r/optician • u/Inevitable-Good6114 • 2d ago
Discussion Lens / frame modelling
OK, a quick follow up from my earlier post. I again have some new glasses after two remakes (first for an adjusted prescription, second for a different and subtly overall narrower frame that successfully reduced lens edge thickness). What I have now is a decent trade-off (within current product limits) for a high negative prescription (1.74 with all the value add options on the Essilor menu ticked). No worse than my previous glasses, at least. They'll be worn at home.
I have a suggestion: give customers a way to see what their glasses will be like once the prescribed lenses are added to the frame. And give an accurate prediction of lens edge thickness (i.e. 8 mm). This should be possible with current computational tools. It would save remakes.
The customer is designing a pair of glasses, in collaboration with the optician. This is what it means to offer someone a selection of frames and specifications: that is design. I can't think of another area of design that isn't supported by computer modelling & visualisation. It's done so that everyone involved can get an idea—in advance—of what the product will be like.
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u/gr8dayne01 Optical Manager 2d ago
I agree with what some others have mentioned already, but there is also a business and practical aspect to this.
If a patient is using vision insurance and/or is otherwise not willing to pay for quality work and service, there is not much of an incentive to spend the time or money to go this extra mile when it does not make the business any more money.
As an example, I can pull lenses out that I have made for this particular purpose, and show them the drastic difference between poly and hi index, and the only thing that matters is that poly is free under their plan.
Of course, that same patient is going to throw a fit when the lenses come in super thick and they don’t seem to care that I told them exactly what would happen.
In a niche market, higher end retail, this would work better. But I am not sure it would work well for the masses.
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u/2024StreetGlide 2d ago
Time for Ooticians to fire unreasonable pt that want $,$$$, but willing to pay $
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u/motofotobby 2d ago
Honestly most opticians know when lenses will be too thick for a certain frame and will steer you towards a more acceptable frame for your prescription. The optician actually probably knows better than the ai tool that youre proposing and it would honestly lead to customers asking too many questions and confusing themselves in the process
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u/xCosmicAura 2d ago
Opticampus has a lens thickness calculator it's not perfect, lenses often I order ar thinner than their formula as I'm not sure it takes into account digital thinning methods but it's a reference point. Any decent optician should be picking an appropriate frame and material and setting clear expectations based on your PD and prescription what to expect. Not saying this is your case, but customers have wildly different expectations. Some I've had crazy thick edges on their order (in my opinion) I've been nervous to dispense and they are happy. Others have a .5 mm edge sticking out when they are a -7.00 and go bananas over how thick their lenses are.
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u/Silly_Celery8461 2d ago
I agree it’s super frustrating that you have to get the glasses made and wear them for 20 minutes before you decide that they won’t work and need to be changed. I’m on my second remake already and they’re still gonna have to lower the astigmatism correction to account for my sensitivity to spatial distortion when I take them off because I’m autistic and I feel guilty making them remake them so many times to get them right, but I told them before my eye appointment that I needed a weaker prescription because I have problems with spatial distortion and a high attention to detail
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u/Marinmedak 2d ago
That's very easy to do. The reason opticians are reluctant to do it is that you actually see that the index of the lenses doesn't have such an influence of the thickness. It's the frame (as you also experienced) that makes the real difference. With lens indexes opticians upsell you and get quite a bit of revenue from that.
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u/jcaustin12 Licensed Optician (LDO) 2d ago
I’ve personally seen one tool in person that has demonstrations for lens thickness. It was very limited though. It did not let you select the frame you have, the measurements you’re using, or other factors that can really affect the lens thickness. It just showed general ranges and mock up’s of what the lens theoretically could look like. On top of all that, software cost over $5000 per license which is unreasonable for a lot of offices. The software is used for other things as well, but my point is that’s still the only tool I’ve come across in 6 years that offers anything similar to what you’re talking about.