Reader question: any experiences with Crizal lenses

· by · in glasses, toddlers with glasses. ·

This question came in from Wendy.  -Ann Z

We found out on Monday that our 2 year old needs glasses.  I was hoping to post a question to the blog, but not sure how I go about doing this.  I’m wondering if parents have had any experience with Crizal Scotchgard lenses.  Supposedly, they help cut down on scratches, smudges and dust, and glare.  The optician’s other main selling point was that you will not see the glare in photos you take of your child.  However, they’re also about an extra $180 and I’m not sure its worth the money.  Any help would be much appreciated.

UPDATE: The vast majority of comments coming in appear to have nothing to do with children’s eye glasses.  I am closing the comments.  If you have something to add from the perspective of a parent purchasing glasses for your child, you can contact me, and I’ll add the comment (ann @ shinypebble . com)

31 responses to “Reader question: any experiences with Crizal lenses”

  1. Someone we spoke to at an optician shop said she doesn’t recommend any scratch coating in children this young, simply because their prescriptions change too often to get your money’s worth out of it. IE the lenses get changed before you get any significant scratching. Unfortunately the place where we get ours has scratch coating on all of their lenses and they just include the cost in the price.

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    • Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I hadn’t thought about what would happen if in a few months we needed to have the lenses replaced because of a new prescription. So many things to consider!

      Wendy

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  2. My daughter’s lenses are Crizal and we have been very pleased with them. We always buy two pairs of glasses at a time, so that we have a backup pair, so this is our second round of glasses with Crizal (4 pairs total).
    Her lenses (and her frames) are under warranty, it is one of the reasons that we chose these particular lenses from her optician… if they do become scratched, we just swap them out (unlimited amount of times for a year). I would say we have swapped them out 2-3 times a year, but we do it with minor scratches on them, just because we can.
    Our optician’s office will also swap the lenses for free (one time) if there is a doctor’s change made to the prescription within a year of ordering these lenses. So we have never had a problem with having to pay for new lenses within a year- we order new glasses every January, and work hard all year to keep up her pairs with adjustments and tune-ups. After a year though, it is a must for us to move to a bigger frame size.
    I have no complaints about my daughter’s Crizal lenses. They DEFINITELY cut down on scratching, compared to my daughter’s previous lenses, which were also scratchguarded, but with something else (can’t remember name). Never have a problem with dust, smudge less and wipe clean easily with a cloth. I also notice that water beads off of them, and they do not accumulate water spots very easily- we are at the beach a lot, and these lenses put up with a lot of wear and tear from sand and ocean water.
    As for photos, I think it cuts down quite a bit on the glare seen in photos, but it is not entirely eliminated in every photo- just depends on your lighting.
    I really can’t say enough good things about them, we are very happy with them! Hope that helps!

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    • Thank you so much for your feedback. It is nice to hear that someone has had such a positive experience with the Crizal lens. Do you need to take care of them any differently than you would another lens without the scratch coating?

      Wendy

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  3. Zoe’s lenses are Crizal (I assume, we always get a Crizal cleaning cloth when we get her glasses back.)

    I have not noticed any glare in photos of Zoe, though I don’t know what the photos would look like otherwise.

    Like Keeley, I love that the Crizal lenses are under warranty for a year. We’ve also had the lenses replaced pretty often for scratches – though not this year.

    The question of cost with prescription changes is a good one. Zoe’s prescription change a lot the first year – it was free if the change was in the first couple months, and then half price for the rest of the year.

    As for care of the lenses, we always use a microfiber cloth (you can get them cheap in the automotive section of Target or Walmart), and usually only need to use water or the glasses cleaning spray that our glasses shop gives us. We don’t really do anything else differently.

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  4. I clean my daughter’s Crizal lenses the same way I have cleaned all of her lenses… I use spray and a microfiber cloth, or the Crizal cleaning cloth I get with her lenses. My optician also recommended that we wash the lenses with a gentle liquid soap (nothing with beads, etc) and dry them with a cloth diaper. We have done this for several years also… no problems.
    The only other thing I do with her glasses is put a drop of sewing machine oil into the hinge screw area of her frames every few months… we live in Hawaii, lots of humidity… our optician recommended this to cut down on any rusting that may occur. That doesn’t have anything to do with the lenses, just thought I’d put it out there, since it is a very cheap way to keep the hinge area in good condition. Has worked well for us so far.

