SPECTACLE LENSES
Wide-Eyed Views
The trend toward larger-sized frames has an impact on lens design and optical clarity as well. Here, practitioners share their opinions on this growing trend.
By Erinn Morgan
Illustrations by Dan McGeehan

Remember the days of yore when many an eyeglass frame was seemingly larger than the actual face it was perched upon? Well, if your dispensary and its clientele follow the current fashion trends even a little bit, you will soon see a movement toward larger-sized frames, inspired by the �70s and �80s fashions, if it hasn�t happened already.

�Frame sizes are definitely getting more relaxed,� says Chet Steinmetz, O.D., owner of Visual Effects Optical in Chicago. �It�s because the demand has been so strong for tiny frames for six to eight years, and we�re just not going to get any smaller because we�ve really bottomed out on where we can go. The just-larger-than-small size is coming along strong right now.�

According to many dispensers, lens manufacturers have only recently gotten up to speed with the need for lens designs that work with small frame sizes. And now, if they want to fill the more trend-conscious dispensers� needs, they must turn in the other direction.

�Now that a lot of frames have gotten larger, lens manufacturers will find themselves limited,� says Jerry Thornhill, lab manager for Optical Shop of Aspen. �Because of the massive trend toward smaller frames in the past years, a lot of manufacturers have stopped making the bigger lenses. Now I request things and they say, �We don�t make those anymore.� I think it�s amazing that nobody seems concerned. They say, �Well, it hasn�t happened yet.� And I say, �Yes, it�s happening today.��

In addition to concerns about availability of lens designs to fit larger frames, there are a number of other issues involved with this movement to larger eyesizes: Problems with grinding for decentration, optical distortion, and general adaptation of the wearer to a larger lens. The bottom line is that it will take an experienced and aware dispenser to discuss the options and possible challenges of these styles with the eyewear customer. Otherwise, there may be a lot of unhappy customers out there.

�In the �70s eyewear got really big, and in the �80s everyone was in the �let�s get bigger� mode,�� says Steinmetz. �People would go into a 56 eyesize after wearing a 48 eyesize for some time and say, �Wow, the floor is in the wrong place and the walls are curved and I feel sick.� I�m not looking forward to the day when I have to deal with that again.�

Proliferation of the Trend

The first question dispensers are asking is, �Just how viable is this fashion trend in eyewear, and will it have a lasting effect for years to come like the trend to smaller frames?�

�If this fad becomes a trend over the next few years,� says Steinmetz, �lens manufacturers will have to address that because it will cause people to scream�both consumers and opticians.�

Currently, it is the high-end dispensers in progressive urban areas that are reporting the strongest growth of the trend. Others in more conservative urban locales say they see slower growth.

�Washington, D.C. is a pretty conservative city compared to New York or Los Angeles or Chicago,� says Dave Doebler, owner of Embassy Opticians in Washington, D.C. �I am, however, noticing the trend with respect to how I am buying some of my product. It�s not an overwhelming majority of my inventory mix�about 15 percent right now. The other 85 percent are still the smaller frames. So, it hasn�t been a big problem for me yet.� In fact, Doebler says the customers who are most interested in his new assortment of larger-sized frames are �the 75 year-olds who have always worn larger styles and now are saying, �Thank God there are more styles to choose from.��

Others say they have too much invested in an assortment of smaller frames (and the lens designs that work well with them) to make a broad switch to larger eyewear. �I am still fighting to maintain the trend in smaller-size eyewear because that�s my niche,� says Steinmetz.

