eyes” in the schoolyard anymore, you probably got type-cast in drama sketches and school plays. More likely to be considered a teacher’s pet. More likely to be seen as unathletic and nerdy. Why? Because those thick lenses remind everyone of the cartoons and stereotypes that run wild in our society.

High index lenses can change that, transforming your ‘Velma’ look into something more befitting a distinguished professional and fashionable trendsetter.

5) Appearance Matters A Lot At Work or School

Speaking of professional trend-setting, it is a simple truth that some workplaces and school environments are more focused on appearance than other. While your colleagues may not dream of being cruel to someone they considered less fashionable (or maybe they might), you just so happen to know that looking great and ditching old stereotypes is the best way to get ahead.

While you can’t help the quality of your physical eyeballs, or your sensitivity to contacts, you can absolutely control the appearance and quality of your eyeglasses. With high-index lenses, you can wear sleeker frames, appear with less distortion, and use your glasses like an alpha accessory instead of a handicap accommodation.

6) Others Have Commented on How Thick Your Glasses Are

If there’s one rule of thumb many glasses-wearers can relate to: you know your lenses have gotten too thick when people start activ

ely noticing and commenting on them. Normally, glasses are like shoes or braces. People see what you are wearing but, in general, your regular attire is just not interesting enough to comment on.

However, if the thickness of your glasses has become so impressive that it considered a worthy topic of conversation, it might be time to put those conversation-pieces on the shelf. High index lenses can help you stop experiencing that annoying stage when meeting new people where they double-back and say “Wow, your glasses are really thick! Did you know that?” Of course you know. You’re the one who lives behind them.

7) You’re Curious and Want to Try Something New

That said, not everyone is constantly bothered by the current thickness of your glasses. Whether you have exceptionally considerate friends and coworkers or your glasses are simply medium-thick and relatively unremarkable, that doesn’t mean you must exclude yourself from this fashionable medical marvel.

Everyone except those who have minimal prescriptions can benefit from one index or another in the range of high-index lenses. If you’re simply curious about what high index lenses can do for you, we strongly encourage you to give them a try! With indexes ranging from 1.59 (only a little higher than the norm of 1.5) all the way up to 1.74 index lenses, you can essentially pick the thickness you want and go with the index that can provide that for your prescription.

8) You Love Everything High-Tech

Another great reason to try out high index lenses is for the love of cutting-edge science. High-index lenses are the latest and among the most impressive features that modern lens crafters have to offer. Made from an advanced plastic polymer, they achieve their impossible thinness by compressing half an inch of lense into scant millimeters of crystal-clear plastic. These lenses aren’t necessarily lighter than standard lenses, they just pack a lot more visual correction into a wafer-thin space.

If you are a huge fan of high-tech personal gear, from your glasses frames to your personal devices, high-index lenses are the perfect addition to your ensemble. This is your chance to study the most advanced lens-grade plastic on the planet up close and personal.

9) You Have Reasons to Wear Safety Glasses

It is a common misconception that because high-index lenses are slimmer, that they are also more easily broken. What is truly fascinating is that this simply isn’t true. High-index lenses were invented when lens crafters wanted a sturdier, safer plastic lens compared to the early models that shattered easily and yellowed over time.

This was the introduction of super-sturdy polycarbonate lenses and the first of many lens index improvements. While high-index lenses may remind you of an impossibly delicate piece of glass, they are actually made of incredibly dense and sturdy plastic. So if you wear safety glasses for sports, work, or even motorcycle riding, high index lenses can improve your safety and your fashionable appearance.

10) To Live the Dream of Thinner Lenses

Finally, let’s take a moment to talk about dreams. Many people who wear glasses, especially those who have done so since they were children, have dreamed of having thinner lenses. It may have been heart-breaking to discover that contacts don’t work for you or, perhaps, you love glasses but don’t love those thick flaring lens edges over the bands of your frames.

Today, you have a chance to live the dream of thinner lenses. For more information about high index lenses, how to get them, and what is possible once you make the switch contact us today!