How Prescription eyeglasses are made in the Remote area?
Here is the video from Remote Nepal, where a local optician made eyeglasses using low-cost resources. It is a complete Manual Lens Making and Edging process.
Making spectacles with no safety procedures
Most people do not know that the spectacle you wear is not made and fitted by machines. Although there are recent advancements in technology, some machines can make spectacles but not in all parts of the world, is the facility available. A spectacle or simple eyewear glass is consist of multiple portions that help a person to see. The main body of a spectacle is called “Frame”.
The frame is just the outer portion that holds the lenses together. There are different brands and companies that design the frames seeing the needs of different people. Different people will have different types of frame sizes. The distance between the two eyes and the size of the head is the most valuable piece of information for the selection of a frame. The optometrist doing the Refraction makes sure that frames are selected on factors like interpupillary distance, size of head etc. Refraction in the eye simply is a whole process of checking the dioptric errors present in the eye power(Refractive Error) and correcting the errors with the help of glasses.
People can select a frame according to their needs also. Frames of different designs, Colors and durability are also available in the market. Frames in adult and children are different due to the size of the head. Men’s frame is different from that of Female’s Frame. Youngsters choose fashionable frames while old people tend to choose durable ones. Another of the most important part of a spectacle is lenses. The circular part or rectangular part of the frame holds the two lenses into it.
The two lenses; each for both of the eyes, is consists of the suitable power in dioptres(Unit for measurement of lenses). Both of the lenses are surrounded by the frame and the two long projections from the anterior part of the spectacle reach the ears. The part is called a temple which rests on the ears. The lens holding portion of the frame rests on the nose with a part of it called “Nose pad”. Hinges and screws bind the lens portion and the Temple portion together.
Buying glass in city areas of the world is quite an easy task to do. There are lots of hospitals and optical shops available in different parts of the world. The person whose job to fit the lenses into the frame is called an “Optician”. Unlike optometrists, the optician has to work on the glass prescription given to a patient. The job of an optician can be harder sometimes. They have to play with cutting and edging machines. Different safety procedures are used to protect against a small piece of glasses that could cut limbs or go directly to our eyes. The optician has to make sure that the prescription having cylinder power is on the correct axis. Unlike simple powers of lenses having spherical power (Lens having the same power at all the axis), working on cylindrical is a tough job to do. A small change in the axis of the cylindrical glass (Lens having different powers in the different axis) can make the patient have blurry and distorted vision afterwards.
The place where I work is a dangerous place for an optician to work. In remote parts of Nepal, People still have less access to an eye care facility. Those places with eye facility available, have limited resources to work with. The Optician is not well trained to use safety measures. Beyond the lack of safety measures, and taking risks, these opticians have perfection in glazing, edging and fitting.
Here is a video of an optician lady of my place where she makes glass with bare hands in less in than 15 minutes.
Article by: Niranjan Gaire
