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  • - While frame size and shape are very important,

  • there is a much much bigger take-away in this lesson.

  • And it's so important, that I would encourage you,

  • to watch it through, sit it aside for a day or two,

  • and then watch it again.

  • (upbeat motivational music)

  • Between the website, YouTube videos

  • and our Consumer's Guide to Buying Eyeglasses,

  • I get a lot of email, a lot of email.

  • And you know what?

  • I answer every last one of them.

  • Well, at least the ones that are optically related.

  • Every once in a while, I get one that presents me

  • with the perfect teachable moment.

  • And last week, I got this one.

  • - [LeeAnne] Hi John, I saw your YouTube video

  • on "How Frame Selection Affects Lens Thickness."

  • I learned so much, and loved the humor in it too.

  • I had heard a few years ago that choosing a smaller frame

  • is a good idea with my high minus prescription,

  • but I didn't realize how important it is

  • until I bought my most recent eyeglasses.

  • I have a question that I hope you can help me with,

  • but didn't want to post it on YouTube.

  • The prescription for my left eye is -8.50,

  • cylinder -0.75, axis 135, and my right eye

  • is -6.50, cylinder -0.25, axis 15

  • with a narrow PD of 57.

  • I went to four optical shops and none were knowledgeable

  • about frame selection for my prescription

  • and said that with high index 1.74 lenses,

  • it's not really a concern.

  • All of the eyeglasses I saw, were the trendy

  • oversized ones and some average sized ones,

  • which on my narrow face look oversized.

  • The optician said, small glasses are out of style,

  • and urged me to get rectangular frames

  • that were eyesize 51, bridge size 14.

  • Although I asked her if I should order them in size 49

  • because I was concerned they were too big

  • and she said no, they would look too small,

  • and that size is for a child.

  • While I see fine out of them,

  • I'm not happy with the cosmetic result.

  • They are quite thick, even with Essilor 360

  • high index 1.74 lenses,

  • and I think the facial inset and distortion is much more

  • noticeable than with my previous frames.

  • I look like I'm in a fish bowl or wearing safety goggles.

  • So I decided to learn all I can to make a better selection,

  • and came across your video, and some other articles,

  • that have been helpful.

  • I've found some rounded frames online in sizes 43/18

  • and 46/16, which are very hard to find frames

  • for my narrow PD.

  • The 46/16 frames are children's,

  • and the 43/18 frames are readers.

  • My main goal is for the least amount of facial distortion,

  • along with thinner lenses.

  • My question is, I've seen conflicting info online

  • about whether it's preferable to choose a round frame

  • or an oval frame to lessen the facial distortion.

  • Do you have a recommendation?

  • Also, do you know of any other options

  • for finding frames for a narrow PD?

  • Thank you.

  • - Well, okay.

  • Oh, whoosh.

  • Where do we even start here?

  • First of all, after reading LeeAnne's email,

  • I immediately knew that I could help her.

  • Which is what this video is all about.

  • I'm going to walk you through exactly how

  • we got some beautiful results for LeeAnne,

  • and made her a very happy customer.

  • But first, let's step back for a minute,

  • and think about her experience prior to meeting us.

  • LeeAnne does have a high minus prescription,

  • but not overly so.

  • Her prescription is not all that uncommon.

  • Yet, she visited four different opticians,

  • just trying to get a nice pair of glasses

  • that she knew was possible,

  • because she had worn them before.

  • And none of the opticians that she visited, could help her.

  • Each of them guided LeeAnne towards frames

  • that didn't fit her face, or match her prescription.

  • Why?

  • Well, probably because, you know,

  • we all know from big optical marketing, that 174,

  • and free-form technology, or magic solutions,

  • that will make any prescription beautiful,

  • and let your customer see the world

  • at high definition glory.

  • You don't even have to think anymore.

  • Errr.

  • Four different opticians all fed her this line of bologna.

  • You know something else?

