glass in the USA

[apaul]

Simple question from a simple person

Has the glass lens been banned in the USA?

or is it just not recommended?:shiner:

thanks

Alan

[grace angel]

i live in an area of alot of elder population and once in awhile i'll encounter someone who loves their glass and doesn't want plastic. last week i sold two pairs of glass bifocals to a gentleman that wouldn't settle for anything else so i accomodated him and charged an extra fee for the glass and we were all happy. grace angel ps of course duty to warn kicked in and i reminded him of safety issues!!!

[BobV]

I was informed by a lab rep last week that glass lens prices were going up another 10% in our cost.

Seems to me we are going to become a plastic society.

Bob V.

[Jacqui]

Yes, prices have gone up from some suppliers. My problem is glass is between 20 and 25% of my sales.

[UFRich]

Dont like to use glass, but the polarized lens seem to be the best. Mostly you warn about the safety and the increased cost and then give the patient what they want.

UFRICH:cheers:

[Cowboy]

In my opinion, Glass has its place. A very limited area in a corner of a very large room, but nonetheless, glass can serve certain purposes. So, no it has not been discontinued, but frowned upon for several reasons: Lengthy fabrication time - surface and finish, costs, safety issues, frame technologies geared closer to plastic materials, limits of availability, and so on. Besides, with the stringent regulations of the FDA and safety requirements, unlike other parts of the world - glass can be ground to .5mm thickness (I have seen this first hand - flint 1.7), weight and thicknesses cannot compete with plastic materials; Therefore, most opticians side with plastics and put glass on the bottom shelf.

:cheers:

Cowboy

[paw]

Well said, Cowboy.

We have farmers and Amish who love their glass lenses. And those rare birds who think plastic = cheap. For all others, glass is discouraged.

[eegor]

i do at least 6 to 12 glass jobs a week, it does have a place in optical industry, when i started air hardening in the early 70's almost 90% of orders were glass, and it still has a useful market, and lets not forget those diehard photogrey wearers:)

[EyeManFla]

The biggest reason why I discourage previous glass, read that mostly PGX, wearers from staying in glass is because most insurance companies will not pay you extra for it.
Why should I use PGX that cost too much and the insurance company will only pay me $30.00 extra for, when I can get an additional $80.00 for transition.
Optically, I'd sell glass all day. Economically, glass is a loser!