Monthly Archives: June 2021

Ever have a smudge on your lenses that just won’t wipe away? Sometimes it seems the more you try to remove the smudge, the worse it gets. Fingerprints, dust, rain — whatever it is, it will impair your vision.

Here are 4 tips to help get your lenses – and your clear vision – back!

1 – Start by washing your hands. Chances are pretty good that you’ll just get the lenses dirty again or worse than the already are if you handle them before a good hand-washing.

2 – Find a soft, microfiber cloth. If you don’t have a lens cloth handy, a towel should do the trick, as long as it is clean. Steer clear of using anything abrasive for cleaning. Even one time using a paper towel, toilet paper or rough fabric can damage your lenses. Tissues can also leave scratches and many brands use lotion. Most will leave behind lint.

3 – Spray lenses with a cleaning solution OR run ender cool water and rub lenses with small drop of dish soap. Avoid using any soap that has lotion or ingredients to protect or soften skin. Avoid rubbing dry lenses to clean them. Dry particles and debris may rub scratches on the lenses. Don’t use saliva or hot breath to moisten the lenses. This can introduce bacteria to the surface and leave germs on the lenses. Also avoid using glass cleaning products, unless they are intended for use with eyeglasses.

4 – Wipe dry with the cloth or towel. Be sure the lenses are dry before you put your glasses back on. No sense in dirtying what you just cleaned by leaving the surface wet and prone to particles sticking.

Remember to store your glasses in the protective case when you’re not wearing them. It never hurts to stash an extra case in your car, purse or bag with an extra cleaning cloth inside.

If you’re looking for a new pair of lenses or frames, we’re here to help! Visit our website for details on booking an appointment: http://www.utaheyecenters.com/.

 

Aging. It happens to the best of us. If the screen on your cell phone is a lot harder to read than it used to be, the problem isn’t with your phone (or even the length of your arms!). The need for progressive lenses, or bifocals, is caused by the natural aging process and affects almost all of us at some point in our lives. We usually start noticing a change when it’s hard to read the fine print, or you need to take your glasses off and look closer at the words in the book to see them. The eyes are no longer able to focus correctly, which is called presbyopia.

Presbyopia happens because as you age, your eyes’ lenses gradually harden. They’re no longer as elastic as they were when you were young, so they have a harder time focusing on the objects around you, especially on nearby objects.

Presbyopia requires a different type of lens correction than nearsightedness or farsightedness. If you only have nearsightedness or farsightedness, you only need single vision lenses. If you have presbyopia, you need lenses that improve these problems. Bifocals, or multifocal or progressive, lenses have multiple focal points to help.

Bifocals are a kind of eyeglass that have a line that separates the lenses into two. If you grew up during the 70s and 80s, you probably saw a lot of people wearing these. Well, you won’t see them very much now. Today people wear progressive lenses, the same as bifocals but without that obvious separating line.

Bifocals or Progressive?

Most bifocal and multifocal glasses have a dividing line between the different prescriptions in the lens. When you wear them, you look down, or through the bottom lens, to see an object that is close, such as reading a book. When you look up, through the upper half of the lens, you are viewing things at a distance. There is a distinct difference between the two, which takes some time to adjust.

Progressives, on the other hand, do not have a line and are made so that change in prescription is less drastic. You still have two prescriptions, but your vision flows from one to the other more smoothly. Progressives cost a bit more than bifocals do, which could be a factor when choosing between bifocals and progressives.

Talk to your ophthalmologist

If you are having difficulty seeing words up close, and you in your 40s, it may be time to speak to your eye doctor. If you need progressive lenses, they will be able to tell and they can talk to you more about whether bifocals, multifocals and progressives would work best for you.

Schedule an appointment with Utah Eye Centers today and learn from our expert doctors.