Are there any prescription sunglasses that aren't too ugly?

[BotCrossedHun]

I had precription sunnies before, but they looked awful. They were tiny frames like my glasses, and didn't really look like sunglasses properly; the sun came in around the edges, too.

But I have a high near-sighted prescription with astigmatism so the edges are already thicker, plus I need varifocals now too, so even choosing bigger lenses is probably going to look a bit weird too, isn't it, even more thick and non-sunglass like. And frames able to hold those sorts of lenses are just going to look like brown tinted normal glasses I think, ugly as my old ones which I didn't end up wearing much.

Can't decide if it's worth bothering trying to find anything more. Even with prescription sunglasses, I'd have to keep changing back and forth when I went indoors or out. They'd be useful for driving I guess but not sure about much else (at the moment I have the even uglier 'over glasses' for when I really have to and the sun visor isn't enough!! But I don't wear them out of the car...)

That effortless summertime cool that some people have, wearing sunglasses, or having them on their heads, just looks so laid-back and chic. But I think it's just not possible for me, already frumpy at the best of times.

I can't get contact lenses, so are my only options really ugly prescription ones, or just keep on trying to avoid the sun.

Anyone found anything remotely attractive that can hold a strong prescription?

@BotCrossedHun I suggest finding an optician that sells specific frames for sunglasses and with people that offer good advice. I have a complex prescription, bad astigmatism and I need varifocals. I bought a pair of prescription sunglasses last year. They are varifocal. I go to an independent optician where the staff are brilliant at advising what shaped frame suits my face and recommending lenses. I have really thin lenses in my normal glasses, but didn’t have the lenses in my sunglasses thinned as much as was advised it wasn’t necessary (I asked what were the cheapest lenses I could get away with as I wasn’t sure how much wear I would get out of them!). I am really happy with the sunglasses and have worn them a lot.

I used glasses direct. They can put tinted lenses in any frame but also have specific sunglasses frames as well, I'm sure I saw ray ban on there

I got mens ones! I love huge shades.

Thanks all, will keep checking out some of the independent opticians, as well as making a trip to Asda! It's a while til proper summer really so I can save up for a bit first...

Online is really not going to work I think, my prescription just doesn't fall into what they're comfortable dispensing online even just for the normal refraction, let alone the varifocal aspect, so all the nice budget friendly suggestions at places like glasses direct or whatever probably aren't suitable.

(my really thinned lenses already are 7 to 8mm thick at the edges, so I would have to ask what non-thinned (or less expensively-thinned) ones might measure, as that might really be the deciding factor into which frames)

I've got some ted baker ones. They're massive but I love them

Definitely worth going round all your local opticians with a copy of your prescription and have a chat with them about options. I've just done that for new varifocal sunglasses. They should be able to advise on what frames they have will work. I didn't actually find proper sunglasses I liked, but I did have ventilation find some larger frames that I think (hope!) will work well as sunglasses.

I have Ray Ban Jackie O's with my varifocal prescription, I got them from Boots opticians

Thanks all, I will start a tour of local opticians just to see what they might have in stock that would work. And then start saving!

Contact lenses would make sunglasses much easier, but my near vision now needs enough correction that it's just so inconvenient not being able to look something up on my phone or whatever with contact lenses in; I end up wearing reading glasses on top most of the time. And they need to be daily lenses as I can only wear them occasionally because they irritate my eyes otherwise, and daily multifocal aren't really available in my prescription.

But it would be nice, as even if I manage to get prescription progressive sunglasses that aren't too distorted, I'll still have to take them on and off going inside, which means carrying extras all the time. I will check out the magnet ones though if I can find anywhere that carries them, and see if there is anything suitable yet stylish!

Have you tried mono vision with contact lenses? One eye for long and one for short?

Also you might find monthly lenses more comfortable. I have ones that I wear for 2 weeks and change because I can't do dailies they irritate me eyes!

I can't do monthlies any more - I did for several years a while back, but they were causing irritation to my eyes and I was told it probably wasn't a good idea. At the time, no dailiies were available in my prescription so I gave up on them until now. I am going to be trying monovision soon to see if it will be good enough, and I hope it will!! I am hoping that contact lens manufacturers suddenly decide that there is a huge market in daily multifocal lenses and increase the parameters hugely.

I've never had multi focal I've always had mono. I must ask about multi focal at my next review!

