there is a much much bigger take-away in this lesson.

And it's so important, that I would encourage you,

to watch it through, sit it aside for a day or two,

and then watch it again.

(upbeat motivational music)

Between the website, YouTube videos

and our Consumer's Guide to Buying Eyeglasses,

I get a lot of email, a lot of email.

And you know what?

I answer every last one of them.

Well, at least the ones that are optically related.

Every once in a while, I get one that presents me

with the perfect teachable moment.

And last week, I got this one.

- [LeeAnne] Hi John, I saw your YouTube video

on "How Frame Selection Affects Lens Thickness."

I learned so much, and loved the humor in it too.

I had heard a few years ago that choosing a smaller frame

is a good idea with my high minus prescription,

but I didn't realize how important it is

until I bought my most recent eyeglasses.

I have a question that I hope you can help me with,

but didn't want to post it on YouTube.

The prescription for my left eye is -8.50,

cylinder -0.75, axis 135, and my right eye

is -6.50, cylinder -0.25, axis 15

with a narrow PD of 57.

I went to four optical shops and none were knowledgeable

about frame selection for my prescription

and said that with high index 1.74 lenses,

it's not really a concern.

All of the eyeglasses I saw, were the trendy

oversized ones and some average sized ones,

which on my narrow face look oversized.

The optician said, small glasses are out of style,

and urged me to get rectangular frames

that were eyesize 51, bridge size 14.

Although I asked her if I should order them in size 49

because I was concerned they were too big

and she said no, they would look too small,

and that size is for a child.

While I see fine out of them,

I'm not happy with the cosmetic result.

They are quite thick, even with Essilor 360

high index 1.74 lenses,

and I think the facial inset and distortion is much more

noticeable than with my previous frames.

I look like I'm in a fish bowl or wearing safety goggles.

So I decided to learn all I can to make a better selection,

and came across your video, and some other articles,

that have been helpful.

I've found some rounded frames online in sizes 43/18

and 46/16, which are very hard to find frames

for my narrow PD.

The 46/16 frames are children's,

and the 43/18 frames are readers.

My main goal is for the least amount of facial distortion,

along with thinner lenses.

My question is, I've seen conflicting info online

about whether it's preferable to choose a round frame

or an oval frame to lessen the facial distortion.

Do you have a recommendation?

Also, do you know of any other options

for finding frames for a narrow PD?

Thank you.

- Well, okay.

Oh, whoosh.

Where do we even start here?

First of all, after reading LeeAnne's email,

I immediately knew that I could help her.

Which is what this video is all about.

I'm going to walk you through exactly how

we got some beautiful results for LeeAnne,

and made her a very happy customer.

But first, let's step back for a minute,

and think about her experience prior to meeting us.

LeeAnne does have a high minus prescription,

but not overly so.

Her prescription is not all that uncommon.

Yet, she visited four different opticians,

just trying to get a nice pair of glasses

that she knew was possible,

because she had worn them before.

And none of the opticians that she visited, could help her.

Each of them guided LeeAnne towards frames

that didn't fit her face, or match her prescription.

Why?

Well, probably because, you know,

we all know from big optical marketing, that 174,

and free-form technology, or magic solutions,

that will make any prescription beautiful,

and let your customer see the world

at high definition glory.

You don't even have to think anymore.

Errr.

Four different opticians all fed her this line of bologna.

You know something else?

LeeAnne lives in Florida, a state that requires education

and a license to become an optician.

Now LeeAnne is not an optician, yet she was able to come up

with a better solution for her eyewear needs

than four licensed opticians could.

What's the point here?

The point is that, like LeeAnne, you have to care.

You have to care enough,

not just to know how to do your job, but to ask questions,

and persist until you're satisfied with the answers.

Look, you are watching this video so that I know you care.

Thank you.

Just remember, a license, or a certification

is not what makes you or anyone a good optician.

Don't believe everything that you read

in a magazine article,

or some CEs sponsored by your big optical company.

Or, even one that's written by a knowledgeable optician.

Be curious.

Never stop asking questions.

Never stop learning.

Do that, and then, you will be a great optician.

Alright, enough of that.

Let's get back to helping LeeAnne.

I asked LeeAnne to pack up a new frame,

her monocular PDs, a few pictures,

her most recent lens powers,

and I'd see what we could do for her.

Let's start with that frame she ended up in.

Let's take a look at that choice.

Even setting aside the high lens powers,

this frame is much too wide for her face.

Because it is so wide,

we have a poor customer PD to frame PD match.

