Actually I get finished and mounted lenses. Sonic cleaning is not involved. Neither is a salt pan, in office heat (environmental heat may be a lot or a little). Chemical cleaners not a involved. And as I mentioned this is three premium brands at three different labs, each owned by the lens mfg.
Chip
Is it only with these three premium brands? Does it happen to your own in-house stock lens?
The problem could have happened during transportation.
Originally Posted by LilKim
That's funny... I'd love Pepsi if it wasn't so gross.
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither. C.S. Lewis
An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason. C.S. Lewis
LOL! I know, it sounds like an oxymoron. Teflon, fresh from coating, is awesome. I love the hydrophobic coat, the color, all that good stuff, but its durability leaves a great deal to be desired. We had more luck with Silor's House AR when it came to a durable, slick, premium AR. We had fewer returns for crazing on lenses that were coated with House AR.
Maybe it is the time that these items....................
Chip....................I would like to hear what happened to the AR coated demonstration lens samples you have in your store, I bet they most probably still look good and like new. If they would be crazed you could never be able sell them.................right? You could never sell new cars that come with flat tires.
Therefore as you said, your office environment could not damage them. Therefore the customers coming back with crazed lenses have exposed these lenses to whatever made them adversely react, ...................delaminate, craze, chemical reaction and so forth. I would suggest you get a new pair or one of each from the three labs for yourself and wear them only in your office., where you have all the conditions as you describe. Then you will find out that none of them gets damaged.
We should start blaming the customers, but as everything is guaranteed these days they have never done anything wrong and want a free replacement.
Maybe it is the time that these items are sold less at a less inflated price and take off the warranties and you will see how fast these replacement claims will drop to a much lower level.
You must be joking...............???????????????? :hammer:
actually if they crazed in Chips car why not the UPS truck?
I don't think transportation is involved here, and most of these problems occur only after months of wear. My thought is it shouldn't happen after years of wear.
I don't think blaming the customer is the right tract. These lenses should be able to hold up under conditions encountered under ordinary living conditions, not just some society woman who getting into and out of her Lexus and walking to the immaculate house is the worst environmental strain the glasses have.
I don't think that people who workin an chemical lab, or blast furnace, or even a mechanic can expect these coatings to hold up. But for the rest of us who have ordinary jobs and recreational persuits in any part of the country they should be a serviceable product.
I will admit that I see more warped HGP's in Summer after being shipped to me from wherever (I do check each and every one), but spectacles should not have shipping damage unless the package was crushed.
I do think (but don't know) that all the labs that add these coating (AR) and imbibments (photochromic) are located up North and all the testing is done there.
I can remember getting some Revo Suns that wouldn't take exposure to salt water years ago. But this certianly wasn't satisfactory performance in a sun glass and I don't think I should have "educated" the purchaser not to wear them at the beach.
The product needs more work for the real world in tough environments.
The damn AR should hold up as good or better than lenses without it (it is glass after all). The damn photochromics ought to work as well in Texas as they do in Cannada. If not they should not be sold in places where they don't work as well and should have a warning label.
Chip
Chip,
Why not just sell GLASS lenses that are AR coated? We all know that AR coated glass lenses are a helluva lot more durable and less problem prone!
;):cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::D
Fezz:
Because we have "educated" the public convincing them that they must have thinner and lighter or they are living in the past.
We know that glass holds up better and is highly superior optically, has no ridges in straight tops, etc.
But we have "educated" them telling them that it is unsafe, uncool and and our new high tech whatevers are better.
We have even found that though the newer materials are at least 90% less expensive and 90% less labor intensive, have less "spoilage" in the lab, we can get more money for it. Now our labs have forgotten how to fabricate it and we must charge more money and time to obtain glass lenses.
Chip
Now do you want me to get into the environmental damage for all the hippie opticians of plastic vs. glass?
\
You got a good point.................but in reality it is not so, the retailer as well as the consumer has been blinded by the features of the product, its sweet advertising about reflexion free vision. However the consumer gets the visual benefit and the retailer makes a lot more money.
The results is, that two incompatible materials have been fused together by means of an intermediate coating to which both materials, the lens and the AR coating adhere fairly well and create a usable unit. However when it comes to extreme temperature conditions they do not expand or contract at the same speed and something has to give, and the one that gives is the hard and brittle and very thin AR coating.
In order to cure this problem there would have to be some serious changes either on the AR coating to change it to a more flexible softer and more durable AR coating. (Maybe some newer solution as I described in an other futuristic thread)
Or use a harder lens material, of which glass is the most perfect one as it is in the same family as the SIO2 (silicon dioxide) AR coating which makes it fully compatible.
I receive a few of this type e-mails every week from it looks like desperate consumers of which I don't know where they are, but refer them to their optician, who probably does not know what to do in this case.e-mail received this morning from a consumer:
To: oms_optical@yahoo.com
How much is anti-reflex stripper? My AR coating on my glasses is
ruined. I tried to scrub it off with baking soda but it just created
more hairline fractures and flakes.
I have novus #3 and #2... do you have any idea if those would strip
AR? They seem to work well on my (quite reflective) plastic screen.
They say explicitly not to use them... is that a good thing in my
situation?
So it is not such an easy subject to find the perfect result, specially when some online sellers promote AR on prescription bifocals (no stock lenses) for $ 6.95 additional which is a lot less than your lab is charging you the retailer. I must assume that they must be using some of the local labs.
If you are getting a lot of AR problems consistently, it can't be due to the patients. it must have come from the lab.
Have you asked your colleague/ friends in other practice who are using the same lab if they are facing the same problem? Have you asked the lab if they are getting alot of complaints lately? they will probably deny it though.
If only you are getting the coating problems and not others, then we could probably rule out the lab.
a good coating will hold up probably 2 to 3 years. If there are problems 6 to 12months after dispensing, I think you can blame the lab.
I find that a lot of times, poor quality coating will start showing itself in 6 to 12 months. In the past, coatings last 3 to 4 years under proper care. Nowadays we would be lucky if the coating hold up for 2 years.
Chip, have you asked your patient's what they're using to clean the lenses? If they're using a dratted lens cloth, their shirt, or tissue? That could also make a difference. Those lens cloths are a lens' worst nightmare, lol.
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