Do you suffer from serious farsightedness and find yourself not accessible to those beautiful and funky frames because your lenses are too thick? Well, if you do, you are certainly not alone. Many people are caught up in this dilemma where they have to compromise the style to make sure their eyeglasses match their prescription so that they can see clearly. However, with aspheric lenses, they don’t have to wear limited kinds of frames anymore.
Thanks to advanced optical design technology, lenses can now be made with much flatter curves than the conventional ones, giving them a slimmer, more attractive look. Compared with conventional lenses which have a front surface that is spherical, meaning it has the same curve across the entire surface, aspheric lenses feature a front surface that gradually changes in curvature from the center out to the edge. This unique design makes sure aspheric lenses match the same prescription as their conventional counterparts do and at the same time are much slimmer.
Although aspheric lenses are generally much thinner than conventional ones, the difference is especially dramatic in lenses that correct farsightedness, also known as convex or “plus” lenses. These lenses are thicker in the center and thinner at the edges, with the center of the lens typically bulging forward from the frame. Made with much flatter curves, aspheric lenses don’t have such problem. This not only gives the eyewear a slimmer, more flattering profile but also makes it possible for those who have a strong prescription to choose from a larger variety of frames without worrying the lenses being too thick.
Different from plus lenses, eyeglass lenses that correct myopia, also known as concave or “minus” lenses are thinnest at the center and thickest at the edge. The slimming effect of an aspheric design is less dramatic in these lenses, however, compared with conventional lenses for myopia correction, it still makes a noticeable reduction in edge thickness, making the lenses more lightweight and fixed to the frames.
Because aspheric lenses have flatter curves than conventional lenses, they fit closer to your face, which is a major benefit for anyone who needs a strong prescription. Conventional spherical lenses with a strong prescription can cause unwanted magnification or minification, which for farsightedness glasses, makes objects appear larger and closer than they actually are and gives the wearer’s eyes an unnaturally magnified, “bug-eyed” look, and for nearsightedness glasses, makes things look smaller and give the wearer’s eyes a small, “beady-eyed” appearance. Aspheric lenses greatly reduce these unwanted effects, so the world looks more natural to the wearer, and the wearer’s eyes look more natural to everyone else.