No. Attempts to remove even light or hairline scratches are not practical. When a lens surface is spot-polished, an area of blur or “lens blemish” will result.

Minor, hairline scratches will have no permanent effect on your vision. If they are deep enough, and if they are located directly in front of your pupils, they can be annoying. Scratches on the front of lenses can reduce the impact resistance of lenses by up to 20%, and scratches on the back surface of lenses can reduce the impact resistance by up to 80%. For reasons of safety, badly scratched lenses should be replaced.

Most light scratches are the result of improper cleaning. It is important to always flush your lenses with running water before using lens cleaner or a cleaning tissue or cloth. Cleaning scratches often come from wetting the grit and dust on your lenses with lens cleaner and then rubbing them. The water that you use to flush the lenses should be slightly warm – not hot, and the cleaning tissue or cloth should be clean and grit free. Cleaning scratches are usually light, curved and on both the front and back of the lens. Scratches can also arise from using clip-on sun lenses, lying the eyewear lens down on any surface (i.e. table, nightstand, dashboard, etc.), or from grit on the lining of your glasses case.

Lenses that correct for nearsightedness are always thinner in the center and thicker on the edge. This edge thickness is determined by the amount of nearsightedness that it must correct. There are ways to minimize the the edge thickness such as:
1. Do not pick frames that have a large lens size.
2. Pick a frame that has a “frame pupillary distance that is about the same, or only slightly larger than your anatomical pupillary distance.” Your optometrist should advise you about this.
3. Pick a frame with a fairly thick eyewire (the part of the frame that holds the lenses in place). A thick eyewire covers up some of the excessive lens thickness surprisingly well.
4. Ask your optometrist about how to select a frame that is designed for lenses with thick edges. Most people are not aware of it, but many frames are designed to hold one or another type of lens prescription, and professional guidance is needed to help with this.
5. The edges of lenses can be “rolled and polished” to make them less thick and less noticeable. Ask at the time you are ordering new eyewear if this would be a good option for you and the frame you have selected.
6. The bevel of your lenses can be positioned to help reduce the thick appearance of your lens edges.
7. Your prescription can be made with “aspheric” curvatures that flatten toward the outer edge of the lenses.
8. Your lenses can be made of one of the materials that have a lot of light bending “muscle.” These materials are often referred to as mid-index or high index materials. Because the optical performance of lenses made of mid and high index materials is not as good as the performance of lower index materials, your optometrist should give you guidance about which material would be best.
Because there are so many options and technical considerations related to the issue of thick edges, it is usually best to follow the guidance of the examining doctor and his technical staff when placing your eyewear order.

Scratch resistant coating helps, but no lens can be made scratch-proof. Always handle and clean your lenses carefully.

Anti-reflective lenses (sometimes called AR lenses) improve the performance of every prescription and every lens material. They help with night driving, and they have significantly increased clarity compared to regular lenses. They are especially important if:
1. Your eyes and vision are very sensitve.
2. If you appreciate the clearest, sharpest vision possible.
3. If you have difficulty driving after dark.
4. If your prescription calls for a prismatic correction.
5. If you are prone to eye tiredness or discomfort related to prolonged visual tasks.

Anti-reflective lenses, like many products, are manufactured over a range of qualities. Top quality anti-reflective lenses are formulated to be oleophobic or oil resistant. Cleaning your lenses tends to build up a static electric charge which quickly attracts dust. Top quality anti-reflective lenses are also formulated to resist static build-up. Because anti-reflective lenses are especially crisp and clear, smudges and dusting is more easily noticed. Some persistent smudges come from oil build-up between the frame and the lenses. Clean your eyewear carefully as directed by your doctor. Out of lens cleaner? Dawn dishwashing detergent has a nearly neutral pH, and can be used on most lenses safely. Just flush them with running water first and then put a dot of Dawn on each lens surface, and clean it around with a little more water. Dry with a clean, lint free , soft tissue.

The first step is to return to whoever made the replacement glasses and ask them to check to be sure the lenses have the correct powers as called for by your prescription. Lens prescriptions specify the optical power that you need.
If the power is correct then the problem may lie in the angle or positioning of the lenses in front of your eyes. Every prescription lens has one point that gives exactly the right prescription. That point is usually placed so that it is somewhat below the center of your pupil when you are loooking staight ahead. If this point is not correctly placed, your lenses will not work properly.
If the positioning of the lenses is correct, a different design might have been used or the lens material may be different. When making replacement glasses, it is usually best to use the same lens curvature, design, thicknesses, and materials. Keeping the same, or a very similar, frame design can also help avoid problems.
Buying prescription eyewear is a bit like buying a parachute or a heart valve. You must have a frame and lens design that when combined will be best for you. Your lens prescription only tells the amount and kind of optical power you need. Your lenses must have the correct optical powers, and they must be designed so they work well for you. This is a highly complex and technical task. It should be done with the same care and attention that went into your eye examination.

This varies depending on you and your prescription. A general rule of thumb is that you should see improvement over the first three days of constant wear, and you should be fully adapted in another 7 to 10 days of constant wear. Switching between your old glasses and the new ones usually only makes adaptation more difficult. If you do not notice some improvement after three days of constant wear, you should call the office of the doctor who examined you.

