09 Jan Lenses: Not All Are Equal
One thing we strive for and always have is providing a level of product that is superior to our competitors. Some folks ask why we are more expensive than some retail chains and the answer is simple – We offer a higher level of service and our bottom line product is their top of the line product. We are fully committed to continually looking for, testing, and providing you with new technology through lens design, materials, coatings, and more. This year we have been fortunate to add an in house lens lab to our new uptown location. This enables us to access new lens suppliers and control the quality of our products from order to dispense. We have a veteran lab technician with over 20 years of experience in the luxury eyewear industry supporting us and helping us achieve the quality you’ve come to expect from Urban Eyecare.
Stock vs Surfaced
Traditional stock lenses are created with molds that have the type of lens design on one side and the prescription is ground into the back side. These lens blanks, as they are called, are centered to the center of the blank and do not take the wearer, frame, or prescription into account during manufacturing. These lenses can be stocked in house in various strengths and used immediately to create lenses. These lenses typically cost less to purchase on the back end and are able to get within 1/10th of a diopter to the actual prescription.
Digitally surfaced lenses are created, as the name implies, with a digital lathe taking into account all the above factors when creating both the lens design and the backside prescription. This updated technology creates what we refer to as HD lenses, allowing the prescription to be within 1/100ths of a diopter to what was prescribed. Taking into account the type of wear, frame size, horizontal and vertical pupil measurements, prescription and more creating the most ideal lens possible for any given frame and patient.
While there is no one size fits all approach to creating lenses, we evaluate each factor and condition that may affect a patients vision and the aesthetics within the frame. Our goal is give you the best looking lenses that can be had for any given frame size, shape, or prescription.