You’ve found the perfect frames that flatter your features perfectly. Now, the next step is to pick the right lenses to go in them. From bifocals, progressives and blue light filters to a 1.5 or a 1.74 lens index, there are a dizzying amount of choices and combinations to choose from. If you’ve ever been puzzled by all the different options offered, or are buying prescription glasses for the first time, we’re broken it down to three steps to help decide the right lenses for you.

1. What are your vision needs?

The first question to ask yourself to figure out what lenses to buy is if you have any specific vision needs. Most people, who are simply nearsighted or farsighted will need single-vision lenses. If you need to correct both near and farsightedness, bifocal lenses combine two prescriptions in one so you don’t need to switch between reading glasses and ones for distance. Alternatively, progressive lenses seamlessly incorporate different lens strengths without the hard, visible lines of bifocals.

2. Choosing the right materials

Choosing what your lenses are made out of are a combination of prescription needs, the frames you have and personal preference. This will determine the weight, thickness and how durable your lenses will be. To start, a high prescription will warrant high index plastic lenses, the thinnest available, to avoid a thick, heavy lens. Otherwise, if you have a mild prescription, a standard plastic single-vision lens will do. For those who are in between, polycarbonate gives the best of both words– a lighter weight lens with more durability than plastic. This is also a great choice if you’re working with a thin glasses frame.

3. Extras and add-on’s

You can further personalize your lenses by choosing different add-ons that offer additional attributes to your glasses.

Anti-Scratch Coating: Adds an extra layer protection to keep your glasses scuff-free.

Anti-Reflective Coating: Also known as anti-glare coating, this enhancement keeps your line of vision clear by preventing reflections or halos caused by light bouncing off your lenses. This also gets rid of the glare that allows your eyes to be seen clearly by others.

Color Tints: Whether you need them for color balancing, to make a fashion statement, or to create prescription sunglasses, you can get lenses in colors like brown, yellow, blue, pink and more.

Light-Adjusting Coating: Better known as Transition lenses, these lenses adjust to sunlight, automatically turning them dark, giving you built-in sunglasses.

Polarizing: Great for those who spend a lot of time outdoors, this helps filter the strong light that bounces off of surfaces like bodies of water or wet roads.

UV Protection: Even if your lenses are not tinted, you can have protection from harmful UV rays with this coating. Some lenses already have UV filters included.

Blue Light Filter: If time spent looking at screens gives you discomfort, a blue-light filter can relieve these effects.

If you’re still unsure of what lenses you need, it’s best to speak with your optician who can help further break down the features of each one specific to your needs. To see the variety of lenses you can get at 39DollarGlasses, click here.