What are polycarbonate lenses?
Choosing the right lenses for your frame affects the comfort of your glasses and their longevity. While there are a multitude of alternatives in the composition and manufacture of prescription frame lenses these days, choosing can be difficult. Today, polycarbonate glasses are democratizing and offering an alternative to traditional organic glasses. What are the special features of this glass? When should you choose polycarbonate glass? Which frames are suitable for this type of lens? These are all questions you can ask yourself when choosing the lens for your prescription glasses.
Polycarbonate lenses
What is polycarbonate glass?
Polycarbonate glass is a variation of organic glass that is reinforced by a thermoplastic treatment. Polycarbonate is a polymer that results from the chemical reaction of melting bisphenol A and a carbonate to form a translucent, lightweight glass. The polycarbonate coating is more resistant than conventional organic glass and offers better resistance to the glass. Polycarbonate glass, which has been democratized in various areas for several years due to its robustness, is now included in the selection of spectacle lenses due to its properties. With additional treatment than ordinary organic glass, polycarbonate has a wide variety of uses.
Why choose this type of glass?
Prescription glasses are generally more prone to incidents and shocks due to their daily use. This is why choosing the tough lenses for this type of glasses is highly recommended. Polycarbonate glasses then offer an interesting alternative due to their resistance to impacts and falls thanks to their thermoplastic treatment. These shatterproof lenses offer many options when choosing the frame. These glasses also offer better protection against scratches, which gives them a good longevity. It should also be noted that the composition of the glass provides natural protection against UV rays with excellent filtration. These glasses are usually thinner and more comfortable compared to regular glasses, which makes wearing corrective glasses easier for a longer period of time. Because of the sturdiness of these glasses, they can be attached to safety glasses, making them versatile and practical glasses for a variety of purposes.
Who are polycarbonate lenses for?
Due to its lightness and robustness, this type of lens is suitable for people who are looking for durable and resistant glasses. These glasses are ideal for people who do physical activity, such as B. Athletes. In addition to its strength, it is also suitable for extreme conditions. Due to their strength and good sun protection, these glasses are also highly recommended for children's glasses. Finally, this choice of lens is also intended for those with certain frames whose lenses need to be pierced. Indeed, the structure of the polycarbonate makes it easy to work with the lenses and offers various possibilities, such as fixing the lenses through a hole on a frame without a rim.
Possible treatments on this type of glass
Polycarbonate lenses essentially accept most lens treatments. Thus, this type of glass can be given an anti-reflective, blue light filter, or even a tint to limit sun rays. For better scratch resistance, these glasses can also be coated with a hardening varnish. In terms of glasses, these glasses allow normal vision correction. However, due to the thinness of the polycarbonate lenses, these lenses are not suitable for heavy corrections as they are generally only available for a single index. However, this type of lens can be used as a single focus lens or as a multifocal lens and is also very suitable for presbyopics and myopia as long as it does not have strong correction.
Polycarbonate or Trivex, how to choose?
Polycarbonate and Trivex are usually two interesting options for lenses and glasses with corrective glasses. Essentially, these lenses offer similar toughness to break, drip, and scratch, but the difference is in affordability and price. In general, Trivex is more expensive and less popular than polycarbonate. It should also be noted that when compared to Trivex, polycarbonate offers better smoothness and a more condensed weight. However, the Trivex offers a higher Abt value, which results in less colour distortion. However, similar to Trivex, polycarbonate remains the best choice for prescription glasses due to its availability and performance.
Tips and styles
Which facial morphologies are suitable for this type of lens?
The choice of lens is usually not influenced by the shape of the face as it depends on the choice of frame. However, polycarbonate lenses, due to their thinness, need to consider the correlation between frame and lens choice before making any purchase, which means taking into account the morphology of your face. While this type of lens will fit most frames, you need to pay attention to the details. Specifically, polycarbonate glass does not necessarily match a triangular surface. Indeed, this type of morphology requires a thick and enlarged frame, which is not suitable for polycarbonate glasses. Conversely, a diamond-shaped surface with the choice of a small frame enables the problem-free choice of polycarbonate for spectacle lenses.
Which frame shape is suitable for this glass?
There are a variety of frame options that are suitable for polycarbonate lenses. Due to its finesse, however, certain frame shapes are preferable. If you are made to choose this type of lens for your glasses, you need to turn to shapes that are suitable for thin lenses. This means that you need to select a frame whose surface you do not want to enlarge. For this purpose, rectangular shapes should be preferred to the disadvantage of oval shapes, which are generally more enlarged. You can choose round shapes as long as the viewing area isn't too large, which would emphasize the delicacy of the glass. The goal with a thin lens is to mitigate the resulting effect of finesse as much as possible. A frame with fine edges goes well with this style. Likewise, glasses that are not very impressive are preferable. With thin glasses it is important to keep the proportions in harmony. This ranges from the thickness of the frame edges to the size of the lenses without forgetting the look of the stem. With thin glasses, a smaller set is good for the game of proportions.
Which frame should I choose?
Thin glasses are perfect for rimless frames and offer a pleasant and harmonious appearance. In fact, polycarbonate lenses are a must have if you have decided on a pierced frame. Rimless frames benefit from a sober design ideal for building versatile eyewear adapted to all circumstances. The whole is enhanced by the delicacy of the discreet glasses. Half rim frames are also a great alternative to add thickness to your lenses. Thanks to the contrast of the half-rim, it highlights the aesthetics of the frame, which offsets the thinness of your lenses and gives the whole a visual balance. Non-rimless or semi-rimmed glasses have the advantage of being discreet and adapting to many facial styles and morphologies. To a lesser extent, rimmed glasses can accommodate thin lenses as long as they have discreet and thin rims. Indeed, thick edges on thin lenses emphasize the contrast of the thickness and break the harmony of the frame, which can be unsightly.
Which frame material for this glass?
If you have decided on polycarbonate, you have to choose the material of your glasses sparingly in order to harmonize your frame. To eliminate the contrast between the frame and the glasses, you need to choose sober and discreet frames with thin edges. Stainless steel frames offer the best offers for this. Usually thin steel frames have discreet edges, which helps create harmony between the thin lenses and the frame. Note that thanks to new technological capabilities, this type of glasses is light in weight, which promotes comfort in use. Robust and hypoallergenic stainless steel offers the best compromise between comfort, durability and aesthetics for polycarbonate corrective glasses. Another interesting alternative, titanium, is also proving to be the preferred choice. Thanks to ever thinner edges and a generally sober appearance, a titanium frame can easily accommodate thin lenses without compromising the balance between the finesse of the lenses and the frame. Plastics and wood are generally prohibited for types of glass. In fact, frames made from these materials are mostly massive and do not accommodate thin lenses. To a lesser extent, however, rubber frames with refined edges can accompany polycarbonate glasses.
Which frame colour should I choose?
The buzzword when you choose thin glasses is sobriety and discretion. The best alternative therefore remains to choose a sober colour that suits your skin tone. Strong and flashy colours should therefore be avoided. Black, brown, or grey are excellent colour palettes for this type of glass. Golden or unusual colours are to be avoided as this would highlight the entire outline of the frame and draw attention to the lenses. By choosing a discreet colour, you contribute to the harmony between the choice of glass and frame.
