Why do opticians use Gradal Top so extensively?

I am quite confused as to why opticians are so fond of gradal top. My ex-optician loved them and used them on almost everyone (particularly those with large lenses). I have studied their design, done some additional research and queried dozens of my patients who are wearing them. My conclusion is that it's a great choice for large lenses which will be used mainly for distance and intermediate but absolutely lousy for near. It also has very slow add progression and a hard design. For me, the near limitation of this lens is a deal breaker. I have many patients who are more than willing to sacrifice intermediate vision if they can enhance their distance and/or near; but who would want to sacrifice near vision under any circumstances?? After the age of 45 the only individuals who really don't need glasses for reading are moderate myopes. Those people actually prefer wearing glasses for distance/intermed and taking them off for near work. However, everyone else is going to need a nice ...  more