Reading glasses|multifocal glasses|multifocal lenses|bifocal glasses|bifocal lenses|computer glasses|computer lenses by Optical Direct Online store - Prescription Lenses for Eyeglasses, sunglasses

The lenses to choose for your glasses depend on 3 factors: most importantly, your prescription. Secondly, frame style of the glasses (i.e. whether it is rimless, full rim or semi-rimless) and finally the purpose of the glasses.

Some lenses are not suitable for Rimless glasses, for example CR39, while polycarbonate or high index 1.67 lenses are perfect choices for Rimless glasses.

If your prescription has high power, high index lenses or ground lenses have to be used otherwise the lenses would be too thick. If your prescription has a sphere that is more than -3 diopter, we do not recommend CR39 stock lenses.

In semi-rimless frames, groove is created to hold the nylon which supports the lenses to the frame structure. The groove weakens the lenses making it more subject to chipping. We recommend impact resistant lenses for semi-rimless frames.

If the wearer is a child or the glasses are to be worn in frequent sports activity, then it is a good ideal to choose impact resistance lenses such as Polycarbonate, high index 1.6 or 1.67 lenses.

Have you ever purchased glasses on the Internet and been frustrated that the lenses fitted to the glasses was too thick or not suitable for your purpose. We have the solution for you. To make your online shopping experience as easy as possible, we have developed lens packages that are suitable for different prescriptions. Separate lens packages have been developed for sunglasses as well as single vision, bifocal, progressive and computer eyeglasses.

After you enter your prescription, the lens recommendation program will present you a maximum of 3 lens packages that are suitable for your prescription in the order of basic to advanced features.You can choose a package according to your budget. The first package is usually sufficient for your prescription. The lenses for advanced packages are usually thinner, lighter and have better cosmetic appearance. They are good options if you have higher budget. Within each option, you can add Anti-reflective coating,sunglasses tints or upgrade to Polarized lenses or photochromic lenses.

Please note we recommend impact resistant lenses for semi-rimless frames and child wearers. However, due to relatively high cost of impact resistant lenses, we do not enforce the use of impact resistant lenses for semi-rimless frames and child wearers. Impact resistant lens remains as a option that you can choose when you enter your prescription.

With our quality control system in place, you can rest assured that you will always get the best quality lenses for your prescription at unbeatable price.

Here are some price comparison between our price and recommended retail price. Please note not all types of lenses available from our web site are listed here. As explained in the first question Basic of Choosing lenses, the lens to use for your glasses depends on your prescription, frame style and purpose of the glasses. As a result, the cost of lenses for the glasses varies. The find out how much the lenses are going to cost, please follow the instruction in the next question.

Lens	Our Price ($ per pair)	RRP ($ per pair)	Lens	Our Price ($ per pair)	RRP ($ per pair)
CR39	29	82	mid index 1.56	39	100
Polycarbonate	65	126	High index(1.74)	235	390
Bi-focal CR39 flat top 28	96	185	Bi-focal mid index 1.56	139	215
Progressive 1.50 (free form)	130	240	Progressive 1.60 (free form)	189	350

The best way to find out the costs of your lenses is to follow the shopping steps, enter your prescription on our web site. The recommended lens packages will be displayed with all the available options and prices.

1. Pick a frame with your desired frame style(full-rim, semi-rimless or rimless).
2. Enter your prescription. Please make sure to enter the year you were born correctly.
3. You will be presented with a maximum of 3 lens packages. The first package is usually sufficient. You can change your selections between packages and adding extra features, such as Anti-reflective coating, sunglasses tint, polarizer or photochromic, to the lenses within a package. The total costs are shown at the bottom of the packages.

