A patient of mine has complained about seeing "specks" in his new lenses (asph poly Zeiss). I couldn't see what he was referring to until I shined my iPhone flashlight towards the middle of the lenses from the outer edge of the eye wire. Throughout the lens I can see super tiny little white specks scattered randomly. Almost microscopic sized "snowflakes". I checked my own 1.67 lenses and found the same thing. I then went through almost every prescription lens I had of various materials, coatings, photochromic and clear. All displayed various amounts of these tiny "snowflakes" when viewed this way. The patient showed his previous glasses (asph poly) bought in Japan and claimed they were clear. I viewed them and they did have the snowflakes, however considerably less than any lens of mine. I confessed that I was stumped for an explanation (first time ever! lol), but I would consult the experts to see if there is a perfectly clear optical lens to be had anywhere, or if I could at least explain why there was less snow in the lenses from Japan?
(The snowflakes clearly appeared to be inside the lenses, they were Not a surface defect or a cleanable remedy. We tried.)