Right for Rimless
What lenses work best for rimless eyewear? Dispensers share their thoughts on the fittest options for these fashionable frames
By Erinn Morgan

Rimless frames with or without clips are on the rise. Shown, DT Magnetics from Altair Eyewear

Since the rimless fashion revolution began a few seasons ago, dispensers, labs, and lens manufacturers have been searching for the right lens product to hold up to the rigors of this delicate frame. New lens technology has virtually made cracking and breaking in drill mounts a thing of the past.

Today, the popular choices include polycarbonate, Trivex, and high-index options such as 1.67. But the preferences are personal. Dispensers have a variety of reasons for choosing different types of lenses for their rimless orders. But most say that those customers investing in a rimless frame will be receptive to the better lens options.

"If your patients buy nice, fashionable, high-end frames and you talk to them about safety, they will want the best lenses they can get in there," says Lonnie Burrow, licensed optician and owner of Burrow Optical in Little Rock, Ark.

RIMLESS ROAR

There is no doubt about it--rimless eyewear is coming on strong in the optical market. "We are doing a lot of them lately--they represent at least 30 percent of our total frame sales," says Cathy Schmudd, optician and assistant manager at Absolute Vision Care in Chicago. "People want something you don't see, something that is very lightweight."

Burrow Optical's Burrow agrees, "We do a tremendous amount of sales in rimless styles, especially in the high-end frames. For the past two years, the percentage of rimless sales compared to full metals or plastics has probably doubled or tripled. We now sell about one-third rimless eyewear." Part of his success, he observes, comes from the fact that his dispensers are wearing rimless eyewear and believe in its benefits. "We have four dispensers here, and three wear rimless full time," he says.

LENS CHOICES

The growth of this frame style has dispensers looking at the options for appropriate lenses. There is not one resounding choice espoused by eyecare professionals. Instead, there are a few options that are viable.

"We use polycarbonate," says Dave Ziegler, OD, of Drs. Ziegler and Leffingwell Eyecare in Milwaukee, Wisc. "It is a poly material that can be used in any kind of frame, but that's the one we use for rimless. It's safe and it doesn't break. Plus, it's very lightweight. It helps a lot if your lens and frame combined are as light as possible."

For higher prescriptions, Ziegler also uses high index lenses. "Even the 1.67 material drills better for this patient, but they do have a higher cost. The benefit is that they are slightly thinner in higher prescriptions." Still, Ziegler observes that polycarbonate can be ground to a 1.0 center thickness the majority of the time.

Absolute Vision Care in Chicago also uses polycarbonate for rimless eyewear. "The price add-on is not that much," says Schmudd. "It is only $29. Who wouldn't pay that much to have the glasses they want?"

Another lens option that is widely lauded is Trivex. "The number-one material we put in is Trivex," says Burrow. "We have not had one of them break out."

He also notes that his dispensary will use polycarbonate and high index lenses if the patient's prescription is not available in Trivex. "Sometimes people want a flattop bifocal with photochromics in Trivex and it is not available, so we have to go to a poly or one of the new thin high index lenses," he says.

	Rimless eyewear works well with a variety of lens materials, ranging from polycarbonate and high index to the new Trivex lenses. Shown clockwise from top left, Marc Ecko Scopes style Ecko 5038 from Viva International Group; Revolution Airs frames from Revolution Eyewear; and Chanel style 1501 from Luxottica

DUTY TO WARN

Many dispensers say that the lens choice in a rimless frame falls into the duty to warn area. "It does have to do with duty to warn, and we explain that to our patients," says Burrow.

At Drs. Ziegler and Leffingwell Eyecare, rimless eyewear sales have increased so much that the duty to warn issue has taken a front seat in lens sales for this frame style. "If you are looking at it as a duty-to-warn issue, then poly [or Trivex] is the way to go," says Ziegler. "It simplifies our lens selection process."

No matter how you present the multitude of lens options for rimless eyewear to customers, it is likely they will appreciate the information on choices. With rimless eyewear growing in popularity at a fantastic rate, there is little doubt that lens choices for drill mounts will continue to be the focus of the sale.