Chances are you have not heard of Tokai. They are a very specialist lens company.
In a nutshell if you want the best vision and protection possible for your eyes you need Tokai lenses. The reason I decided to use Tokai is because they have one lens in particular called the Lutina lens.
What’s so good about the Lutina?
To answer that I will need to give you a little bit of science on the eye, now don’t fall asleep on me just! The back of your eye is called the retina. This is arguably one of the most important parts of your eye. If something goes wrong with your retina your vision is in trouble.
Now, with time/age our retinas do wear down naturally like the rest of our bodies. There’s no point in hiding this fact. I’m pushing 40 and notice my hair follicles on my head are wearing down and I’m going a bit thin on top, it’s just a fact of life!
With the eyes, one thing that can increase speed of the ageing of your retina is thing called ‘High Energy Violet’ (HEV) light. This is present in the sun but also in a lot of electronic devices such as mobile phones, iPads/tablets, laptops/monitors and TV screens.
HEV light can increase the ‘oxidative stress’ on your retina and start to age the retina a bit like the sun can age your skin. The good news is that your eyes have a special protective pigment in them called lutein. This lutein acts like a shield to the HEV light.
The only trouble is, as we get older our lutein levels decrease naturally and the use of electronic devices also decreases our lutein levels. This means our eyes have less protection to HEV light.
Studies have shown that the destruction of lutein can become the cause of an eye disorder called Macular Degeneration. This eye disease is the most common cause of vision loss for the age group of 50+.
That is why Tokai developed the Lutina lens to cut out the HEV light and help protect the lutein within the eyes.
Now, don’t get me wrong, other lens companies offer a lens coating, called a blue light coating, which is designed to reduce the HEV light. But and it’s a big but, they only cut out 15 to 20% of it. Which is better than nothing. However, the Lutina lens cuts out….94% of HEV light!!
Also, with the sun, as you will no doubt know, this gives out damaging UV light. You can get normal sunglasses which will filter out 100% of UV but they don’t filter out all of the HEV light, which can damage your eyes just the same.
Normal UV lenses only cut out around 45% of the HEV light, so again the Lutina lens is far superior.
That is why we offer Tokai clear lenses and Tokai tinted sun lenses, so if you need normal glasses or sunglasses with our Tokai lens you are going to have the best protection for your eyes.
You can also get a Tokai Lutina Photochromic – a lens that is clear indoors but it goes dark outdoors when the sun is out. Most opticians do offer normal photochromic lenses (called Transitions or ‘react-to-lights’), we do as well but if you want the ultimate in eye protection, we offer the Lutina photochromic!
For more technical information and research please visit https://www.tokaiopt.com/en/html/lutina
These lenses are expensive, but they are what I like to call reassuringly expensive. For single vision, they start from £290 and for varifocals from £530.
The lenses are specially made in Japan and do take around 3 to 4 weeks make, so if you are in a rush these lenses aren’t for you!
If you are one of my eye plan members you do get up to 20% off all lenses and frames. So if you are thinking of investing in Tokai glasses then this will save you money!
Now don’t get me wrong we do have standard lenses that start from £60 but the Lutina is a very specialist and expensive lens that is not for everyone!