LENS TIPS

That’s a Wrap

The pluses and minuses of prescribing and processing wrap sunwear to your patients

wrap sunwear styles offer many benefits to patients. They block more UV wavelengths from entering the eye than standard sunwear frames because they fit snugly around the front of the face, including the temporal areas of the head. They also protect the eyelids and skin from damaging UV light exposure.

Wrap sunwear presents unique challenges, however, because of its steeper base curves (see sidebar). Wrap-styled frames do, therefore, require lenses fabricated with steeper curves so they will stay securely mounted in the frame and won’t have gaps between the lenses and eyewires.

Fabricating and edging lenses for wrap frames is not for the faint of heart. If your office or local laboratory doesn’t have the equipment or skill level needed to produce quality wrap eyewear, there are specialty labs that work specifically with these styles.

PATIENTS AND PRESCRIPTIONS

Because of the base curve limitations with wrap frames, it’s important to inform patients from the start if you know that their prescriptions aren’t appropriate for wrap frame styles. This is especially true when it comes to high-plus or high-minus prescriptions.

• STEEP CURVES. High-plus lenses are less likely to stay securely in the frames because of their steep base curves.

• EDGE THICKNESS. With high-minus lenses, the edge thickness usually will be excessively thick and may prove to be unacceptable to customers.

Reptile Sun’s Serpent is Rx-able and features an 8-base wrap

That said, there are now proprietary lab technologies, created by some sunwear brands, that are putting higher Rx’s (up to +6.00 to -8.00) in wrap styles with thinner edges. While this still doesn’t cover every patient and Rx, the field is opening.

The bottom line is that if the end product isn’t going to offer excellent optics, good cosmetics, and mount securely in the frame, it’s best to steer the patient to a different style for their prescription.

Wrap styles can be a great answer for many patients’ sunwear needs. However, being upfront about the prescription limitations of these frame styles will save you time, cut down on lens remakes, and prevent additional costs to the practice. Most important, it will avoid patient frustration and contribute instead to customer satisfaction.

— Jenean Carlton, ABOC, NCLC