Spectacles
Frames
At C & A Hurst Opticians we hold a comprehensive stock of frames to suit all ages. We have designer frames from companies such as Orange, Mexx, Sophia Loren, Country Casuals, Stetson, Oliver Goldsmith and Elizabeth Arden to name just a few. We also carry ranges of frames with prices to suit all pockets. All of our frames on display are priced to include single vision lenses supplied with UV protection.
For children we stock a large range of frames Including Jump, WOW, Edge, Orange Kids, and College Collection. These frames are carefully selected to be practical and offer value for money. Choosing frames for children is a very important part of our practice, they should be stylish, but fit for purpose. They should fit well, give good clear vision, and the child should be proud to wear them.
All of our frames carry a 1 year guarantee against manufacturing defect, and some do carry a 2 year guarantee.
Lenses
Being an Independent Optometric practice gives us great flexibility to choose where we source our lenses. We use a number of companies for our lens selection –including Kodak, Zeiss, Essilor, and Seiko.
There are a great many of lenses to choose from, plastic, glass, thinner/lighter, light sensitive etc. When you visit our practice, we will give advice as to which types of lenses will be most suitable for your comfort.
1. Coatings & Tints
Scratch Resistant Coatings Lenses can be treated to make them more scratch resistant – giving them a longer life, especially for those with outdoor pursuits, or those working in dusty atmospheres.
Tints Nearly all lenses can be tinted either with a light tint to reduce glare for example from overhead fluorescent lights, or with darker tints for outdoor use.
Anti-reflection coating on lenses enhances the appearance of your spectacles. The coating is practical, as in most cases it comes with a hard coating, but also reduces glare from computer screens, and also glare from vehicle headlights during night time driving. Most modern anti reflection coating now come with a hydrophobic coating which reduces dust build up on lenses and makes them easier to clean.
UV protection Most lenses offer some protection against damaging UV rays, however from 1st January 2013 all the lenses supplied by us will be selected so that they give protection against damaging UV rays of up to 400ųm.
All sunglasses supplied by us, whether plano or to prescription, come with UV400 coating.
Thinner / lighter lenses By carefully choosing your lenses, we can often end up with lenses that are thinner and lighter than standard lenses. We are more than happy to give you help and advice when selecting your lenses.
Light sensitive Light sensitive lenses have been available for a number of years now, and many patients find them extremely useful especially in bright sunny conditions. These lenses can be used instead of sunglasses and will give some sun protection on bright days. However please also be aware that some light sensitive lenses do not change when in a vehicle, and their darkening density can also be affected by hot temperatures.
2. Bifocals & Varifocals
As people get older they generally have to wear reading glasses. As an alternative to having separate glasses for distance vision and reading Bifocals, and Varifocals offer an alternative way of viewing, with distance and reading combined in one lens.
Bifocals
Bifocal lenses have two distinct viewing areas. Generally the top portion is for distance viewing, with a segment in the lower part of the lens being used for near vision. These segments come in various shapes and sizes, and we are happy to advise which would be most suitable for your purpose.
Varifocals Varifocal lenses also have distance vision in the top part of the lens, but the changes gradually as your eye views down the lens to a reading area at the bottom part of the lens. In its simplest form it is a blended bifocal, and has the advantage that you can view different distances through this type of lens. Distance through the top part, intermediate distances, such as computer screens, car dials and gauges through the mid part, and reading through the lower part of the lens.
We have a demonstrator unit in the practice and will be happy to show how these different types of lenses work.
Safety Spectacles
To comply with safety regulations, we are able to supply safety spectacles from most companies. Frames and lenses would comply with current European Safety Standards.
Sunglasses
To compliment our range of spectacle frames we hold a stock of sunglasses. All of these are available as plano sunglasses, or as prescription sunglasses, with either tinted, light sensitive, or polarized lenses. Our Bollé Range offers sun eye protection for the sporty amongst you with wrap around styles available to most prescriptions.
Sports Goggles
To compliment our sports sunglass range, we can also supply a great range of sports goggles, and spectacles. For skiing and cycling there are a number of styles that have interchangeable lenses so that you can select a lens according to the prevailing weather conditions. Spectacles with specialist tints are available for sports such as golf, fishing, and sailing.
More specialised frames/ goggles are available to give eye protection for sports such as football, badminton, and squash. For the keen swimmer, swimming goggles with prescription lenses are also available. As with all our frames we are happy to give advice on selection of frames / goggles to suite your specific requirements.
