The "This Might Be A Stupid Question, But...." Thread

[Vall]

Another stupid question:

How do people with poor eyesight choose frames for their glasses?  They need their glasses on to see clearly but they can't keep their glasses on to try on frames.  What happens if they choose a frame and then after their prescription is filled and they can clearly see what the frames look like on their face, they don't like the look?

The reason that I'm asking is because my eyesight is getting worse.  Right now, I can still step back from the mirror and see what I look like.  What happens when I can't do that any more and everything looks fuzzy (far and near) without my glasses on?

[Psychopoesie]

Another stupid question:

How do people with poor eyesight choose frames for their glasses?  They need their glasses on to see clearly but they can't keep their glasses on to try on frames.  What happens if they choose a frame and then after their prescription is filled and they can clearly see what the frames look like on their face, they don't like the look?

The reason that I'm asking is because my eyesight is getting worse.  Right now, I can still step back from the mirror and see what I look like.  What happens when I can't do that any more and everything looks fuzzy (far and near) without my glasses on?

I've had glasses for shortsightedness since I was about 10 years old.  I usually have to almost stand in the mirror to see what I look like - far from a perfect arrangement. Drives me nuts.

The optometrist I usually go to now has an assistant who's been great at helping me to select frames - he has a real eye for it.  

It's been a while since I've needed new frames but next time I plan to snap a few selfies of me in the frames I like best, put my specs back on and work it out from there. Most people have phones or tablets with cameras now so it seems like a reasonable way to do it.

If anyone has any other ideas, I'd also be curious.

[RingTailedLemur]

At Specsavers, they take a picture of you wearing different frames and then display the picture on a small screen for you to look at when you have your own glasses on.  You can compare up to four different pairs of frames that way.  It's brilliant, as my eyesight is so bad I wouldn't be able to do it any other way.

Perhaps you could take along a digital camera (or phone with a camera on it) when you choose frames, and get the assistant to take pics or do mirror selfies in the shop?

[Ser Lucien Liliane]

I have to actually get my nose right up to the mirror - like leaving nose prints - to see myself without my glasses on. I don't think it's going to work for much longer.

I never thought about the selfie option, I may have to try it.

[Monkey Maker]

I take my husband and get his opinion.  If I didn't have him, I'd do selfies.

[squeakers]

Another stupid question:

How do people with poor eyesight choose frames for their glasses?  They need their glasses on to see clearly but they can't keep their glasses on to try on frames.  What happens if they choose a frame and then after their prescription is filled and they can clearly see what the frames look like on their face, they don't like the look?

The reason that I'm asking is because my eyesight is getting worse.  Right now, I can still step back from the mirror and see what I look like.  What happens when I can't do that any more and everything looks fuzzy (far and near) without my glasses on?

Every time I have chosen new frames I was wearing my old glasses.  All I can say is I hate The Harry Potter Phenomenon.  As a fluffy person having itty frames has not helped my self-steam*.

Back in the days of big frames... I had to deal with heavy glass lenses (and side of the nose indents).  So it has been a trade-off.  Smaller lenses and less side vision.

I have not had a decent pair of glasses since I was 12.  That optician actually measure not just the distance between my eyes but took into account the fact my ears were not level.

I lost those glasses 6 months later in an open vehicle ride.  I searched the ditch but to no avail.  Went 4 years without glasses after that... $@#$@# parents.

Now, with insurance, I am just glad to be able to see and really don't care how they look unless it is an up close photo ... for which I take my glasses off and smile in the vague direction of the camera.

* I am not pleased being fluffy... less so in photos where itty frames make my face look even larger.

[Iris]

Another stupid question:

How do people with poor eyesight choose frames for their glasses?  They need their glasses on to see clearly but they can't keep their glasses on to try on frames.  What happens if they choose a frame and then after their prescription is filled and they can clearly see what the frames look like on their face, they don't like the look?

The reason that I'm asking is because my eyesight is getting worse.  Right now, I can still step back from the mirror and see what I look like.  What happens when I can't do that any more and everything looks fuzzy (far and near) without my glasses on?

Well personally I put my contact lenses in to go glasses shopping, but I can see how that might not work for everyone...

[that_one_girl]

I have worn glasses all my life, so I pretty much know what I want before choosing frames.  I never considered that it would make a difference how the glasses would look from far away, so I just choose something that looks good from up close.

[Dazi]

Another stupid question:

How do people with poor eyesight choose frames for their glasses?  They need their glasses on to see clearly but they can't keep their glasses on to try on frames.  What happens if they choose a frame and then after their prescription is filled and they can clearly see what the frames look like on their face, they don't like the look?

The reason that I'm asking is because my eyesight is getting worse.  Right now, I can still step back from the mirror and see what I look like.  What happens when I can't do that any more and everything looks fuzzy (far and near) without my glasses on?

Well personally I put my contact lenses in to go glasses shopping, but I can see how that might not work for everyone...

Same here.  I am nearsighted though, so in a pinch I can just get really close to the mirror.

[camlan]

I'm now near-sighted *and* farsighted--there's a range of about 10 inches where I can see without glasses. I take along a trusted friend who has great style sense and will tell me exactly how the glasses make me look.

For years, optical shops have offered the near-sighted large magnifying mirrors. Great--now I can see an enlarged, totally blurry vision of myself. Those mirrors didn't help at all.

Unless you have contacts, taking a picture or bringing along someone for a second opinion is the best way to go. I'm still waiting for some enterprising soul to invent corrective lens that will somehow fit on the sample frames, so you can get a better look at yourself in them.

[JoW]

Glasses with larger lenses are still available, even if they are not fashionable.  The salesperson you are working with will probably steer you to the fashionable small lenses.  I politely fight back. 
I have to have large lenses so I can have some peripheral vision for driving.  Also, I wear no-line bifocals and to get a reasonable amount of space in each part those lenses have to be taller than is now fashionable. 

I've worn glasses long enough that I have a pretty good idea what shape of frame looks best on me.  While wearing my older glasses I find that frame shape and size.  I'm nearsighted so I try on those frames with my nose about a foot from the mirror. 

Then there are the safety glasses I have to wear at work.   I pick the frames closest to the ones I get for my regular glasses.  Then the optician adds the side shields.  Yes, they are ugly.  But all my coworkers are wearing equally ugly glasses, and that makes it tolerable. 

[Rohanna]

Vall- my friend with terrible eyesight just uses her camera phone or a friends to take pics of herself in the frames, then looks at herself in the pics with her good glasses on

[Vall]

Thanks for all of the replies!  I like the camera idea.  I don't have a cell phone but who knows---by the time my eyes get that bad, maybe I'll break down and finally get one (I've never had a reason to get one before).  And I have a digital camera or two.

The last time I got glasses I had problems with the small, fashionable frames available for women.  They just don't look good on everyone--especially me.  So I went over to the men's frames.  The larger frames fit my face much better and no one knows the difference.  They give me more room for my no-line bifocals.

[GreenHall]

I'm sure I'm missing something very obvious, but in the updated Kindle app for iPad, I can add bookmarks, but I cannot figure out how to access bookmarks.  Any help would be appreciated (and then I will likely feel really silly for missing it.)

[AfleetAlex]

For eyewear I ended up asking the clerks as I had no idea what looked best. I DID notice that with my round head, putting on round-framed glasses made me look like a Minion, and I quickly ruled those out.