Prescription Shades

Krikee

Is it possible to buy a pair of sunglasses and have prescription lenses made for them? I'm not one to forgo eye sight for fashion but I would like to have some shades every once in a while. I imagine this might be too pricey to make it worth it though.

Fantasyrogue

Yes, most definitely.

I have no idea what it costs though. I dunno if the price would be comparable to regular prescription glasses or not. (I know nothing of the cost of sunglasses in general).

DevoutlyApathetic

Krikee wrote:

Is it possible to buy a pair of sunglasses and have prescription lenses made for them? I'm not one to forgo eye sight for fashion but I would like to have some shades every once in a while. I imagine this might be too pricey to make it worth it though.

Prescription lenses tend to be thicker than those you get in normal sunglasses. So I don't think you'll find some stylish sunglasses and put in them in a set of normal sunglasses.

You can however have the place that makes your prescription glasses tint the lenses so they're sunglass dark. They also carry frames specifically for the purpose of putting tinted lenses in. IIRC tinting is pretty cheap if not free at most places.

They will likely run you about the cost of a new set of prescription glasses. So kinda pricey.

Also, they have a photosensitive lens that will darken when exposed to sunlight. They work pretty well nowadays but can add seriously to the costs of a set of glasses.

Corvus

Do you mean to buy a generic pair of sunglasses and then get lenses made separately for them? Not sure on if that works. It might be better to just buy the whole deal straight from wherever you buy your glasses. Perscription sunglasses are pretty common.

Alternatively, contact lenses+regular sunglasses.

Fantasyrogue

Note, my answer is assuming you meant to go to a store and pick up prescription sunglasses (frame and glasses) at the same time (thus picking a frame that supports prescription lenses). If you meant to buy sunglasses and then at a later date pick up prescription lenses, that probably doesn't work so well.

I used to get old prescription glasses tinted by my optician (when I bought a new pair), he'd do it for free too but I think that was just service for being a regular customer :P (and for buying new glasses) But yeh, go to wherever you get your prescription glasses.

redx

course, they tend not to be able to do the neat relfective tints, and they are normal glasses frames. I find they always look a little retarded.

normal sunglasses + contacts are totally the way to go if you want something that looks good.

Fantasyrogue

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of options for fashionable prescription sunglasses these days and I do think you can get a lot of the fancy options for them as well. My brother has some nice prescription shades, for example, and they look nothing like normal glasses. This is all speaking from what I think I know and second-hand stuff though, I personally have no sunglasses.

DynamiteKid

Some places will give you a deal on getting shades at the same time as your normal glasses, with the same prescription.

Big Dookie

Here's another option. Some places carry frames (usually designer frames) that come with a thin sunglasses frame that snaps onto the front of them magnetically. And before you ask, no, it's not the lame "clip on" sunglasses thing that you see old people flip up when they go indoors. It's basically a thin, exact replica of your regular glasses frame, and they fit snuggly over the lens in such a way that one, they don't come off easily/accidentally, and two, it's almost impossible to tell that they're there.

They work really well, but they aren't available with all frames. The ones I have specifically are Chesterfield, but I'm sure they are available with others. Other than that though, most eye centers have tons of options for prescription sunglasses, so I can't see you having a problem finding something you'll like.

Andrew_Jay

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powerss

I know that most persol glasses are "Rxable"

A lot are actually. Go to a sunglasses hut, they know.

Lucky Cynic

I know a few people with those transition lenses that change into sunglasses in sunlight, they seem to like them but are usually kind of pricey.

Alternatively, you can go to the mall and get a cheapo pair of sunglasses for about $20, I did it, and yeah, they aren't prescription, I saved myself a huge amount of money and see fine.

Rohaq

I've got a set of prescription sunglasses, and they look exactly like my designer pair, except tinted, and of course they protect against UV rays, as you'd expect from sunglasses.

stigweard

A friend of mine has the newer transition lenses. They don't randomly go dark at night while driving or when the temperature changes drastically very quickly like the older versions used to do. They shade and lighten quickly enough, but he complains that they do not darken enough outside when it is very bright.

My preference, back when I used to get rx sunglasses, was to shop at a place that had two for one. You pay for the more expensive set and get the 2nd free. Most places that sell rx sunglasses have frames designed for use with them as well as a few display models that already have the tinted lenses so you can see what they will look like. The biggest problem with rx sunglass lenses is that rubbing them with anything but an appropriate cleaning cloth will cause the dark coating to wear off over time.

locopostal

oo! I know about this!

first off, I will tell you that I have badass blue-mirrored prescription sunglasses. I went to an Eyemasters for this, and they seemed pretty capable.
Some of the things they told me:

You can't get Sports Wrap frames (anything curved really close to your face) with a prescription higher than -4.00.
You can't get anything rimless.
uhm...actually I think that was about it. They told me they could put tinted/mirrored lenses in ANY of the frames they had available, aside from the aforementioned restrictions. They had most colors of tints and mirrors, and all the different polarized and whatnot. Anyway, the mirrored glasses ended up costing around 350, with frames. and then I got a second pair for like...a hundred bucks.

I've pretty much decided if you're going to do it, you damn well better do it right, otherwise you're going to spend too much for something low class thats going to break or piss you off.

aesir

I've got some ray-bans that work great. I was told that if I wanted I could pick out any sunglasses from a sunglass hut that werent wraparounds and that they could replace the lenses with perscription ones. So, be as stylish as you like. Just no curvy glass.