High Index Lenses

Single Vision High Index 1.74 Lenses

If you require corrective eye-wear with a relatively high prescription, you’re undoubtedly quite familiar with the flaws of bulky, thick lenses: magnification that makes your eyes look “weird,” either too large or too small in relation to your face; lenses that protrude beyond your frame or have the appearance of goggles; lens weight that causes slippage or bothersome indentations in your nose; a limitation on the type of eye-wear frame you may select.

High Index 1.74 Single Vision Lenses

Aside from surgery or contacts, there’s only way to alleviate the problems of thick lenses: get thinner lenses. Sounds logical, but also impossible…the very reason you struggle with thick lenses is because your prescription requires them. High prescriptions demand that lenses be cut with deep curves, and deep curves can only be ground into lens blanks formed from relatively thick glass or plastic. You’re limited by simple physics. You have no choice. Right?

Well, yes and no. All the above is true except for the “no choice” part. You can choose to opt for high index lenses, which can substantially reduce the thickness (and in many cases the weight) of your lenses. High index lenses are made of a composite that actually bends light more efficiently, thereby requiring the use of less physical material. This material can form your prescription with less curvature than standard plastic or glass lenses, resulting in thinner lenses.

These “super” lenses have inherent disadvantages that accompany the benefits. Primary amongst these is cost, a factor that prevents many people from taking the high index plunge. Depending on your prescription, high index material can easily reduce the thickness of your lenses by more than half…but the cost can be more than double. You get what you pay for, and you pay for what you get.

If cost is a factor in your decision to opt for high index lenses, consider this: there’s a sliding scale to high index material. It starts at about 1.70 and goes all the way up to 1.90, which is only available in glass. Your individual prescription may dictate the index level you require, but for most prescriptions, you can chose from the entire high index range. Since high index material gets more expensive the higher it goes, a mid-range 1.74 typically supplies the proper balance for many: significant lens-thickness reduction at an increased but still affordable price.

Further cost savings can be enjoyed if you require only single-vision lenses. As the name implies, single-vision lenses correct for only a single prescription, as opposed to multi-level options like bifocals, trifocals, or progressives. Every vision option you add to your order adds also to the bottom line. So if you require only single-vision correction, you’re at the “base level,” and might well find the benefits of 1.74 lenses to be well worth the increase in cost.

If you’re tired of your thick, cumbersome eyeglass lenses, explore the possibility of 1.74 high index single-vision lenses. Like many others, you may well discover that noticeably thinner lenses perfectly counterbalance the moderate boost in price, and that the 1.74 material provides the best of all possible options.