Simply put, nearsightedness is the result of the eye being too long from front to back and/or the optical power of the eye is too strong. This condition (also called myopia, my op ee ah) causes blur when viewing objects at a far distance. Children are often farsighteded at birth and then they develop nearsightedness as the eye grows longer. It is not uncommon for children to go from 20/20 vision to 20/200 vision over a period of months during times of rapid growth.

As nearsightedness develops, a child’s pupils may seem unusually large, and you may notice the child “squinting” a lot when they try to see things such as the numbers on a calendar at a distance of 15 to 20 feet. Some children tend to read a lot more as nearsightedness develops because print remains clear even though object a few feet or more away are blurred. Some scientists think that excessive reading may contribute to nearsightedness, but this may or may not be the case.

An eye is said to be farsighted if it is too short from front to back and/or if the optical power of the eye is too weak. This condition (also called hyperopia, high per op ee ah) causes the muscle that focuses the eye to contract excessively when viewing at any distance. Smaller amounts of farsightedness can cause the eyes to tire rapidly for reading or other close work. Sometimes larger amounts of farsightedness can cause one eye to turn inward either intermittantly or constantly.

Astigmatism is condition in which the eye cannot form a sharp focus at any distance. It is usually caused by a failure of the cornea to have a uniform curvature in all directions. The cornea is the window of the eye and is located just in front of the iris and pupil.
The end of an egg has the same curvature up and down, cross-wise, and diagonally. A cornea without astigmatism also has the same curvature up and down, cross-wise, and diagonally. When you look at the side of an egg lying on a table, it has a weak curvature in the crosswise direction, or horizontal direction, and a much stronger curvature in the up-and-down direction. A cornea that has astigmatism has a steeper curvature (usually in the up-and-down direction) and a flatter curvature in the crosswise or horizontal direction.

Signs and Symptoms of astigmatism
Astigmatism prevents the eye from forming a sharp focus, so astigmatism is usually associated with some blur at both distance and near. Headaches , eye discomfort, and a tendency to avoid reading and other prolonged close work are also often associated with astigmatism.

Yes, and no. There are various kinds and severities of color blindness. A total inability to see color is rare. Perhaps 7% of males USA have either a decreased sensitivity to red, or difficulty distinguishing between red and green. Although color blindness or color vision deficiency cannot be corrected, spectacle lenses and/or contact lenses can be used to allow those who have these problems to do a better job of sorting out or identifying colors. It is important that children be tested for color vision problems at an early age, since it can affect both their school performance and their career choices.

Near vision requires the ability to refocus the eyes and converge them so that they maintain a correct “aim” at the print. Because the eyes move in jumps called saccades as they move across a line of print, eye coordination is also important for easy reading. If maintaining a clear view of print one eye or the other separately is the problem, the most likely causes are either farsightedness or astigmatism, or a combination of both if you are under 40 to 45 years of age. The most common cause for near blur in adults over 40 is presbyopia. Presbyopia is a result of a normal change in the lens of the eye (located just behind the pupil). Adults entering presbyopia often find they need more ligh to see up close, and they often have to hold reading material at arms length.
Trouble with reading can also be a problem with controlling the 12 muscles that aim the eyes. There are also health related problems that can interfere with reading and other near vision tasks. A complete vision exam by an optometrist can reveal the basis of reading problems and also determine the options for restoring you to clear and comfortable reading.

Some doctors call the inside of the eye “the most important square inch of the body.” When your optometrist does an examination, he examines the inside of the eyes for many conditions related to general health as well as eye health. School vision tests will usually detect blurred distance vision although a clever child can sometimes even pass a “read the chart” test with seriously impaired vision. Some school screenings also screen for other problems such as focusing and convergence difficulties, eye muscle imbalance, pupillary function, and visual field loss. Even the most thorough school screening cannot substitute for a complete eye examination by a doctor. 90% of learning is based on vision. All children should have regular professional eyecare.

Most learning is based on vision. Children who cannot see clearly at chalkboard distance and/or near reading distance become frustrated with learning and this can lead to boredom and problems with behavior. The same is true if their ability to accurately aim and easily refocus from one distance to another is impaired. Sometimes a child who is well-behaved in the lower grades, becomes a behavior problem when the reach the 9 to 12 year-old range. This can be due to eye changes that commonly occur with growth spurts. A child with a small amount of farsightedness in grades 1-3, may become rapidly nearsighted due to an elongation of the eyes related to a sudden growth spurt in the fourth, fifth, or higher grades.

Light rays are focused by the cornea and crystalline lens onto the retina. If the crystalline lens loses its clarity, the flow of light into the eye is disrupted.
When a fast flowing river encounters large boulders that disrupt the flow of water, the term cataract is used. When the lens of the eye develops a loss of clarity that disrupts the flow of light, the term cataract is also used for that condition.
Cataracts can swell and cause a secondary glaucoma and permanent, irreversable damage to the optic nerve. When the advance of a cataract causes your lens-corrected vision to interfere with your normal life, or if the cataract reaches a point at which secondary damage is imminent, an ophthalmic surgeon can remove the lens of the affected eye and replace it with an artificial lens. These artificial lenses are called implants, and they are highly successful in restoring useful vision. When your optometrist diagnoses a cataract form, he will tell you about it and either refer you to an ophthalmic surgeon or recommend a re-evaluation at a later time so that the growth of the cataract can be measured and monitored.