Eyeglasses / Polycarbonate Lenses: The Toughest Kid on the Block

Polycarbonate lenses are thinner, lighter, and 10 times more impact resistant than standard plastic lenses (often referred to as "featherweight" lenses). They also provide built-in ultraviolet protection against the damaging affects of exposure to the sun.

Polycarbonate has emerged as one of the fastest growing lens materials in the optical marketplace, yet a conventional ophthalmic polycarbonate lens wasn't available until about 20 years ago. Acceptance of this new product was slow at first, but today it represents over 25% of the lens material product mix.

Advantages

Polycarbonate is the lens of choice among many eye doctors and opticians for a number of reasons:

• Safest lens for children.
• Most impact-resistant lens.
• Less expensive than a 1.60 or higher index lens.
• An excellent choice for use in three-piece mountings.
• Gives the benefit of a scratch-coated, UV-protected thin and lightweight lens at a huge savings.

Safety

Ask any optical dispenser what lens material children should receive and the reply will most likely be polycarbonate. This is largely due to polycarbonate's inherent safety characteristics. Polycarbonate is virtually unbreakable and can pass the drop-ball test even at a 1.0mm center thickness. For active people, and children usually are, it's important to keep the minimum thickness to a safer 2.0mm.

Lens of Choice

Emerging presbyopes want the newest, thinnest, and lightest lenses possible. Nowadays, most leading lens manufacturers are offering polycarbonate versions of their newest and most popular progressive addition lenses (PALs). Polycarbonate is used in nearly every eyeglass lens design, including segmented bifocals and progressive lenses. It is also tinted for use in sunglasses. Any polycarbonate lens you buy already has built-in scratch resistance. With all the lens materials on the market, polycarbonate stands out today as being the most popular. Despite some performance issues of the past, polycarbonate has become the high-index lens material of choice for many ophthalmic professionals.