What is the difference between polycarbonate and high index

A lens for nearsightedness is designed to be thinner in the center but thicker around the edges. With a strong prescription and regular thick lenses, your choice of eyeglass frames will be limited— especially if you were hoping to purchase rimless or semi-rimless frames. More recently, the newest trends in eyeglass frames include plastic and metal rimless frames, as well as frames that contain thinner rims which expose the edge of the lens. With a thicker lens, these types of frames can be less attractive and also more difficult to wear, as thicker lenses are not as secure within the frame and are more likely to pop out.

With thinner high-index lenses, you will no longer need to worry about the appearance of your lenses and you will gain a larger variety of frames to choose from. High-index lenses contain less material than regular lenses and are therefore lighter and more comfortable.

Regular lenses for a strong farsightedness prescription can be quite heavy. Also, as opposed to lenses for nearsightedness which are thicker on the edges, lenses for farsightedness are thicker in the center.

With regular lenses, this can significantly magnify your eyes and may make you feel a bit self conscious at times. High-index lenses contain a unique aspheric design which facilitates a flatter lens curvature, leading to reduced magnification and improved appearance.

High-index lenses are generally scratch resistant and can fit into almost any type of frame. They can also be treated with anti-scratch, anti-reflective, and UV-protection coatings to improve vision and lens durability. Before choosing high-index, speak with your eye doctor to determine if these lenses are necessary for your individual prescription.

While high-index lenses can be beneficial for certain optical prescriptions, they can also be more expensive than regular lenses.

Many eye care professionals also recommend adding anti-reflective and anti-scratch coatings to high-index lenses to improve vision and lens durability — this will further increase the overall cost of your new eyeglasses. Also, it is important to know that high-index lenses are typically more fragile than regular lenses and need to be handled with a bit more care. Thinner, lighter high-index lenses are especially recommended if you have a strong eyeglass prescription for nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism.

Polycarbonate eyeglass lenses are a type of high-index lens that are also scratch and impact resistant and protect your eyes from UV. This material is highly recommended for people in jobs that are high risk for eye injury and for anyone under the age of Advantages of High-Index Lenses.

Because of their ability to bend light more efficiently, high-index lenses for nearsightedness have thinner edges and high-index lenses for farsightedness have a thinner center than lenses with the same prescription power that are made of conventional plastic or polycarbonate material. Thinner lenses require less lens material, which reduces the overall weight of the lenses.

We offer a few different indexes on our lenses. Our polycarbonate lenses have a 1. Our 1. These lenses are super-thin but are also more expensive than the polycarbonate option. High Index Lenses. Pros Cons. Polycarbonate Lenses. Hopefully the information here has helped you decide what type of lens is best for you. Whether you decide to choose minimalist high index or tough polycarbonate lenses, all of the lenses we offer at EyeBuyDirect come with anti-scratch, anti-reflective, and UV protective coatings.

Shop Quality Lenses. Enable Accessibility. Matthew Miller, OD on September 27th, When buying eyeglasses there are advantages to both high index and polycarbonate lenses. What Are High Index Lenses? What Are Polycarbonate Lenses? Check out the chart below for the pros and cons of high index lenses Vs polycarbonate: High Index Lenses Pros Cons Lightweight and comfortable.

Fits neatly in thin frames. Great for strong prescriptions. More expensive than standard lenses. Can be more breakable than standard lenses.