  • LeeAnne lives in Florida, a state that requires education

  • and a license to become an optician.

  • Now LeeAnne is not an optician, yet she was able to come up

  • with a better solution for her eyewear needs

  • than four licensed opticians could.

  • What's the point here?

  • The point is that, like LeeAnne, you have to care.

  • You have to care enough,

  • not just to know how to do your job, but to ask questions,

  • and persist until you're satisfied with the answers.

  • Look, you are watching this video so that I know you care.

  • Thank you.

  • Just remember, a license, or a certification

  • is not what makes you or anyone a good optician.

  • Don't believe everything that you read

  • in a magazine article,

  • or some CEs sponsored by your big optical company.

  • Or, even one that's written by a knowledgeable optician.

  • Be curious.

  • Never stop asking questions.

  • Never stop learning.

  • Do that, and then, you will be a great optician.

  • Alright, enough of that.

  • Let's get back to helping LeeAnne.

  • I asked LeeAnne to pack up a new frame,

  • her monocular PDs, a few pictures,

  • her most recent lens powers,

  • and I'd see what we could do for her.

  • Let's start with that frame she ended up in.

  • Let's take a look at that choice.

  • Even setting aside the high lens powers,

  • this frame is much too wide for her face.

  • Because it is so wide,

  • we have a poor customer PD to frame PD match.

  • Because of its size and shape,

  • this frame will require excessive OC height movement.

  • With powers like hers, you would want to do an OC height,

  • and in this frame, that means movement of five millimeters

  • or more and that's not a good thing.

  • The sharp corners, or shape up and out,

  • is just asking for thickness issues in a high minus.

  • All sorts of extra lens where you will never need it.

  • And, to me, that looks like cheek touch,

  • which is never a good thing.

  • And look, 174 is not some magic lens material

  • that makes every power thin and cosmetically appealing.

  • In fact, you're about to learn

  • that we actually get better results with a 166 and 167.

  • Well, sure enough, I went out to the mailbox,

  • and I had a package.

  • Let's see what's inside.

  • Alright, looks like LeeAnne got her frames from EyeBobs.

  • Alright, let's take a look at this frame that she got.

  • Oh, that is cute.

  • Good shape.

  • Perfect for a prescription as high as hers.

  • And, let's look at those numbers.

  • Let's see.

  • Alright, we've got a minus six, minus 75 at 135,

  • our left, oh my, yes, a minus 850, minus 25 at 15.

  • We have a PD of 27.5, 29.5.

  • Very good.

  • Alright, my next step here is to get this information,

  • those numbers there, and the frame shape, to the lab.

  • So, I'm gonna do a little bit of writing.

  • I'm gonna trace this frame, take some measurements,

  • send them off to the lab, and then I'm gonna call

  • to follow-up and we're gonna talk through why we choose

  • certain materials and coatings,

  • and the importance of the size and the shape.

  • And, we're gonna record that phone call.

  • Alright, I am going to head back into the office,

  • scan this, send it off to Jan.

  • So, I will meet you when I'm making that phone call.

  • Alright, as I told you guys I was gonna give Janet a call

  • in a couple of hours, and that time has arrived.

  • I have her on the other end of the phone.

  • And, we are gonna talk about how I would call in this job,

  • if I were a new optician.

  • Working with Laramy-K.

  • So, hello Janet.

  • - [Janet] Hey John, how are you doing?

  • - [John] Good, thank you.

  • Did you get what I sent you, so far?

  • - [Janet] Yes I did.

  • So, if I'm gonna walk you through as a new customer would,

  • I would probably ask you to read the script to me,

  • and whatever order you want to,

  • it's our job to kinda follow along with you

  • and however you're comfortable with it.

  • - [John] Okay.

  • I have got a right eye of minus six, minus 75 at 135.

  • And I've got a left of minus 850, minus 25 at 15.

  • - [Janet] Okay.

  • And, the patient PD on that.