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  5. HI
    My son Bill is 8 and he has been wearing glasses since he was 20 months old. Crizal Alize with Scotchguard is on every pair and it is definitely worth the price. They do scratch but not often as if they were uncoated and they are under warranty. We get them from kids’ optique in wisconsin and they really know how to fit babies and toddlers with glasses. Also they do a one time doctor change for the lenses within the year. My son’s first pair of glasses were from an upscale optical shop in our largest mall and the service does not even compare to kids optique who truly focuses on children (and their parents). Good luck and go for the Crizal – you may need to find a good optician who works with children and has child friendly replacement warranties.

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  6. My first experience with Crizal was buying the lens, and then having the receptionist scratch the lens by bumping it while adjusting the nosepiece with a pair of pliers. Not the best first impression of Crizal’s scratch-resistance, but eh. I’m probably an outlier case.

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    • I have had a very negative impression of the Crizal coating.I am beginning to think they scratch much more easily than untreated glasses.My husband had two pair of glasses with the coating on them,both pair had considerable scratching after only a couple of months;one pair after only one week.My own glasses which are not Crizal, never scratch.

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      • You need to learn to take care of glasses. I’ve been wearing them for 50 years and only in my youth did I get scratches. My present lenses are perfect after two years. Same with my wife.

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  7. I SPEND 300 HUNDREDS IN MY NEW CRIZAL LENS BUT THEY DON T WORK FOR ME THIS LENS DAMAGE MY EYES REAL BAD.RIGHT NOW I DON T KNOW WHAT TO DO.

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  8. I work as an optician. Your main focus should be a polycarbonate lens. For the anti-glare/anti-scratch side you should go with something less expensive than then Crizal. Most places have a 2nd choice, like Sharpview, OC2, or TD2. Hope this helps.
    Crizal usually has a 2 year warranty against any scratches or breakages and the others have a 1 year warranty.

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  9. Just came back from the opthamologist office in metro Detroit. They told me the Crizals are warranted for 2 years, which is a good selling point for me.

    Cost is extra $79 for one pair of glasses (two lenses).

    I chose to do some research before buying them. Thanks for the good info.

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    • Thanks Joe! For some reason I had one year in my mind for the warranty, but if it’s 2, that’s even better, since that means Zoe’s lenses are still covered.

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  10. I got Crizal Alize lenses a few weeks ago, and will return them for the third time tomorrow. They are fine for a few days, and then seem to get covered in tiny scratches and the glare becomes unbearable. At first I thought they were covered in foggy smudges, but I could not get them clean. This time I’m asking for feedback from the lab. Seems to me either something went wrong in the manufacturing process (3 times in a row?) or these lenses just plain suck.

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    • Hmmm Manufacturing process? In January 2011, my new years resolution was to get an eye exam and buy a new pair of glasses. After the up sale, I ended buying a designer rimless frame, high index lenses with polished edges, Crizal® anti glare/smudge/scratch coating, photo chromatic, uv protection and plastic tint. OMG, they were out of this world expensive, but the finished product was too good to be true impeccable! Two weeks later I discovered my first swooping scratch across the middle on the left lens. Of course the optician gave me that wow I’ve never seen that before look when I brought them in for inspection. My first thought was a quality assurance glitch. Maybe the manufacture in Hollywood California didn’t apply the coating correctly or just trying to save some money. Okay, Second pair: I must say this pair held up a lot longer. It’s August now and both my lenses are covered with an array of little scratches. This tells me that the second coating was in fact much more durable than the first. The CRIZAL® commercials on the radio really pump up the superb protection quality this product offers. Basically, glasses good enough for Iron Man type of pitch. Complaining about this does me no good whatsoever. All I want is a crystal clear, smudge free pair of spectacles that don’t require being cleaned fifty time a day. Do I have to go back to poly carb lenses?

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  11. i brought progressive lens from crizal.But i don’t know if thery are really crizal or not. my son who is using the same lens can read the crizal name on both the lens. but my glasses are very thick and i cannot find the name crizal. how to get them checked?

