Kevin Gutsell
President, ABDO
In recent years, new technologies have been producing lighter, more comfortable spectacles with specialised designs and coatings to enhance vision and comfort in demanding environments.
The demands on our vision are higher than ever, prompting spectacle lens designers to continually enhance vision zones and offer tailored lens options. Your dispensing optician can recommend lenses perfectly suited to your needs, like a custom-made suit. You can also request lenses specifically designed for computer and tablet use.
Thinner and lighter spectacle lenses
Dispensing opticians are the experts in finding the thinnest and lightest lenses for your spectacle prescription. This will ensure they are as comfortable as possible. This is true whether you are short- or long-sighted and even when you need reading spectacles.
Across the world, more children
are becoming short-sighted (myopic).
Therapies for the ‘myopia epidemic’
Across the world, more children are becoming short-sighted (myopic).1 This means that, without spectacles, they cannot see clearly in the distance. This may be due to insufficient time spent outdoors and prolonged use of tablets and laptops.
Changes in lifestyle can help, although using specially designed spectacle lenses has been shown to slow down the increase in short-sightedness as your child grows. Dispensing opticians can discuss the options available to children and to reduce future risks of eye problems as lens power increases.
Coloured and driving lenses
While many of us visit the optometrist and dispensing optician to update our glasses, some experience discomfort, like flickering words and headaches, even when a new prescription is not required. Such discomfort can be associated with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder (ADD) autism, Asperger’s syndrome, dyspraxia, chronic fatigue syndrome, migraine and headaches.2 It has been found that, for some patients, the use of an overlay with coloured plastic can reduce and sometimes eliminate these symptoms.3 There are eye care professionals who specialise in this subject, which often affects children at school and therefore their learning.
Lens designers recognise that vision quality while driving is crucial, especially at night, on long trips and as we age. Dispensing opticians are the experts in visual task analysis and can recommend helpful products. Polarising lenses are useful on sunny days; light (specialist colour) tints can help at any time; and more specialised driving lenses can enhance the experience. Anti-glare coatings are essential, with some designers offering advanced coatings for even greater visual comfort.
[1] Myopia: A Global Epidemic. (2019). Retina Today.
[2] What is Irlen Syndrome?. (2022). Irlen Syndrome Foundation.
[3] Use of coloured overlays and lenses are unlikely to help children with dyslexia, study finds. (2015). BMJ, 350, h2830. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h2830
