Constant clear visibility thanks to state-of-the-art coatings

For most glasses wearers, eyeglasses are like a second skin. Eyeglass lenses and glasses frames have to withstand a great deal of abuse on a daily basis. Children, or people who wear glasses for sports or for working with power tools, are particularly reliant on having glasses that are robust and tough enough to meet the challenges of strenuous physical activity. And we all know that not everyone can take perfect care of their glasses all the time. In the hectic pace of everyday life, sometimes glasses end up lens-down on the table. For this reason, your glasses should offer long-lasting protection against scratching of their lenses.

Even small scratches on eyeglass lenses can have an extremely detrimental effect on vision. They make our vision somewhat blurry, although the eyeglass lenses have the correct prescription. This leads to strain and imposes considerable fatigue on our eyes. What's more, the lifetime of the eyeglass lenses is reduced. Plastic glasses in particular are distinguished by their lightness and wearability, although the softer material of these glasses compared to mineral eyeglass lenses makes them more sensitive if unprotected. And you can be sure that for the thinner the plastic lens – for example in what are referred to as high refractive index plastic lenses – the more important the hardening coating is.

Therefore, when buying glasses, it is highly important to think about the quality and lifetime of the hard varnish coating. The more active you are, the more important it is to protect your eyeglass lenses.

Seeing well and looking good is what anti-reflective coating for eyeglass lenses is all about. This is because eyeglass lenses without an anti-reflective coating produce light reflections or mirroring effects that are distracting both for the wearer and the person he or she is talking to: first, through the eyeglass lens into the eye of the glasses wearer and second, on the eyeglass lens for the observer. Both are equally distracting. Eyeglass lenses without an anti-reflective coating particularly impair vision when driving at night, on a rainy, wet road, and when facing the headlights of oncoming vehicles. The driver is more quickly dazzled and, under certain circumstances, poorly lit objects such as cyclists might not be noticed early enough.

Therefore, we recommend investing in a good anti-reflective coating, even if your eyesight is only in need of slight correction. The effectiveness of the anti-reflective coating is graded according to the degrees of reflection: basically, there are "simple," "medium," and "super" levels of anti-reflective coating. What is referred to as the "residual reflection" determines the quality of the anti-reflective coating. An eye care professional can easily recognize the quality of the anti-reflective coating used, even on older eyeglass lenses, because the anti-reflective coating has a characteristic color.

Glasses wearers who spend a lot of time in face-to-face conversations and/or drive a lot should be sure to select the best possible anti-reflective coating.

No need to be spoiled for choice. ZEISS makes it incredible easy for you with DuraVision Platinum, because this high-tech coating offers all-round protection: hard coating, anti-reflective coating, CleanCoat and the anti-static function all in one.

And the best thing is that the hydrophobic effect means lenses with DuraVision Platinum are less likely to suffer from fogging, so your vision will be impaired much less when you move quickly from cold air into a warm area.

Our tip: get your eye care professional to demonstrate and explain precisely what the quality differences are between the individual eyeglass lens coatings. Decide what you need for your everyday life, according to the conditions under which you will use your new glasses and for how long your glasses should withstand everyday wear and tear. With ZEISS, you can combine the individual coating types freely according to your individual needs.