Fashion eyewear, NHS glasses, sunglasses and more

Are there any tips or tricks for stopping the screw coming out of a pair of children's glasses that are a bit battered around one hinge?

Wondering about a small drop of superglue on the underside to prevent the screw coming out?

Wouldn't loctite suffice?

Probably.

I don't want to risk unscrewing them after the opticians has screwed them together for the 2nd time. But I guess I could try and drip feed it in.

I've actually got a particular blend of locktite that's runny enough to run down motorcycle spoke threads for a tubeless conversion, so maybe that would run through.

Anyone know of any tried and tested sports sunglasses that go over glasses?

I have some prescription sunglasses but they aren't designed for running or gravel biking and are causing me pain and keep nearly getting trashed.

I’m getting on well with prescription Oakley Holbrooks. I have a -4 cyl so was quite limited by prescription options.

What's the best optician to go to these days? I need to update my prescription. Work gives me a £25 reimbursement for an eye test and a £50 reimbursement for glasses, so I want to get a cheap and indestructible pair for the office and then get my prescription and buy some nice glasses for home online separately. Which chain is best for that, and getting access to my prescription?

Wherever you go they will give you a copy of your prescription.

Depending how bad your eyesight is you might not be able to get anything wearable for £50. If you need super thin lenses then prices go up quickly at most of the bricks and mortar places, otherwise they're much of a muchness at the lower end I'd say.

Work gives me a £25 reimbursement for an eye test

They should be paying the full amount, no?

Got a couple of pairs of these Jensen frames which I'm still quite happy with, seems they're long out of production and I can't find a trace of them on the internet, they're fine for a re-glaze, but the paint on the arms is quite worn. Is there anything I can do to give them a tidy up? I want to say they're Ti, but I could be wrong on that, I'm guessing that aluminium wouldn't manage that little spring structure, so maybe good for a dip in caustic to strip the paint - but then how to re-coat in something reasonably hard wearing?

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Indestructible doesn't really exist at that price point. The main weakness of lower end high street specs is.... weakness. All the primary contenders' glasses below £50 are made of cheese.

Issuing of the prescription is a requirement of performing the test.

Is there some kind of charity that would take old prescription glasses to match up to people that might need them?

I bought a pair a couple of years ago for a pretty weak prescription, didn't like them so barely used them and now have a different prescription (that I'm probably not going to bother dealing with).

Specsavers will take them and pass them on.

Gracias amigo

No worries, I always donate my old lenses. Feels good.

I sent mine back to Jensen to be repaired & tarted up. Cost £60 afair.

Any recommendations for an online place with reasonably priced frames and not too expensive lens packages (I need ultra thin ones for my prescription)?

Place I've used in the past doesn't have anything I like this time.

Woman at the optician told me she can't give me my PD as this changes in relation to a particular pair of glasses. Is this true? I thought it was just the distance between your pupils.

It could well be they either just didn't have it (I don't remember them taking this measurement) or they don't want to give it to me because I'm buying lenses online.

I'd say the latter if my experience is anything to go by. As far as I know PD is a pretty constant measurement - there's ways to measure your own too.

Yeah I'll get around to doing it myself at some point

I got the same kind of reluctance and excuse from my optician in the Netherlands. I guess it's because they understand that if you're asking for your pupil distance, you're looking to buy somewhere else. There is no other reason for needing that number, but maybe there is something else to it.

Yo. I is a Optician. It's a decision not to supply; but it is a decision broadly supported by our professional body (who explicitly recognise it as a dispensing measurement, and not part of an eye test) and often adopted as a company policy. If the measurement is on record it should be supplied to you (ideally with a caveat pertaining to it's origin, ie. when it was measured and for what glasses/purposes) but we are not obliged measure on request.

As to the does it change question: No PD doesn't change, but OC does. Pupil Distance being a facial measurement and Optical Centre being the corresponding lens measurement. The general expectation is that the optical centre of the lens sits directly in front of the pupil, and for most dispenses this true. But not all. Identifing when a modification between PD and OC is required/recommended is what you pay me for.

I've been involved in multiple situations where spectacles purchased online have not worked to patient's expectations and resolving such issues can be logistically fraught as culpability can be extremely difficult to ascertain and even if one party is directly at fault, it's normally just the more willing to acquiesce who absorbs the cost of rectifying.

I ended up going contacts if you crash it hurts

Came here to ask if anyone knew of a place I can send frames and my prescription and get them glazed but @DisappointingBob your post there makes it seem like this might not be the best way to go.

I want some Tom Fords but they are a bit spenny. I can find them online for a variety of prices but invariably, the places that can do them with prescription lenses are considerably more expensive that the sunglass places that sell them without a prescription lens option.

They are available as optical frames and sunnies btw and can defo be glazed.

I have found them in one local brick and mortar optician so far so I could get them done in person but that's another rung or two up the price ladder.

Could pop into my usual local optician and see if they'd be up for glazing them if I buy them elsewhere as I don't think they'll stock them. I did that years ago when I wanted some prescription Oakleys. Online price for the frames plus paying a premium for glazing would probably still be cheaper than the one place I've found that had them and could glaze them.

Your last option is what I’ve always done. Nobody in town stocks what I need (at least a 24mm bridge) or what I want (in this case Shuron, NOS American Optical and KameManNen).

As with everything, you pays your money and you takes your chances. As a general rule, I would try and find a bricks and mortar store with an on-sight lab. If you can, find an SMC qualified technician.
An increasing number of multiple Opticians use giant off-premises labs, that process enormous volumes, and are really set up for glazing in house products. The prescriptions are extremely, extremely rarely incorrect but to a trained eye the lens fitment can suffer, especially if the frame is unfamiliar.