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Do Acrylic Lenses Distort the Image? [Glass Vs. Acrylic, Who Wins?]


I’ve been in this industry for several years now. When you are part of an industry such as magnification and low vision aids, you get to commonly hear from customers and other experts in the industry. When this happens, you naturally pick up on the questions that frequently buzz around the market place directly related to your chosen field and products that you represent.

With magnification tools and magnifying glasses, there is a question that comes up frequently that I wanted to address here today. Do Acrylic lenses distort the image on magnifying glasses or handheld magnifiers? Here is what I can tell you about this topic.

So, do acrylic lenses distort the image on magnifying glasses or handheld magnifiers? No. Acrylic lenses should not distort your image when performing any task that requires magnification. In addition, acyclic lenses are designed to be more lightweight, offer higher magnification powers and are also built to be 100% scratch resistant.

With that being said, I figured I may get some pushback or individuals who are glass magnifying enthusiast, so I wanted to take the time to break down both options and give you a full scope-overview of the glass magnifiers and magnifying glasses as well as the acrylic lenses magnifying glasses.

From there, I’ll let you be the judge.

How Do Magnifying Glasses Work Anyways? A Breakdown of The Basics

Before giving you any terms that may be confusing, it makes the most sense to provide you with 2-3 sentences on how magnifying glasses work or how they are designed to work in the first place.

Magnifying glasses use a convex-shaped lens that curves outward near the center. Your acrylic or glass lenses will be fitted within the frame and reflect light and allow it to pass through the lens.

This helps to enhance the magnification and the viewing area that you are working with.

Glass Magnifiers Came First but Had Some Downfalls.

Yes, I'm well aware that glass lenses have been around for decades and came first into the market place. However, thier is a reason for the big shift towards acrylic lenses.

One of the big reasons for the shift to acrylic lenses merely is due to weight.

You see, handheld magnifiers can be used for activities that require several hours of magnification and “holding the actual device.” This can eventually begin to cause arm strain and make these devices less desirable to use.

This is part of the reason so many new magnification toolhaveas entered the market over the years.

Magnification tools such as stand magnifiers, lamp magnifiers and various forms of hands-free magnifiers started becoming the popular choice for this reason alone.

What’s the Problem with Just Choosing A Stand or Hands-Free Magnifier?

In theory, nothing is wrong with choosing to use a stand magnifier or hands-free magnifier, but you do run into an issue. Some task, hobbies and everyday occurrence type items will require a low vision aid or magnifying glass that does not come in the form of hands-free magnifiers.

Hands-free magnifiers can be great for a specific task such as scanning a short amount of text, reading your checkbook balance and various other task but they can't do everything.

The need for portable handheld magnifiers and magnifying glasses will always be around. Therefore, the market began to shift once again to what we commonly call “acrylic lenses.”

So, What’s the Deal with Acrylic Lenses? Are They Better than Glass Magnifying Glasses?

Acrylic lenses started to become the popular choice and option in handheld magnifiers, magnifying glasses and honestly, just about any magnification tool you can think of and with good reason.

They are lightweight, so we have now officially removed the problem of arm strain being involved with the extended use of handheld magnifiers. They are also dramatically cheaper to manufacture which in turn, makes them much less expensive for the consumer to purchase.

Acrylic magnifying glasses are also easier to handle, and they don’t run the risk of breaking nearly as quickly as a glass magnifier would break from a simple drop or mishandling mistake.

Lastly, acyclic lenses are designed to be 100% scratch resistant. When you are attempting to gain aid with low vision problems or everyday task using magnification and low vision aids, having your lens full of scratches surely isn’t going to help anything.

Keep that in mind.

Acrylic Lenses Can Take A Beating from Household Cleanings and Do Not Warp

Additionally, as opposed to glass magnifying glasses, acrylic lenses are capable of not wearing down or showing damaging effects from using household cleaning items to clean the lenses. They also are not known to warp.

To Answer the Original Question One More Time!

No Acrylic Lenses Do Not Distort the Image!

Well, at least they shouldn’t be, and nothing in the design itself or use of acrylic lenses should cause the image or viewing area to be distorted by the user. 

Overall, if you are considering a handheld magnifier or a new magnifying glass, I would stick with the modern acrylic lenses, but I am aware that some individuals just continue to swear by using the old glass magnifiers.

If that’s the case more power to you.

The Final Word. In with The New and Out with The Old. Acrylic Lenses Win the Battle

At the end of the day, the choice is ultimately yours for which material and construction you want your magnifier to contain. Both options are still readily available to purchase just about anywhere online.

I will remind you however that acrylic will always be the cheaper option and will still cause less arm strain from extended periods of use and NO, the acrylic lenses will not distort your images or viewing area.

If it were me, I’d personally recommend leaning towards an acrylic lens, and if you want the weight to be added to your magnifier, instead of going with glass, I would be looking for a magnifier offering LED lighting instead.

It’s the more modern style of magnifying glasses and the enhanced viewing and additional benefits are un-matched.

Again, we will leave that choice up to you.

What’s your take on this topic? Do Acrylic lenses distort the images and viewing area? Do you prefer glass or acrylic lenses? Which magnifying glass or handheld magnifier do you recommend? Be sure to drop a comment below!