It used to be that when you visited an optometrist or eyewear store, there were no choices to make on your part. However, all that has changed over the years. You now choose many features and options, making it sometimes difficult to know just exactly what to choose. You'll have many options for lenses and lens coatings. Fortunately, we've written a lot of information that will educate you on lens wear, and ease your mind on your choice.

1. Lens type: The first and most important choice to make is the type of lens you want. Lenses in Raleigh offers polycarbonate, high index, and aspheric lenses. All of these lens types are thinner than regular plastic lenses, which is a great benefit to anyone with moderate to severe vision problem that also wishes to avoid having heavy, unwieldy glasses.

2. Bifocals: your eye doctor will let you know if you are going to need some type of bifocals. You have a few options in this category. You can get traditional bifocals, which have a line across the lens, half-moon bifocals, which have a moon-shaped area of bifocal lens, in which there is no line of demarcation between regular lens and bifocal lens. This last option for lenses in Raleigh is the best because nobody will be able to tell that you are wearing bifocals.

3. Anti-scratch coating: this inexpensive coating will protect your lenses from scratches for 1-2 years. At a reasonable cost, it makes good sense for everyone to have this coating put onto their glasses, particularly children and other people who get a lot of scratches on their lenses in Raleigh.

4. Anti-reflective coating: having this protective coating on your lenses can help reduce the glare that is so distractive and bothersome to a large number of people. The coating will also help drivers who experience reflections while driving after dark. On the down side, though, this coating will also make your lenses easier to scratch.

5. Tints: By purchasing glasses in Raleigh, you have a choice between tints or photo-chromatics -- both which aid in sunlight protection for those with sensitive eyes. Tints add a permanent hint of color (which you can choose). Photo-chromatics actually causes the color to change when exposed to the sunlight.