Applying a Fresnel prism foil to glasses? On this page you will find instructions for applying the Fresnel adhesive foil to your glasses. Do you want to order a prism adhesive foil? Then click here for the product page.
If you want to apply a fresnel prism film on your glasses, you need to prepare a few things before you can apply the prism film on your glasses. There are two ways to do this, in this article we explain both ways.
What do you need before you start?
- small screwdriver if you have a metal frame
- scissors
- a non-permanent marker or pencil
- a large bowl filled with water
- previously cleaned glasses. Applying the film to dry, uncleaned glasses can cause scratches or damage. Rinse your glasses thoroughly with it first to remove sand, dust and other dirt particles.
- possibly the prescription you received from your doctor
Determine how the prism foil should be placed
Typically, the prism is applied to the inside of the lens. The film has a smooth and a ribbed side, the smooth side is the ‘adhesion side’. Did you get a prescription? If so, the prescription will tell you how to apply the film to your lens. The Fresnel prism film works well if the base of the film is applied correctly to the lens.
In some cases, the base is written in words (up, down, in, out) but sometimes it is also written in degrees (axis) on the prescription. We will discuss both options below.
Positioning base
When you look at the foil, you will see one side where the word “base” is printed on the foil. This base should be placed in the direction that is written on your prescription. Let’s say that it says that your right eye needs a power of 16 with the base “in”. Then you should place the base in the “in” direction. In this case, you should rotate the prism foil. The smooth surface of the foil will touch the surface of your lenses.
Now that you know which direction the base should point you can move on to the next step.
No words but degrees (axis) on the recipe?
In some cases, instead of the written words where the base of the foil should be placed, you will see the degrees written down. In that case, the following image comes in handy.
When the degrees are written down, it would be convenient if it were 0°, 90°, 180° or 270°. Because then you can quite easily position the base in exactly the same way as before. This is as follows:
- 90° means base up
- 0° means base in for your right eye
- 180° means base out for your right eye
- 270° means base down
But in some cases the foil needs to be placed at an angle, like 70° in our next example. In such a case we recommend printing out this image above and placing it under your glasses. This way it is easier to see how to place the fresnel prism foil on your glasses.
Now place your right lens (that is the one you use with your right eye) over the printed diagram on the right. Take a non-permanent marker and make a dot on the outside of the lens exactly over the middle of the diagram. Do this again with the 70° mark. Now connect the two points as in the following example:
After connecting the dots on the outer surface, we can now understand how to place the foil on the inner surface of your lens. Therefore, make sure that the base is now pointing in the desired direction of the axis. The lines on the fresnel foil should cross the marked line at exactly 90°.
Was that successful? You can then cut out the foil in the next step.
Mark the shape of the lens and cut it out
We strongly recommend that you remove the lens from the frame on which the Fresnel prism adhesive film is to be placed. You can use a screwdriver for this or, if you have a plastic frame, you should push the lens out.
When the lens is outside the frame, you can place the smooth surface on the inside of the lenses. After placing the film on the glass, you can trace the shape of the glass on the film with a marker or pencil. It is advisable to mark the shape on the smooth surface of the film.
After you have cut out the film, you can place the smooth part on the inside of the glass. Many people stick the film directly onto the glass, but this can cause air bubbles to form between the glass and the film. That is why we recommend taking a large container of water and applying the film to the glass under water. You can choose to first put the glass back in the glasses and then hold the entire glasses under water and then stick the film onto the glass. This will probably result in fewer air bubbles under the film. If you do see some, simply push them towards the outside of the film until they disappear.
Make sure that the film is not larger than the glass, as this can still cause air to get between the film and the glass.
Drying the foil
All you need to do now is dry your lenses with the foil. Treat the lenses with the attached prism carefully for the first 24 hours, any gray discoloration will disappear when the remaining water has completely dried.
A Fresnel prism foil usually needs to be replaced after a few months. Depending on the environmental influences and how it is cleaned, this means three to eight months.
How do you clean a Fresnel prism film?
The best way to clean a Fresnel prism foil is under warm water in combination with soap. The soap will clean the grease on the surface of the foil. But make sure you buy a soap that does not contain skin care ingredients. They usually lead to streaks on the surface of the foil.
We recommend avoiding dry cloths. Because with them you will have to rub the surface more to remove the dirt on the foil, this will make the foil need to be replaced sooner. The reason is that the surface of the Fresnel prism foil becomes dull over time.
Order prism adhesive film
Would you like to order a Fresnel prism adhesive film? You can do that through us. Click on the following link for the product page and the available prism films. We have these films available from stock.
Order Fresnel prism foil (press-on)
This page was created with thanks to progressive glasses.
Instructional video
In the following video we explain step by step how to apply a prism adhesive film to glasses:
