Before your lenses are made, the optician must first "fit" the frame on your
face in a position that is relatively close to your eyes so that you can
achieve the best vision when the lens is mounted. Then they must mark the
fitting height (just below the horizontal center line of your pupils) and
the pupil distance (pd) which is the width of your pupils. The optician then
makes marks on the sample lens that comes with the frame where these two
points cross on each eye, which is where the optical center point of the
lens must be mounted in your frame.

The lens (which is usually about 75mm round) is then cut to fit the outline
of your frame so the optical center point of the lens is in the correct
position on the frame (as previously determined). I have left out a few
details, but hopefully you get the idea of what a proper fitting entails. In
order for you to have optimal, the fitting must be done properly, and done
accurately. It is not unusual for the fitting to be quite far off, and a
remake is sometimes required.

If you cannot find out from your optician what lens and AR your received, I
would take them to another optician and ask if they know.

Polished edges on a minus power lens can cause internal reflections and be
bothersome, depending on edge thickness and the type of frame.

Thanks, Mark, for your help.  I now have several questions to ask the
optician.  They actually didn't fit the glasses at all...he just handed
them to me and asked if I could read a paper he was holding and then
some signs across the street...

Would there be any way of identifying, independently, which
manufacturer's AR coat is on the lenses?  They are distinctly blue..

Also, would having the polish along the bottom edges of the lenses
removed reduce the awful glare (when the sun hits them)?  Is this
possible to do?

Thank you again, so much..

-- Elizabeth

It is possible you are seeing a difference in abbe value between the Essilor
1.67 and the Hoya 1.6, especially since the Hoya 1.60 has an especially high
abbe value compared to other 1.6 index lenses (and obviously higher than any
1.67 lens). But it is doubtful that this could be your only problem.

It is also possible that you have a fitting problem, either of the frame on
your face, or the lens in the frame. This is especially important for
aspheric lenses like the ones you likely have, which must be placed for good
vision. One way to determine if this is a problem is to try to move the
frame around and see if it improves your vision (but this is not foolproof).

I would also have your lens powers measured to make sure they were made
correctly.

One thing that puzzles me is that you say you have Varilux SV lenses.
Varilux is a brand of progressive (no line bifocals) which is owned by
Essilor and not SV lenses. So I am really wondering exactly what lenses you
have. Also, Essilor makes their own AR coating called Crizal, which is
highly regarded, and it is a bit puzzling why you would get Essilor (or
Varilux) lenses with Zeiss AR coating. There is something a bit fishy here.

I recently purchased a new pair of frames and lenses.  The frames are
my first pair of rimless.  The lenses are high-index.  I really like
the way the glasses look...but not so much how I see through them.  I
seem to be having two problems.  The first is that my vision does not
seem as clear and bright and natural to me as it does through my old
lenses.  My eyes seem to have to work harder to see well, if this makes
any sense, and my field of vision seems less flat.  Since the
opthamologist told me that my prescription had changed only slightly, I
am wondering if this could be a lens issue.

My previous lenses, according to my receipt, were Hoya 1.6 with an AR
coating.  The current lenses, my new optician tells me, are Varilux
single-vision 1.67 with a Zeiss AR coat.  Several years ago, I remember
trying a high-index lens and finding my peripheral vision quickly
degraded off-center, so I was switched into...I think, at the time,
spectralite?

I have been reading online that the lower ABBE value of high-index
lenses can cause blurring, but can it also cause the kind of dullness,
etc. that I am experiencing?  Is the difference in ABBE values between
these two lenses such that I would even notice it?

My other concern is that, when I am outside, the sunlight seems to be
reflected off the inner polished edge of the lenses right into my eyes.
It is painful and when I go back inside, I see dark artefacts from it
for a while.  Is there anything I can request be done to correct this
issue?  Sigh...these lenses were just so seductive in their sample
frames...like shiny little gems, I really had not anticipated any of
this, lol. :)

My prescription, if it matters, is:

-4.75, +1.00, 095
-5.75, 1.75, 080

Thanks so much for your time!

-- Elizabeth