There is a common misconception that all prescription lenses are made out of glass, but the truth is the majority of lenses nowadays are not and there are fewer and fewer optician's who dare use glass. But at Krystal Vision we don't like to follow the rest, we prefer to use the best solution for every customer we have the pleasure of helping! This includes using glass lenses when the situation or client calls for them. Below you'll find some of the reasons people are scared of using glass and other reasons as to why we prefer it at times over common materials like polycarbonate and high index.
First lets talk about a few of the reasons people don't use glass for glasses lenses as much as they used to.
While this is ultimately true, glass is a very rigid material that can shatter if dropped or hit the right way. It's EXTREMELY unlikely. You see, glass lenses are held to similar safety standards as other lens materials so they are much safer than most people think. They undergo specific treatments to help with impact resistance. They are also tempered so if they take an impact they don't necessarily shatter, instead they crack so it drastically reduces any chance of glass shards coming back into your eye.
Once again this is true, but in the vast majority of common prescriptions you will not notice a difference in weight between your plastic lenses and glass lenses. And most of the added benefits of glass far outweigh the issues the material can have.
In some cases this may be true but there are also instances where glass will be thinner than most plastic materials. In fact outside of the United States, especially in Asia glass is the preferred material because they are able to make it so much thinner while avoiding issues like warping.
Now that we've covered some of the most common complaints about glass lenses it's time to talk about the benefits that you'll see with glass lenses.
Probably the biggest benefit of glass lenses is the scratch resistance. Glass is significantly harder than any of the plastic materials and are much harder to scratch. It's a very popular material for people who work in agriculture like farmers and ranchers, or anybody else that works in dusty environments on a regular basis.
Glass lenses are the top of the line when it comes to clarity. So if good optics are a must then glass is the way to go. We see this become most relevant when working with professional photographers because they prefer the best clarity possible.
Since glass lenses are so scratch resistant and chemical resistant they are significantly easier to take care of. This means that you don't have to worry as much about the cleaners you use, water works fine in most cases. You can also be a little more careless with your cloth because it's so much harder to scratch. Since this is the case glass lenses will typically last longer than a plastic lens.
Like most things in life, there is a give and take when considering glass as your material of choice. But if you’re tired of your plastic lenses scratching and want superior clarity then you may want to give glass a chance!