I had the same until around 6 years ago when I decided to swap opticians and they showed me all kind of frames I could get with my prescription. My current one look like these but I need new one soon as my prescription changed and the frame is starting to break apart at the joint.
https://www.boots.com/prada-linea-rossa-pr01o-10312168

I have -7.5 on both eyes plus +1.25 so I need verifocals now.

It is definitely worth shopping around.

I like those ones, wonder how they'd look on me. Might see if Boots here has them. I think I've never looked in the opticians bit of Boots which might be a separate shop somewhere; I've just looked into the normal cheap section in the main shop, where all the non-prescription, non-designer ones are.

I'm glad to hear that there is more available out there than I thought, even for varifocals. I still miss the ability to just shove them up on my head when I go indoors, but can't have everything!! And maybe mono-vision contacts will work for me, fingers crossed. I expect that will mean that I will want to buy both normal sunglasses and prescription ones though, bank balance is going to take a real hit. My eyes don't seem to have stabilised either, as they typically do in adulthood, so I keep needing stronger prescriptions as well as more reading power, so any prescription sunglasses might well need replacement befoore long, especially if I'm going to use them to drive in.

That's why I go to Asda. My everyday glasses are about £50 with varifocals included. And when my reading add goes up (currently at +2.5) I don't want to cry because I'm changing my glasses

Yes Asda definitely sounds more reasonable! My regular pair were over £600 just for lenses.
I hope my prescription doesn't keep progressing, but I guess the reading part is fairly likely to, year on year. So sunglasses could be a perennial expensive issue, even Asda!

OP I know you’ve said online isn’t an option, have you taken a look at Ace and Tate? I have a high prescription and astigmatism and haven’t been able to find a suitable online option previously. My optician suggested a normal frame with tinted lenses which i absolutely did not want. I just wanted them to look like normal sunglasses. Anyway I ordered from Ace and Tate and they’re great, were about £160. I obviously had to guess which frame would suit best but they are all pretty stylish and with nice thick frames to hide the lenses. Not an ad by the way, just a very happy customer.

I haven't looked at them, not familiar with the name - looks like the nearest would be London, which might be possible next time I'm on a day trip there. That is exactly what I want - a frame that looks like sunglasses, not normal glasses.

It's not just choosing frames online that is hard, but getting the exact measurements correct, especially for varifocals and astigmatism. It's impressive that they do high prescriptions online, as most places don't. Maybe having physical shops as well that you could go to for adjustment if needed is how they can offer it.

I got really lucky with prescription sunnies from Asda. I chose a plastic deep brown tortoiseshell frame with a brown lens. The frame is big, so no sun leakage round the sides. They came out looking just like normal sunnies, so much so that the staff were passing them round to note the successful combo of lenses amd frame My prescription was 6.5 for both eyes and they cost just £45. Sadly, my prescription has changed now, but once I'm signed off from eye surgery, I'm definitely going back for a new pair.

Going a bit against the grain, but I have a monthly payment plan (€30x 24= €720) for glasses and contact lenses.
It gives me 3 sets of lenses (glasses x2 including frames, one of which are sunglasses, plus monthly contact lenses in my case) and any change of prescription or breakage over the 24 months is covered. Useful for clumsy kids with rapidly changing prescription. I book an eye test in the 23rd month so that’s included too.

My astigmatism and prescription are quite strong so I think the professional human touch is important.

My Italian optician is a subsidiary of the Luxottica group, so they have the full range of frames by Ray-Ban, Persol and fashion brands.
They used to be affiliated with Dollond and Aitchison (RIP) in the UK but I’m sure you can find something similar.

Off the back of this thread I’ve made an appointment with Vision express after realising they do a 0% payment plan over 2/3 years for 2 or 3 pairs of prescription glasses, one can be sunglasses, and it has all sorts of benefits including free eye tests and free accidental damage cover etc etc. For someone like me with a really high prescription that’s actually pretty good and doesn’t cost much more than my monthly contacts used to cost me (which I can’t wear now due to medical reasons), obviously it’s going to depend on which glasses I choose. Their mid range / thinned varifocal lenses in my super strong complex prescription cost £320 which is similar to Specsavers and half the price of my independent opticians ones. I tried asda and had to return them as the lenses weren’t good enough in terms of field of vision for me.

Go to Ollie Quinn or Bailey nelson

Well, there you go! ^👍