Frequently Asked Questions
Since there is no state licensure of opticians in Wisconsin, many individuals selling eyeglasses lack even a basic understanding of optical principles. After some quick sales training, they are selling glasses. Consulting with an ABO-certified optician minimizes the risk of a bad eyewear experience. We schedule each client for an unhurried, no-obligation consultation. This ensures that we and you have time to get all of our questions asked and answered.
Appointments are required for eye exams and are strongly encouraged for eyewear consultations. Eyewear is an important purchase and we think every client deserves to have the time and attention necessary to consider the options and make good choices. If you walk in without an eyewear consultation appointment at a time when we have availability between scheduled clients, we’ll be delighted to serve you. However, scheduling is advisable because your time is valuable and those who are scheduled have priority. The fact that we favor working with our clients by appointment is one of several things that distinguish Bronze Optical Gallery from other eyewear shops. Please keep in mind that scheduling a consultation appointment does not obligate you to make a purchase.
If you have a satisfying connection with an optometrist or ophthalmologist, we encourage you to keep that connection and have your exam done there. Establishing a history with one doctor can be very helpful in tracking changes in your vision and eye health. If, however, you wish to make a change, please call us to set an appointment with our optometrist.
Yes, absolutely. Federal law specifies that upon payment for services the patient is to be given a copy of the prescription. If it is not offered, do not hesitate to request a written copy of your prescription from your eye doctor, nor should you hesitate to request that your eye doctor supply your prescription directly to your optician.
High-definition eyeglass lenses are commonly called digital lenses. The term digital refers to an advanced manufacturing process that reduces higher-prescription aberrations that occur in lenses made with traditional manufacturing processes. Your prescription, put simply, is the relationship between the several curves on front and back lens surfaces. With digital lenses, these curved surfaces are positioned in relation to each other in a way that optimizes the accuracy of vision correction.
Digital lenses provide high-definition vision at all distances—sharper images and improved contrast sensitivity. They help reduce aberrations that limit peripheral vision and cause starbursts, halos, and comet-shaped distortions of lights at night. For those who wear progressive, no-line bifocals, digital lenses provide a wider, smoother, more generous reading width.
By one’s forties, most of us become presbyopic and need bifocals or progressive no-line lenses. By one’s fifties, typically, the eyes have changed further and the strain on the neck from tilting the chin upwards in an effort to view the computer screen clearly can become quite bothersome. Eyestrain can also cause headaches. These miseries can be eliminated by computer glasses, in which the top half of the lens is for viewing the screen and the bottom half is for up-close reading, desktop or laptop. We can help you determine if computer glasses are right for you. (See question on blue-blocking lenses.)
Blue Zero and BluTech lenses help to protect the eyes from the damage and discomfort that can result from extended viewing of LED-lit screens on computers, TVs, phones, tablets, and other devices. BluTech lenses are also helpful for those whose night-driving vision is impaired by oncoming headlights. These lenses block high-energy blue light, thus protecting the inside of the eye and helping to maintain normal sleep patterns. These lenses include anti-reflective (non-glare) treatment to further optimize vision. They are available for use both indoors and outdoors, in any frame style, and can be worn with or without a prescription. Some are free of color and some have a beige tint. How you plan to use these will determine which is right for you. We can also make a clip that provides blue-light protection when you need it but don't want to have it all the time!
Eyeglasses can be ready in as little as two days to as much as two weeks, depending on the particulars. Complex prescriptions and certain lens features require more time. We leave the fabricating of your eyeglasses to laboratory professionals. At Bronze Optical Gallery, we promise to take more than an hour making your glasses!
This is never the best option, as measurements were made especially for your existing frame, but If your lenses are in good condition, it may be possible to get more use out of them. We are happy to supply you with a new frame for your existing lenses if we have one that they fit into. If modification of lens shape is necessary, you would need to be without your glasses for at least a day.
Yes. We’re not interested in seeing you spend money on a frame if you already have one. We will inspect your frame and make new lenses if it’s in reusable condition. Our labs, however, require that a frame-breakage liability waiver be signed.
Yes. We make a point of having a varied and appealing selection of frames to suit adults with small faces. While most eyewear shops overlook the need for attractive, stylish, adult frames in small sizes, we keep an eye out for such frames from a range of US, European, and Asian frame designers.
Bronze Optical Gallery and our independent optometrist are credentialed providers for many vision insurance plans. Please see our insurance page for details.
Yes. You have choices of either surgical quality stainless steel or titanium. Also, there are frame styles with metal fronts and plastic temples that may increase your options.
Our “fabulous and affordable” slogan has never meant that Bronze Optical Gallery is the cheapest place to buy eyewear. If you like the idea of working with an experienced, friendly professional to get glasses you love and that serve and suit you perfectly, you should give us a call. We are rigorous in selecting the frames we carry: Frames that not only look great but are well made and durable are not cheap. The laboratories we work with to design and fabricate the lenses for our clients’ eyewear excel in meeting our high quality standards. Again, this does not come cheaply. “Good enough” is not good enough for us. We give our clients a great look, excellent vision, high quality, and superior service at a fair price. Our opticians are able to make this happen because they have many years of training and experience and they really care about their work. Their pay is commensurate with their expertise. They do not work on commission. As a locally owned small business, we excel in coming through with many great things that big optical enterprises can’t match, but lowest price will never be one of them.