Coban, in “gun metal/taupe tortoise,” via www.oliverpeoples.com
Despite my utter inability to get a good iPhone picture of it on my face, this was one of the best looking frames I tried on. The color combo is very nice. It also helped that it was much cheaper than the Ørgreen frames I liked.
I’ll have them in a couple weeks. They have to send the frame into the lab so the lenses can be custom-fitted.
This list brought to you by the optical industry:
P.S. I can’t buy glasses online. The requirement of progressive lenses means I have to go to an optician and be propery fitted for them, and have them be gatekeepers for what will and won’t be possible in a frame that looks good on me. While it is “possible” to buy glasses with progressive lenses online, there’s too much room for error with the fitting, and the super-cheap places don’t even offer progressive lenses except in a very small subset of their frames, none of which would look good on me (believe me, I looked at them all). I don’t mind paying for service I actually get, but the prices aren’t consistent with the level of service I feel I’m receiving.
Anybody have anything to add to this list?
My cool glasses are now cracked to the point that they won’t stay glued, so I have reverted to my old, non-bifocal pair for the time being. I was told when I got the bifocals that the old single-vision prescription was close enough (my reading addition is just +1) that I could still wear my old glasses comfortably, and this seems mostly true.
Still, I’m not used to looking at myself both with these frames and the bald head.
It’s a trap!
Several years ago I took advantage of both the vision coverage and the FSA at my then-current employer and got new glasses. I’d been getting headaches that came down to a mild bit of presbyopia. It’s so mild that I can get by with standard-vision lenses (or spherical lenses, in the parlance) for a while, but seeing as I make money doing things on computers and have to stare at screens all day, “a while” isn’t actually enough to make it through a work day.
While my presbyopia is mild (it’s a +1), my myopia isn’t (-6.50 in the worse of my eyes). I’ve been “a candidate for high-index lenses” since I was in my teens, and I still pretty much “need” high-index lenses to be able to fit them into any frames that sit reasonably close to my eyes*. But the combination of high-index plastic and progressive lenses meant that my current pair of glasses retailed for something around $600 before the vision care plan’s discounts kicked in.
* I also have a pair of reading glasses that I wear with my contact lenses, covered under an additional “computer vision” plan. Those actually have standard lenses, and the only reason they’re not mass-produced +1 reading glasses is that they correct an astigmatism that my contacts don’t. I got an anti-reflective coating on them and I’ve been quite happy with them, except for that whole “I’m wearing reading glasses” thing. I’m not even 40 yet.
And oh, that was before the frames broke. They have a tendency to slip down my nose, and when I took them in for an adjustment the tech bent them a bit too far. I heard a cracking noise when I put the glasses on after that adjustment, and before long I could see a couple large cracks in the bridge. Within a couple months of that adjustment the frames just came apart one morning as I blotted the lenses with a towel (note: “came apart” is very literal here. There was no accompanying noise. I was holding one thing, and then I was holding two things.).
I bought a second pair of frames (adding another $200 to this whole adventure), had the expensive lenses moved into them, and have been wearing them since. The second pair actually fit me better than the first had to begin with, so they’ve had no adjustments done to them. They are, however, also cracking at the bridge.
This week I pulled out the old, broken pair, and used some cyanoacrylate glue to “repair” them, basically as a test to see if there’s anything I can do about the ones that aren’t yet broken. Sadly, though, I can’t quite bend the second pair far enough apart to get glue into the crack without (most likely) causing them to snap. And while the model is still listed on the manufacturer’s web site I don’t have a lot of hope I’ll be able to find them on eBay like I did last time.
What I really need is a whole new set of glasses, but it looks like I’d actually be lucky to get the high-super-whizbang lenses and a pair of frames that won’t look ridiculous containing them for even the $600 that seemed high a few years ago. Plus ordering online is right out, since the size, shape, and, um, oiliness of my head (a shaved head makes for oily skin) means I need to try everything on and figure out if it’s likely to grip behind my ears or not. I’d be tempted to get glass lenses instead of high-super-whizbang plastic, except I already have a problem with them slipping down my nose without the added weight. Glass at least wouldn’t eventually turn yellow like every pair of high index lenses I’ve ever had.
Anybody know how to increase the lifespan of an acetate plastic if it’s already cracked where it’s under stress? Should I just give in and put tape on the bridge? Is there something that can be done to un-crack it?
