Matching color lenses and using anti-glare?!
Question:
Matching color lenses and using anti-glare?
I was just given my first prescription for glasses. I looked and looked to find the perfect pair of sunglasses and was finally successful. Only problem is, the sunglass lenses I have now are a rose tint, and I'd like to match it. That can be done, but the optical business I went to said that they can't match the color AND put anti-glare on the lenses. Without anti-glare, there's little point in me buying them. The lenses I have now aren't anti-glare, and I spend a lot of time looking at the reflection of my eye.
And I live in the northwest. Having grey or brown lenses block out what little sun we get isn't an alternative for me.
I find it difficult to believe that it's not possible to find the tint that I want AND put anti-glare with it. Is that accurate, or did the person I spoke with just not get it right?
Answers:
It IS possible to match your current rose tint AND put the anti-glare coating on. The trick is to make the lenses a little darker than you originally want because the anti-glare coating will lighten up the tint somewhat once applied. So if your current lenses are tinted to about a 30% rose...they'd want to order them as a 40%-50% so that when they apply the anti-glare coating, the lenses lighten up to where you want them.
The anti-glare coating can be stripped off, but getting gray or brown lenses 100% clear so they can re-tint them rose is tricky, especially if the lenses are quite dark. The place you went to would be better off just re-ordering lenses for you.
Polycarbonate lenses cannot be tinted in the labs of most optical retailers. They actually tint the lens BEFORE the hard coatings are applied so it is impossible to strip the tint off. And once the hard coatings are applied, its almost impossible to tint them after the fact. For this reason, tinted polycarbonate lenses are ordered in pre-tinted from the surfacing labs. Then the lab in the optical retailer edges the lenses and assembles them.
If you just got the glasses, waste no time telling them that you are unhappy with the color of the lenses and explain why. They should re-make them for you free of charge for your satisfaction, especially if you just picked them up. We always ensure the satisfaction of our patients where I work and if they value your loyalty, they will make good on them. But call them today!!! A few weeks or months from now, they might not.