Glasses for Thick Lens

o2brich

Can anyone recommend an optician who specialises in being able to recommend the best type of frames for very high minus prescriptions. I am very short sighted and just recently had problems buying new glasses. Although I have the very thinnest lens fitted, my lens are still fairly thick and the opticians locally I have been to do not seem to be able to advise me on the best type of frame to best disguise the thickness of the prescription. I have recently paid over £500 for a new pair of glasses which I needed to go back to the opticians with as one lens seems to be fitted more to the front of the frame than the other lens but they have just said it is the best I can expect because of my high prescription.

Is there anyone else out there with a really high prescription and if so can you offer any advice or recommend anywhere to go to get better service.

I cannot use contact lens and would not risk laser surgery as my prescription is very high.

Thank you.

melancholly

i'm -8.5 and pick small glasses so the lenses aren't so thick at the edges. £500 sounds like a lot though - my last pair were just under £200 with the thinnest lenses possible...... i got them at costco and they were excellent, but i've used places like boots before and never had a problem

AnnieH

My daughter has a +6 prescription and I find that round frames seem to make her specs look thinker whereas the more square shape or rectangle frames seem to disguise them better.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

I'm -16 and I have to pay throught the nose for lenses. My newest lenses cost about £500 but I'm happy with them. They look really thin, although they do still stick out a bit at the back.

As for frames, I tend to find that a small plastic frame is the best to disguise thickness. I bought a pair of GUESS frames from ebay. I only paid £35. Had I bought them from an optician, they'd have cost easy £200 +. The frames are very modern with quite thick arms, which further disguise the thickness.

Hope you find something your happy with. I can certainly say it's difficult when you are very short sighted.

melancholly

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

I'm -16 and I have to pay throught the nose for lenses. My newest lenses cost about £500 but I'm happy with them. They look really thin, although they do still stick out a bit at the back.

is it an urban myth, or do you get some kind of nhs help with paying for glasses once you're at -10? it always annoys me that the nhs pays for selfinflicted/stupidity related injuries for everyone, but if you're born with bad eyes then you have to pay it all yourself!! (especially when my lenses needed changing every 9 months - at least now it's every 2 years - so much for everything stabilising when i was 16!)

the_devil_made_me_do_it

melancholly wrote: »

is it an urban myth, or do you get some kind of nhs help with paying for glasses once you're at -10? it always annoys me that the nhs pays for selfinflicted/stupidity related injuries for everyone, but if you're born with bad eyes then you have to pay it all yourself!! (especially when my lenses needed changing every 9 months - at least now it's every 2 years - so much for everything stabilising when i was 16!)

You don't pay for sight test. If your unemployed you get so much help, but it dosen't really cover it. You get no help towards frames, unless you choose the nhs frames which as everyone knows are :eek:

lolly5648

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

As for frames, I tend to find that a small plastic frame is the best to disguise thickness. I bought a pair of GUESS frames from ebay. I only paid £35. Had I bought them from an optician, they'd have cost easy £200 +. The frames are very modern with quite thick arms, which further disguise the thickness.
.

How did you find an optician that would fit lenses into frames that you bought elsewhere. Most opticians wont fit new lenses into you existing frames!

Februarycat

I'm -12 and got some prescription sunglasses from optical4less last year and was pleased with the lens and frame, they only cost me £83 and normally I pay £200 for the lens in my local optician.
I agree I think we should get some discount for having to have strong lens, I don't pay for my sight test, but I think this is only because I queried it once after reading that I should not have to pay, so now they don't charge me.

melancholly

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

You get no help towards frames, unless you choose the nhs frames which as everyone knows are :eek:

unfortunatley i remember wearing them when i was at school......... not fun! not fun at all!

o2brich

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

I'm -16 and I have to pay throught the nose for lenses. My newest lenses cost about £500 but I'm happy with them. They look really thin, although they do still stick out a bit at the back.

As for frames, I tend to find that a small plastic frame is the best to disguise thickness. I bought a pair of GUESS frames from ebay. I only paid £35. Had I bought them from an optician, they'd have cost easy £200 +. The frames are very modern with quite thick arms, which further disguise the thickness.

Hope you find something your happy with. I can certainly say it's difficult when you are very short sighted.

........................................................................................
I'm really pleased you are happy with your new lens as I think it is so important to feel happy wearing specs - I'd love to know who fitted your lens if that's possible.

My prescription is a -12.5 but the lens in my latest pair of glasses still look fairly thick and one lens seems to protrude more from then front than the other. When I went back with them they say it is the best that can be done for my type of prescription. The dispensing optician said I shouldn't be worrying about how thick the lens look as there are people out there with worse problems than I have with my eyesight - which I am very aware about but I still expected better for my £500!

Do you know what make of lens you had - i.e. Zeiss, Nikon, Essilor??

The whole experience of buying glasses this time has not only left my bank balance looking unhealthy but has also left me feeling quite depressed about it all and at a loss to know where to go to get a better service. As it is I have never enjoyed the experience of choosing new glasses because I'm always told there aren't many frames to choose from because of my prescription.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

It was Rayner Opticians I went to. Not sure what the make of lens is, it's a German company who make intricate, specialist lenses for telescopes and cameras. Could have been Zeiss, but not sure.

Your lenses shouldn't stick out the front of the frames whatever strength your perscription is. When I first got my new glasses, they were like that and I said straight away, before I payed a penny, that I wasn't accepting the glasses and that they needed to sort them out before I'd be taking them home with me. The opticians weren't happy because the company would have to scrap the old lenses and make new, but that was just tough. I'd paid an absolute fortune and I wasn't setteling for less. I mean I know I'm never going to get perfect, thin lenses, but I wanted the best I could get.

You need to go back to the optician and tell them that you ain't happy, even say you know someone who has had the same experience as you and their optician obliged to sort their specs out.

Lolly - opticians are obliged to fit lenses into frames you have purchased elsewhere. They have no business telling you they don't.