  • - [John] I've got a monocular PD of 27.5, 29.5.

  • - [Janet] Okay.

  • And, your frame size?

  • - [John] I've got an A of 42.

  • A B of 35, and a DBL of 18.

  • - [Janet] That's nice.

  • I like to congratulate people

  • when they do a good job dispensing.

  • - [John] She kind of self-selected, actually.

  • She knew from having a script this high, for all her life,

  • that something was amiss with the one she just got.

  • - [Janet] Uh-huh. - [John] Which is how she

  • ended up contacting us.

  • And, she tried some other stuff on, sent me some pictures,

  • and I said, "Oh, that's a good one."

  • - [Janet] Okay.

  • - [John] And, you'll see in the end, I got some pictures,

  • it does, it looks good.

  • And, yeah, I couldn't of been more,

  • I would definitely go towards something like that

  • if somebody came to my shop like that.

  • - [Janet] Okay. - [John] Yeah.

  • - [Janet] Alright.

  • And, the shape on it.

  • I saw the tracing, so it's really, well,

  • almost a P3 type shape in axial

  • - [John] Yeah. - [Janet] Is that correct?

  • - [John] Absolutely.

  • - [Janet] Okay. - [John] Yep.

  • - [Janet] Alright.

  • - [John] Now, when you say P3,

  • where would somebody find that term?

  • - [Janet] Yeah, I probably should say round.

  • I probably should say round.

  • - [John] Yeah, okay.

  • - [Janet] Yeah, so. - [John] Alright.

  • (Janet laughs)

  • Yeah, I was heading more towards, it's almost round

  • Yeah, okay. - [Janet] Almost round.

  • Almost round would probably be better, yes.

  • Have you talked to her about material or lens design?

  • 'Cause there's a couple of ways we could go.

  • - [John] Right.

  • - [Janet] We could do it as a regular single vision.

  • We could do it as a free-form.

  • In our experience over the last eight years

  • of doing free-form, this is the type of prescription

  • that would really benefit from

  • a free-form single vision product.

  • - [John] Yeah, that's definitely

  • where we're headed with this.

  • Yeah, definitely gonna be the best of the best free-form.

  • - [Janet] Okay. - [John] Yeah.

  • - [Janet] Alright. - [John] Yep.

  • - [Janet] And, have we discussed material at all?

  • - [John] She's currently in competitor's free-form

  • in a 174 that was kinda part of the issue.

  • The place she went just said, you know,

  • "Oh, your power doesn't matter as long as we do you in 174."

  • Which is kinda the thing that set me off on this whole

  • adventure, actually. - [Janet] Oh.

  • - [John] Out of all the things that were said,

  • just blatantly assuming that, you know,

  • everything would be okay in a 174.

  • I kinda had a hunch that you might not agree with that,

  • so, I'll let you run from there.

  • - [Janet] Okay, so on this, honestly with this prescription

  • even if it were a little bit larger frame,

  • I would honestly suggest 167.

  • - [John] Alright.

  • - [Janet] It's a more stable product.

  • The acuity, with 167, is better.

  • The abbe value with 167 is better.

  • And we can actually surface 167 thinner,

  • than we can 174.

  • (John laughs)

  • - [John] Repeat that for us, one more time.

  • - [Janet] Yes, I know.

  • (John laughs)

  • We can surface a 167 thinner, than we can surface a 174.

  • - [John] Oh, I love that.

  • - [Janet] The reason for that, is that with the 174

  • being a less stable product,

  • it has to be thermal cure hard-coated.

  • And, going through the AR process, it is subject to heat.

  • So, because it's more heat sensitive, in a 167 I can go,

  • I can surface it to a 1.0 to a 1.2 center thickness,

  • and still go through that AR process.

  • With a 174, the minimum center thickness that we can do,

  • going through that process, is a 1.5.

  • - [John] So, yeah, there we go.

  • And that's the measurement that comes out at the edges.

