Progressive powered lenses (PALs) come in many different designs and qualities. The choice is incredibly large, with the cheapest options costing from under NZ$240 and the most expensive ones going up to well over a thousand dollars for a pair of lenses. So where is the difference and what makes some lenses better than others? All progressive lenses have one thing in common, their top part of the lens is designed to allow for viewing in the distance, the bottom for viewing in near distances. Apart from the lens material, the tint and coatings, that is pretty much where the similarities end. All manufacturers carry a variety of progressive addition lenses from budget to top end quality. I guess the bottom end lenses all seem to be pretty similar in design and performance. It’s the high end designs that seem to vary because of the different approach taken to provide the best possible viewing experience.

A great example of an approach to design a truly individual progressive lens is the new “Hoyalux iD MyStyle”. This lens is different in so far that it does not only take the actual prescription and frame details into account. The client’s lifestyle and viewing expectations are also integrated into the design. We are using a specially written computer program to identify what the client expects of her glasses, what she does during the day and in free time and of course where she feels her priorities are. This helps to make an individual lens that performs well in the most important lifestyle situations.

I would like to give an example:

Let’s say we have two clients with an identical prescription of say -5.00 diopters for distance and a reading addition of, say +2.00 diopters. This means these two clients are medium short sighted and presbyopic (need an age related additional correction for reading).

Now, even though the prescription for both clients is identical, there could be a need for different progressive lens designs. Let’s say Client One is a traveler for a company that requires her to be on the road and drive large distance to visit existing and potential customers. Her time in the office is limited. In her spare time she loves playing golf and also enjoys going to the movies. She also loves traveling and occasionally she likes to read a book.

Client Two on the other hand works at head office. She attends meetings and spends a about a third of her time in front of her laptop. In her spare time she likes to paint, knit and do pottery. Occasionally she reads a book and if so she does it while watching TV at the same time (I find it amazing how women can multi task ).

Although both have identical prescriptions it is quite obvious that they have different lifestyles, different work environments and different visual needs. Even though both rely on their glasses to correct their short sightedness, Client Two spends a lot more time working at short and intermediate distances. Client One on the other hand doesn’t do much close up work.

The process the “Hoya MyStyle Identifyer” uses, takes all of this into consideration. For these two clients with the same prescription, the optimal solution is quite different. Using the “Hoyalux iD MyStyle” technology we would come up with 2 different solutions for the same prescription. You could say that each Client will get an individually tailored lens. This process is quite involved on both ends, here in our store during consultation and in the lab during manufacture.

The idea of a lifestyle dependent design solution of a progressive addition lens makes total sense. The prescription details are only numbers, but if used in conjunction with lifestyle requirements, one can get a truly satisfying result. Check out the HOYALUX iD MyStyle website here.