Still others who acknowledge the arrival of this trend contest that there are plenty of lens designs available to fill the needs of the fashion-forward customer. �The designs that work continue to work,� says Ira Haber, owner of the four Europtics stores in Denver. �There are new designs as well, and the optics are pretty close. I don�t think it�s a problem at all.�

But what Haber does see as a problem is the vast number of his customers who want a larger frame with a steeper base curve. �A lot of the larger frames have more of a wrap,� he notes. �That�s where you really get poor optics. Because of the geometry of it, you want to try to get the back curve as close to a 6-base as possible. If you have someone who wants a 9-base front curve, they are going to have a fish-eye effect in any size frame. Sometimes you just have to assess the customer and decide whether or not they can be comfortable with it and explain their options.�

Steinmetz also sees this trend in larger eyewear with steep base curves (which is most likely prescription sunwear) as a problem. �This whole move to these bigger sizes is going to be difficult in and of itself,� he says. �But next summer when these really huge, oversized sunglasses with 9-base lenses come to the market and people want a prescription put in, there it�s going to be a problem.�

Getting Clarity

The main, underlying problem with larger eyesizes is that it becomes much more difficult to fulfill the customer�s style desires while also maintaining good optics. And good optics become more difficult to obtain when lens designs are limited.

�With all the new lens designs out there for smaller eyesizes,� says Thornhill, �I find that when we have to grind for decentration in larger eyewear, we have a problem.� He also notes that the proliferation of aspheric designs�which he finds to be difficult to work with in larger eyesizes�are a real problem. �The aspheric bandwagon everybody�s been on has been great for smaller sizes in frames,� he says. �But now that styles are starting to get big again, of course we can�t use an aspheric design and that presents a problem.�

Thornhill also contends that the hi-index end market has become really tight in terms of what�s available in non-aspheric designs. �The only ones left that aren�t aspheric are the older styles,� he says. �They are all either 1.66 and 1.67 and all aspheric. We are very limited with what we can do with these lenses. And now people want aspherics for their larger sunglasses with a wrap lens. If you want to process according to the manufacturer�s specifications, you just can�t do it with these lenses.�

Polycarbonate is not an issue in terms of fitting into these new frame styles, according to Thornhill, but he asks, �Is it the best material for a larger frame? It narrows the field and narrows peripheral vision. And CR 39 is not an issue in terms of working with larger frames, but is it the best lens?�

Thus, dispensers are left with one more option, which is glass. �Reverting to glass is then a duty-to-warn issue,� he says, �and how heavy will that be anyway? They�ll need a neck strap to hold their heads up.�

In addition to the lack of lens designs, the other problem is simply that it is more difficult to have visual acuity with larger lenses because the farther away from the center you look, the more optical distortion there is.

�It�s going to be a problem,� says Steinmetz. �CR 39 has the least distortion, but how are we going to put a -5.00 in a 64 eyesize? Or maybe we can use a 1.66 aspheric lens, but we can�t use it for sunglasses because we can�t tint past 40 percent, as aspherics don�t tint that well. It�s going to have to be a careful education for dispensers as well as your customers.�

Adapt and Change

In the heyday of large eyewear�the �70s and �80s�some say excellent optics perhaps took a back seat to fashion. �I remember back in the �70s and all the optical problems these huge eyesizes caused,� says Doebler.

Finding larger lenses was an issue. �It took us how many years to get them to make bigger size blanks?� he asks. And helping customers adapt to them was an even greater challenge. Some employed unique tactics to make for an easier adaptation.

�I would take frosted Scotch tape and place it around the outside edge

of the lenses to help them adapt more gradually,� says Steinmetz. �I would say, �Guess what? It�s just too big, and this is why you feel that way.� It was the only way I could figure out how to do it.�

But before you invest in a case of Scotch tape, be aware that there are more options in lenses available today which may allow easier adaptation to larger sizes. �The good news is that in comparing lenses now to what we had in �70s, we have much more today and the optics are better,� says Doebler. �We didn�t have aspheric and toric options then. But, yes, it will present issues if you don�t have an educated dispenser to explain it to the customer.�

He also notes that visual adaptation might not be as much of a problem as cosmetic acceptance of this larger frame on the face. �People are in for a shock when they put on these bigger eyesizes,� he says.

Thus, experienced dispensers recommend exploring the options in lens designs and materials, making a strategy for educating your staff about these options and what they may encounter in terms of problems with customers adapting to their newer, larger lenses, and making the customer aware of their options and possible challenges. After all, do we really want to relive all of the aspects of the �70s and �80s? EB