Because of its size and shape,

this frame will require excessive OC height movement.

With powers like hers, you would want to do an OC height,

and in this frame, that means movement of five millimeters

or more and that's not a good thing.

The sharp corners, or shape up and out,

is just asking for thickness issues in a high minus.

All sorts of extra lens where you will never need it.

And, to me, that looks like cheek touch,

which is never a good thing.

And look, 174 is not some magic lens material

that makes every power thin and cosmetically appealing.

In fact, you're about to learn

that we actually get better results with a 166 and 167.

Well, sure enough, I went out to the mailbox,

and I had a package.

Let's see what's inside.

Alright, looks like LeeAnne got her frames from EyeBobs.

Alright, let's take a look at this frame that she got.

Oh, that is cute.

Good shape.

Perfect for a prescription as high as hers.

And, let's look at those numbers.

Let's see.

Alright, we've got a minus six, minus 75 at 135,

our left, oh my, yes, a minus 850, minus 25 at 15.

We have a PD of 27.5, 29.5.

Very good.

Alright, my next step here is to get this information,

those numbers there, and the frame shape, to the lab.

So, I'm gonna do a little bit of writing.

I'm gonna trace this frame, take some measurements,

send them off to the lab, and then I'm gonna call

to follow-up and we're gonna talk through why we choose

certain materials and coatings,

and the importance of the size and the shape.

And, we're gonna record that phone call.

Alright, I am going to head back into the office,

scan this, send it off to Jan.

So, I will meet you when I'm making that phone call.

Alright, as I told you guys I was gonna give Janet a call

in a couple of hours, and that time has arrived.

I have her on the other end of the phone.

And, we are gonna talk about how I would call in this job,

if I were a new optician.

Working with Laramy-K.

So, hello Janet.

- [Janet] Hey John, how are you doing?

- [John] Good, thank you.

Did you get what I sent you, so far?

- [Janet] Yes I did.

So, if I'm gonna walk you through as a new customer would,

I would probably ask you to read the script to me,

and whatever order you want to,

it's our job to kinda follow along with you

and however you're comfortable with it.

- [John] Okay.

I have got a right eye of minus six, minus 75 at 135.

And I've got a left of minus 850, minus 25 at 15.

- [Janet] Okay.

And, the patient PD on that.

- [John] I've got a monocular PD of 27.5, 29.5.

- [Janet] Okay.

And, your frame size?

- [John] I've got an A of 42.

A B of 35, and a DBL of 18.

- [Janet] That's nice.

I like to congratulate people

when they do a good job dispensing.

- [John] She kind of self-selected, actually.

She knew from having a script this high, for all her life,

that something was amiss with the one she just got.

- [Janet] Uh-huh. - [John] Which is how she

ended up contacting us.

And, she tried some other stuff on, sent me some pictures,

and I said, "Oh, that's a good one."

- [Janet] Okay.

- [John] And, you'll see in the end, I got some pictures,

it does, it looks good.

And, yeah, I couldn't of been more,

I would definitely go towards something like that

if somebody came to my shop like that.

- [Janet] Okay. - [John] Yeah.

- [Janet] Alright.

And, the shape on it.

I saw the tracing, so it's really, well,

almost a P3 type shape in axial

- [John] Yeah. - [Janet] Is that correct?

- [John] Absolutely.

- [Janet] Okay. - [John] Yep.

- [Janet] Alright.

- [John] Now, when you say P3,

where would somebody find that term?

- [Janet] Yeah, I probably should say round.

I probably should say round.

- [John] Yeah, okay.

- [Janet] Yeah, so. - [John] Alright.

(Janet laughs)

Yeah, I was heading more towards, it's almost round

Yeah, okay. - [Janet] Almost round.

Almost round would probably be better, yes.

Have you talked to her about material or lens design?

'Cause there's a couple of ways we could go.

- [John] Right.

- [Janet] We could do it as a regular single vision.

We could do it as a free-form.

In our experience over the last eight years

of doing free-form, this is the type of prescription

that would really benefit from

a free-form single vision product.

- [John] Yeah, that's definitely

where we're headed with this.

Yeah, definitely gonna be the best of the best free-form.

- [Janet] Okay. - [John] Yeah.

- [Janet] Alright. - [John] Yep.

- [Janet] And, have we discussed material at all?

- [John] She's currently in competitor's free-form

in a 174 that was kinda part of the issue.

The place she went just said, you know,

"Oh, your power doesn't matter as long as we do you in 174."

Which is kinda the thing that set me off on this whole

adventure, actually. - [Janet] Oh.