  • Fantastic. - [Janet] Yeah.

  • And it's not really a lot.

  • But, that is exactly where you're gonna notice it.

  • So... - [John] Yeah.

  • - [Janet] If you put a 167 next to a 174,

  • in the exact same power,

  • I don't even think left calibers

  • there would be a difference.

  • - [John] No.

  • Great. - [Janet] On the edge thick.

  • So, okay.

  • - [John] Well, that's what we'll do then.

  • Alright. You sold me on that.

  • - [Janet] Alright, so, did we talk about AR codings?

  • - [John] I think I'd like to do the clear ice, I think.

  • - [Janet] Okay.

  • - [John] Would be probably the best thing.

  • - [Janet] Okay.

  • - [John] Especially 'cause the second part of this

  • was that she was concerned about cosmetics.

  • - [Janet] Okay. - [John] And, so yeah,

  • I think that would be a really interesting.

  • - [Janet] Okay, yeah, the ice is gonna make the lens

  • actually disappear on her face.

  • - [John] Yeah.

  • - [Janet] There's actually no residual color on that at all.

  • - [John] Alright.

  • Forgot to put on my sheet an OC height.

  • And, we do need to talk about that.

  • - [Janet] Oh yes.

  • I forgot to ask you about that, too.

  • - [John] Yeah.

  • - [Janet] 'Cause with that kind of power,

  • - [John] Yes.

  • - [Janet] Depending on how the frame fits,

  • you do wanna measure for that.

  • - [John] Can do an OC height of 22.

  • - [Janet] Okay.

  • - [John] Or, 4.5 above the B. - [Janet] Okay.

  • - [John] And, I stole that from one of the pictures

  • that she sent, so...

  • - [Janet] Okay.

  • So, we'll get that taken care of.

  • Let me read it back,

  • and make sure that I've got everything correct.

  • I've got a right lens of minus six, minus 75 at 135.

  • The left is a minus 850, minus a quarter at 15.

  • It is mono PDs, 27 in a half over 29 in a half.

  • OC height is 22.

  • We're gonna do the single vision radical,

  • which is our free-form single vision.

  • In a 167.

  • We're gonna do the ice AR,

  • and the frame that it's going into is a 4218,

  • with a 35 B and it's a fairly round shape.

  • - [John] It's gonna be an awesome pair of glasses.

  • - [Janet] Okay. - [John] Nice.

  • And this is how they turned out.

  • I think they're absolutely beautiful.

  • We ended up running these in a high index 166,

  • this was in a single vision, our free-form radical design

  • and it has a mild compensation,

  • it has the ice clear AR coating,

  • no need to polish, I mean, the choice of frame,

  • and the design of the lens, there's no edge showing at all.

  • Personally, I think these look fantastic.

  • Here is what LeeAnne thinks.

  • - These are my new glasses,

  • and they are the thinnest glasses I've had in a long time.

  • I love how there's virtually no facial inset on the sides,

  • so, it's not as obvious

  • that it's such a strong prescription.

  • And, I'm really happy with how they turned out.

  • - Wow! Okay, so much there.

  • Worth a few seconds to review the highlights.

  • Highlight number one.

  • Frame size and frame shape always matter.

  • Always.

  • Proper frame choice is the base

  • for any good pair of eyeglasses.

  • Two, 174 is not a magic lens material.

  • Number three, you must develop enough confidence

  • to reach a compromise with your higher power customers.

  • For them, fashion be damned.

  • Look, LeeAnne didn't wake up that morning minus 850, okay?

  • High power people know they are a tough bid.

  • Work that to your advantage.

  • Number four.

  • I sincerely hope you could hear the difference

  • in the conversation that I had with Janet

  • when I called the job in.

  • That is the kind of relationship that we have

  • with our customers at Laramy-K.

  • As we like to say, a great lens design all begins

  • with great communication.

  • Why not give us a call today?

- While frame size and shape are very important,

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