A quick explanation and background of a progressive addition lens (or PAL) is necessary in order to understand the importance of choosing the proper lens for your needs.

A progressive lens gives people an array of prescriptions - placed in the proper positions throughout the lens - to best imitate normal vision. Imagine having the precise correction needed to see a television screen more than 15 feet from you, while reading this article on your desktop computer, and then looking down at your keyboard in order to start entering the address to your favorite website. This, in a nutshell, is exactly what the progressive lens is ideally capable of accomplishing with one pair of glasses.

Having the least amount of peripheral distortion, and one of the wider ranges in both distance power, astigmatism, prism, and add power availability, we find this lens to be very versatile. The most important thing to you is that this product feels very natural in front of your eye. For first-time...

The word “astigmatism” is used so much in the optometric world that most people have talked about it when discussing their eye health with their doctor.

“Astigmatism” comes from the Greek “a” - meaning “without” - and “stigma” - meaning “a point.” In technical ocular terms, astigmatism means that instead of there being one point of focus in the eye, there are two. In other words, light merges not on to a singular point, but on two different points.

This is experienced in the real world by blurred, hazy vision, and can sometimes lead to eye strain or headaches if not corrected with either glasses or contact lenses.

Astigmatism is not a disease. In fact, more than 90% of people have some degree of astigmatism.

Astigmatism occurs when the cornea, the clear front surface of the eye like a watch crystal, is not perfectly round. The real-world example we often use to explain astigmatism is the difference between a basketball and a football.

If you cut a basketball in half...