	Bifocal Lenses have both distance and near correction in one lens with visible lines separate the two. The upper section is for distance vision. A small portion of the eyeglass lens below the line is for near vision correction.
Generally, you look ahead or up through the upper section of the lens to look at objects at distance, and you look down and through the near segment of the lens to look at reading material or detail work up to about 45 centimetres away. There are certain requirements on the frame for bifocal glasses. Please follow this bifocal glasses link for a list of frames that are suitable for bifocal glasses.
	Multifocal Lenses, also called Progressive lenses have corrective powers change progressively throughout the lens. A wearer looks through the top portion of the lens for distance vision, middle portion for intermediate vision, and the lower portion for reading or close work.
Each area is blended invisibly into the next, without the lines that traditional bifocals or trifocals have. Multifocal Lenses provide a smooth transition from distance through intermediate to near, with all the in-between corrections included as well. This constant graduation of the prescription means that you can look ahead through the top section to see in the distance, drop your gaze downward slightly through the middle section to view objects in the intermediate zone (around 65 centimetres away), and drop your gaze further down to read and do fine close up work comfortably. There are certain requirements on the frame for multifocal glasses. Please follow this multifocal glasses link for a list of frames that are suitable for Multifocal glasses.
	Computer lenses, also called "extended readers" or "near progressive" lenses, are special progressive lenses designed for computer users requiring near and intermediate focus. Unlike regular progressive lenses, it has large viewing area for
intermediate distance (around 65 centimetres away) which allows wearers to see intermediate distance objects, for example, the entire computer screen comfortably. Computer lens provides extra-wide near vision through the bottom of the lens, transitioning to extra wide intermediate vision through the top of the lens. So wearers get a wide, clear, uninterrupted view of their entire work space – from the keyboard and reading materials in front of them, to the monitor and beyond. Depending on the prescription, for most people, it can't be used for driving or for other activities that require clear distance vision. Computer lenses are an ideal specialized pair for presbyopes and emerging presbyopes who use computers and wear single vision, progressive or bifocal glasses. Please consult your optometrist and obtain a full prescription including distance sphere, near Add, intermediate Add and PD values before ordering. There are certain requirements on the frame for computer glasses. Please follow this computer glasses link for a list of frames that are suitable for computer glasses.

1. To search for desired frames (Bifocal glasses, multifocal glasses or Computer glasses, rimless glasses, titanium glasses or prescription sunglasses etc), please click on the hot link on the left hand side of the page. For more advanced search options, please visit the Advanced Search page. Click on a frame to view detailed information about that frame.

2. For frames that can be fitted with prescription lenses, the available types of prescription lens that can be fitted to the current frame is displayed before the "Add Prescription Lenses" drop down box. Please select the desired lens type from the drop down box, then click on the "Add to Cart" button.

3. Enter your prescription. Please enter any other additional information into the "Additional Note" field. If you are ordering computer access lenses, please enter "Intermediate Add" value provided on your script to the "Additional Note" field. When you finish, click on the "Continue" button.

4. Select a lens package. Description of the lens package or lens options can be viewed by hovering the mouse over the information "I" icon. You can change package by clicking on the radio button on the top row. You can then choose to add extra features such as "anti-reflective coating", "sunglasses tint" etc. to the lenses. The total cost of the lens package is displayed at the bottom of the package. Please click on the "Continue" button once you are happy with your selection. This will bring you to the shopping cart summary page.

5. The shopping cart shows you the frames and the lenses you have chosen and a cost break-down of the individual items. You can remove or edit the glasses in the shopping cart by clicking on the "Edit" or "Remove" link under the glasses image. Once you are happy with your shopping cart, please click on the "Check Out" button to proceed to payment.

We have developed a built-in mathematical measurement system into the E Try-on™ software. The data gathered during E Try-on™ determines the optimal position of the reading or fitting height of a progressive lens and computer access lens. Your Multifocal (Progressive) and computer access lenses can be done just as accurately as if you were in an optical store on the street.

Please note that you are required to upload your portrait photo to try-on the glasses for Progressive Lens or Computer Access Lens order. The E Try-on™ program collects the data that is necessary for fitting progressive or Computer Access lenses. For instruction on the requirement of the photo, please visit E Try-on® guide.

Yes. Prescription sunglasses have small front curvature and are suitable for prescription lenses. Like normal sunglasses, Prescription sunglasses frames are usually large frames that have large lenses to cover the eye areas so as to offer you better protection from the harmful UV light. We have more than 40 different styles of prescription sunglasses for you to choose from. Apart from prescription sunglasses frames, you can also turn eyeglass frames into prescription sunglasses by selecting the sunglass option such as tints, polarised lens option. To order budget prescription sunglasses made from eyeglass frames, simply choose your sunglasses option (sunglasses tint or polarised lens option) when you choose lenses for your eyeglasses.

You may find that many of our eye glasses lens packages use ground lenses. All of the lens packages for bifocal, progressive and computer lenses and prescription sunglasses use ground lenses. Most of the photochromic and polarised lenses are ground lenses.

In one word, ground lenses are custom-made lenses. Your lenses are specially made by a grinding procedure from a blank polymer that has a certain front curvature. Grinding removes the extra thickness from the lens to make the lens thinner. Lens grinding takes place after the lab receives your prescription. Orders with ground lenses usually take longer, some extra 3-5 days. Ground lenses are usually used when your prescription has a high power range. Sports eyewear and prescription sunglasses normally have higher front surface curvature and larger frame sizes and mostly can only be fitted with ground lenses.

