OMG, I need glasses! What would you do?

[bjcheung77]

So, got my eyes checked out as I've been having bad eye strain for the little while... it's getting less clear when I view things!

I have a prescription for reading and another for distance, so technically, I have two sets of glasses I need to get...

I'm not sure what to get, a bifocal or progressive, or two pairs of glasses, I dunno, I want a pair of computer glasses too.

Too much computer time is also giving me a headache or migraine, need to see what I can do about that as well.  Oh dear...

I do some eye exercises and it does help a little, what would you do to "lessen" the strain on the eyes? TIA

[Thorne]

So, got my eyes checked out as I've been having bad eye strain for the little while... it's getting less clear when I view things!

I have a prescription for reading and another for distance, so technically, I have two sets of glasses I need to get...

I'm not sure what to get, a bifocal or progressive, or two pairs of glasses, I dunno, I want a pair of computer glasses too.

Too much computer time is also giving me a headache or migraine, need to see what I can do about that as well.  Oh dear...

I do some eye exercises and it does help a little, what would you do to "lessen" the strain on the eyes? TIA

F.lux and forced meditation.

I set F.lux to some of the warmest temperatures (my screen is always a yellowish-brown) to reudce blue light, then every 2-3 hours, I take a 5-15 minute break and just close my eyes.

It's worked so far, but I can still strain my eyes eventually

[rachel83az]

Instead of going local, order glasses through Zenni. Zenni's been really good to me and they're super cheap compared to local glasses. The only thing you'll need, which your prescription probably doesn't have, is your PD or pupil distance. You can measure this yourself or you can go back to the eye doctor and insist they do it for you.

With Zenni so cheap, you can order multiple glasses for the same price as a single pair. You can order bifocals AND progressives AND individual glasses and still pay less than you'd pay at your local optician. This way you can discover for yourself what works best for you.

Word of advice: pay extra for the anti-oil coating. It makes cleaning your glasses sooooo much easier. I think it adds an extra $5 or $10 to each pair at Zenni but it will literally save you hours of work over the life of your glasses. My first pair of glasses was local and they wanted to charge something like $30 for that coating so I said no. The lack of coating makes them awful to wear because they need constant careful cleaning. And they don't even fit as well as the ones I got at Zenni.

[MrBossmanJr]

I love Zennioptical! I got the blue light blocking and transitions. It does wonders for my eyes.

[davewill]

I've found progressive lenses to work quite well. I do have separate computer glasses (still progressive), though, as I found myself tilting my head back too much to read the top of my monitor.

[allvia]

I too am a big Zenni fan.  No matter where you go get the anti-glare coating (some 'fancy brand' lens include that standard) - it helps for all things but especially driving at night. Blue light blocking also good if you work in an office (fluorescent is horrible on the eyes when in front of a screen - meaning headaches).

[SteveFoerster]

You how when you're watching a show and then all the characters out of the blue suddenly start praising some brand of something and you know it's a product placement? You all sound like that!

(Well, except that I believe you.)

[Merlin]

I was in the same boat and just bought a replacement pair of glasses for myself today. Now I just need to wait a week for them to show up.

Zenni is good, so is FramesDirect. I used to buy all my glasses from those two online shops. However, I am now trying EyeBuyDirect for my most recent pai of glasses after doing some comparisons. EBD has a ton of low-priced frames in addition to premium frames from Oakley and Ray-Ban. They run regular discounts on their frames plus you can nearly always find 30-50% off lenses via online coupons. I was able to get a pair of Ray-Ban replacement glasses with lenses and all the options for $100 less than I could buy the same glasses using my optical insurance discount via their preferred online merchant.

Aside from price, the main reason I switched to them is that they offer high-quality lenses with a no questions asked 14-day try at home return/replacement policy. So if you don't like how they look or fit, you can return them and try something else. They also have a virtual fitting room on the website of course, but sometimes you don't really know how a pair of glasses looks until you physically see it on your face with lenses. I think they also have a 1-year warranty on the lenses if they fail mechanically.

[MrBossmanJr]

I was in the same boat and just bought a replacement pair of glasses for myself today. Now I just need to wait a week for them to show up.

Zenni is good, so is FramesDirect. I used to buy all my glasses from those two online shops. However, I am now trying EyeBuyDirect for my most recent pai of glasses after doing some comparisons. EBD has a ton of low-priced frames in addition to premium frames from Oakley and Ray-Ban. They run regular discounts on their frames plus you can nearly always find 30-50% off lenses via online coupons. I was able to get a pair of Ray-Ban replacement glasses with lenses and all the options for $100 less than I could buy the same glasses using my optical insurance discount via their preferred online merchant.

Aside from price, the main reason I switched to them is that they offer high-quality lenses with a no questions asked 14-day try at home return/replacement policy. So if you don't like how they look or fit, you can return them and try something else. They also have a virtual fitting room on the website of course, but sometimes you don't really know how a pair of glasses looks until you physically see it on your face with lenses. I think they also have a 1-year warranty on the lenses if they fail mechanically.

OoO, I might try them next then. I like the virtual fitting room feature. I like how eyeglasses websites talk about frames and facial feature matches too.

[Merlin]

OoO, I might try them next then. I like the virtual fitting room feature. I like how eyeglasses websites talk about frames and facial feature matches too.

If you like virtual fitting rooms, the one that glasses.com is probably the best I've seen. It is actually an AR app where you scan your face and it adds the glasses to your video image sized according to your head. You can turn your head and stuff and the virtual glasses move along with your face. I don't know how accurate it is sizing wise, but it is a good way to see different angles and such. Glasses.com is the provider that my insurance uses, but their selection of frames and colors leaves a lot to be desired. Plus, as I found, I can actually find glasses cheaper, even after the insurance discounts. I figure I will save my insurance discounts for contact lenses.

As for the websites that talk about frames and facial features, Zenni has a great page for that as I recall. It shows you how to figure out your face geometry and then makes suggestions about which frame styles go best with each type of face geometry. But there are plenty of sites that also do that. In fact, normally wear rectangular frames, but I am switching to round frames for this order since that apparently matches my facial geometry better. That and I am trying progressive lenses for the first time and from what I've read progressive lenses work best with round and oval frames, or other frame styles with rounded bottoms and lenses that are over 29mm tall. That leaves out my old frames.

One of the reasons I am also trying out EBD is because of the 14-day return policy. So if I don't like the look of round lenses, I can try oval or something else that is closer to my normal style.