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  12. I’ve no idea how to check yourself… maybe bring them to a shop? Why do you care? Either you like them or you don’t.

    I’m on my fifth pair of crizal lenses (see my post above) The optomitrist finally had them made by a different lab, and they have not shown the problem (scratching/crazing) I describe above. Apparently the first lab had no idea how to make them!

    That said, that I have lenses that are the quality they are supposed to be, i have to say I don’t like them at all. They are supposed to be smudge-free and easy as wiping on your shirt to clean, but I beg to differ. These lenses suck dust out of clean air and smudge when fingers point at them. I can’t get them clean without using half a bottle of lense cleaner, and they only stay clean for an hour. I wish the shop had a cheaper, simpler lense, but they only do Crizal 😦

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  13. We got four pair of expensive glasses; two for myself and 2 for my spouse in India an year back. We paid through the nose for Crizal lenses, and all of them have an invisible hologram that shows up when you blow moist air on the lens. It clearly shows Crizal logo. I am not sure if that is a sure sign of originality.

    I am getting new set of glasses here in the US now and ready to the premium because I liked my previous 2 glasses so much. The problem is the lenses or coating do not have the hologram thing that I got when in India. The lab guy assures me that these are Crizal but has no way of proving it except for the green, blue light that it reflects.

    I found a Vid on Youtube that demonstrates this as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXlbBbr-Muw

    Any thoughts from this group??

    Thank you
    Al

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    • Mine are the same way.
      My previous glass lenses was alot easier to clean then my new set which has polycarbonate lenses with the crizal coating.
      The crizal cleaning cloth just makes the smears much worse.
      Yes they greatly cut down on glare and the clarity looking thru them is great but Im constantly having to clean them.
      Not too impressed with the scratch resistant of them either.

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  15. I am on my 3rd set of lens. They have all crazed. My optician said not to wear them in the sauna. Each replacement was free. I cannot find any care instructions for them.

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  16. they dont work i have mine it cuts down some not all but smuges as easy and scratches mu just scratche know

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  17. I am having the same problem. The lenses smudge so easy and I can’t keep them clean. I am on my 2nd set of lenses in 6 months due to scratches. They need to be replaced again. I wish I had never had the Crizal treatment put on.

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  18. In regard to so many products and services that receive unfair reviews, I am often appalled at the negative comments people post in regard to items that just don’t deserve bad publicity. Sometimes I actually find things in this cruel world that actually do what they are suppose to and don’t deserve degradation. In this case however, in my opinion the CRIZAL® reviews posted on this thread appear to be incredibly accurate. I discovered this site this morning after my six month old, eight hundred dollar pair of glasses broke off at the nose bridge. No I’m not blaming CRIZAL® for my broken glasses, but please note that during the eight months I have worn this pair, I have removed them for cleaning one hundred times more than any other frame I have ever owned. Of course if you’re reading these comical reviews and are thinking that everyone posting comments here must be a bouquet of pansies, please be advised that the CRIZAL® lenses are not all that and a bag of chips. Lens care is a huge part of being a prescription lens wearer. I am very critical when it comes to cleaning my glasses and in this case I have found that my CRIZAL® lenses work best with their own brand of cleaning cloth. All the other cleaning cloths merely relocate smudges to the other side of the lens. And as for the comment, “these lenses suck dust out of clean air and smudge when fingers point at them, “all I can say is, if you don’t believe this then please give them a try and SEE FOR YOURSELF. I truly love technology and am a firm believer in protective coatings. I’ve used many different Scotch brand products over the years are am very satisfied with their results. CRIZAL® on the other hand is a good idea, but so far has not proved itself as a practical solution for scatch and smudge protection.

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  19. I used the contact form on the Crizal website to try to determine which opticians in my area offered this product. They took one week to respond and then simply instructed me to use Google search. I’ve decided that, with such lousy customer service, the product really can’t be that great.

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  21. I have had alot of problems with glare & night driving so tho’t Crizal would be just the answer for me. But there is absolutely no difference from Crizal and my other lenses. I wish I wouldn’t have paid the big price for them as I too notice they need cleaning very often.

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