Please note the following text is for your information only. You do not have to worry about the difference between different lens materials in order to choose your lenses. Our Lens recommendation program will present you with only the lens options that are suitable for your prescription.

about UV Protection
UV protection ensures your eyes don't suffer any sun-related damage, sun protection lenses screen out 100% of harmful UV radiation. All the lens materials listed below, apart from CR39 and mid-index 1.56 lenses, are manufactured with UV-protection.

plastic lens - CR39
Most lenses are plastic, the least expensive plastic used for eyeglass lenses is CR39 lenses. It is suitable for prescription with lower sphere.

mid-index 1.56 plastic lens
These lenses not only provide you crystal clear vision, but also manufactured with scratch resistant coating. They are lighter, and thinner ( 37% thinner and 36% lighter than most CR39 plastic lenses), therefore they are more comfortable to wear than CR39 lenses if your prescription has higher power.

polycarbonate
Polycarbonate lenses are virtually shatterproof and are highly recommended for children and active adults. Polycarbonate lenses are lightweight (27% lighter than ordinary plastic lenses), safer, thinner and flatter. Plus, they have built-in UV protection. It is suited for rimless frames.

Polycarbonate lenses are not resistant to chemicals such as acetone or methylated spirit, which is commonly used in optical store to remove the marking on the lenses. Polycarbonate lenses are very difficult lenses to tint and are not available for sunglass tinting.

Trivex 1.53 lens (also known as Trilogy or Phoenix )
It is a new plastic lens material that is being used as a substitute for polycarbonate lenses. It is optically superior to polycarbonate in that it has less distortion than polycarbonate and it is lighter. Trivex 1.53 is resistant to chemicals such as acetone or methylated spirit. Like polycarbonate it provides 100% UV protection and it is extremely durable (ten times more impact resistant than ordinary CR39 lenses). Most importantly, it is a great substitute for polycarbonate lenses that need to be tinted, because it can be easily tinted but polycarbonate cannot.

1.74 super high index lens
This is the most upper market plastic lens. Suitable for very high minus prescription. They are manufactured with UV-protective coating, anti-reflective coating and scratch resistant coating. However, these lenses are not tintable and not available with polarizer.

Anti-reflective coating
Anti-reflective coating reduces the reflection on your glasses. This means people can see your eyes, not your lenses. You'll also see more clearly when driving at night, using a computer or during other harsh lighting conditions.

Scratch Resistant Coated Lenses
We provide scratch resistant coating on all lenses that we sell at no additional charge.

Sunglasses options

All of our prescription glasses can be ordered with sunglass options such as tints, polarised or photochromic lenses. It costs as little as $25 extra for sunglasses tints when you purchase your prescription glasses. To order discount prescription sunglasses, simply choose your sunglasses options (sunglasses tint, polarised or photochromic) when you choose lenses for your eyeglasses. Any of the 3 sunglass options provide protection from harmful UV radiation.

Sunglasses tint
A sunglasses tint is simply a coloured tint that gives you great prescription sunglasses. Our tinting options offer you either grey or brown tint.

Polarised lens
They provide improved outdoor vision with better contrast, clarity and depth along with more vibrant colours perception. And because they reduce surface glare, they're ideal for activities like fishing, boating, driving and snowing sports. They also make great driving sunglasses, especially at dusk.

Photochromic light sensitive lens
Photochromic Lenses contain light-sensitive molecules that darken and lighten according to the intensity of ultraviolet light. It clears indoors, darkens outdoors, providing visual comfort without the need to change glasses. We use Sunsensors™ for 1.56 index photochromic lenses, Transitions® lenses+ for every other index photochromic lenses.

Photochromic lenses are available with most of plastic material mentioned above except 1.74 super high index lenses.

One drawback of photochromic lenses is that photochromic lenses are clear inside a car. This is because darkness change of lenses is the effect of ultraviolet light. However the UV light is blocked by the car windows just like inside a house. Glasses with photochromic lenses can not be used as sunglasses for driving inside a normal car.

Drivewear®++
These are polarised transition lenses in brown colour. Combining two of the most advanced technologies found in the eyeglass industry today: polarisation and transition photochromic technology, drivewear® lenses remove glare and adjust to varing light conditions behind the windshield of any car. Drivewear® lenses are available for prescription sunglasses.