Recent trends in progressive power lenses

Abstract

Despite having been first marketed in the 1950s, new designs of progressive addition spectacle lens continue to appear. Some of the recent patent literature is reviewed on the design of such lenses. As well as a number of improvements to general purpose designs, specifically to include aspheric surfaces for the distance portion of progressive lenses, the literature includes a recent patent on an improved version of the Alvarez lateral translation lens system. The optimisation of single vision lens forms in order to extend the depth of field for early presbyopes is also discussed.