Spring is just around the corner, or it should really be here by now but we are in the UK and temperature is still not in the double figures! On the other hand, the sun has been out to say hello a few times and I needed sunglasses quite a few times for driving. When the sun is out I always think “yes!”I need to get myself some new prescription sunglasses because I haven’t had a pair made up to my prescription since I was about 18. Now I remember why I hadn’t when I started to look into it again.
The fact is, if you need prescription sunglasses, the choices are limited because it all depends on how strong your prescription is. This will determine how thick your lenses are, it is then we can start looking at what choices of frames are available. For me I do have a fairly strong prescription at -4.25 on both eyes so my choices are limited and all the giant shapes I like are not ideal to be made into prescription sunglasses.
Prescription glasses and sunglasses by m-kenics
With prescription lenses it needs to have a certain amount of curve and thickness, which also means the stronger your prescription the curvier and thicker your lens will be. These type of lenses are trickier to be fitted into a larger frame shape and cosmetically it doesn’t look that great from the side. You will find from the side it looks like a piece of glass from the bottom of a milk bottle!
So… what tends to happen is you will just end up getting something that looks like it should be an optical frame but with a tint. It just doesn’t look as good as an actual pair of sunglasses – I’m sorry but it is the truth. Plus the fact is, if you want a tint on the lenses then it will cost you twice as much. So what normally happens is the optical wearer will either wear contacts and just buy normal sunglasses, or just don’t bother with the sunglasses and squint their way through the summer. Alternatively, sometimes they will put a pair of normal sunglasses on top of their prescription glasses- highly uncomfortable. It’s no wonder why people are put off with the thought of wearing glasses. Something needs to be done about this and lets hope some clever person is already working on how to solve this problem! I will be backing it for sure!