
Ask HN: Prescription glasses which optimize function over fashion - 01001010
Traditional glasses appear to prioritize looks over function. I am not a professional optician, but I imagine a pair of glasses which optimize function over form to meet at least some of the following criteria:<p><pre><code>  - Large lens to maximize field-of-view
  - Cup-shaped lens to optimize distance from eye at all angles
  - Thin shafts to enable lying in bed and using headphones
  - Minimal sized frame (although should be mostly outside of field-of-view anyway)
  - Light
</code></pre>
Price and design are irrelevant. Contacts is, unfortunately, not an option.<p>Are there are any such glasses available? Is my assessment wrong?
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twobyfour
Your biggest challenge might be not the frames but the lens curvature. Lenses
these days are ordered from a catalog of standard prescriptions.

Unusually strong prescriptions sometimes have to be special-ordered because
they aren't kept in stock, but AFAIK they're still not custom-ground. Or at
least they're still machine-ground from standard blanks.

If you want a lens with unusual curvature, you'd need to start with a blank
that supports that curvature - which may not exist. And the grinding machines
may also be unable to work with that curvature (hand-grinding, besides being
immensely more expensive, will be less consistent in its result).

And then you'll have the problem of fitting the lens securely into a frame
that's designed for one with lesser curvature. Heck, even my (moderate
prescription) sunglasses suffer from poor lens fit.

I'm not saying it can't be done; just that there are a lot of obstacles to
what you're looking for.

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PaulHoule
You have to balance one thing against another.

I like a large lens in that I get a wide field of view. I have a very strong
prescription, thus large lenses curve through a lot of solid angle, thus no
matter what angle you look at me from there is a strong reflection that
obscures my eyes. It makes me feel like I am one of those anime characters
whose eyes are hidden behind spiral lines. I think it is more than cosmetic,
because it impairs people reading my emotional expressions.

When I go hiking with thin glasses, however, I end up craning my neck down so
I can see what is going on in front of my feet. That makes my neck hurt.

~~~
01001010
In my head, I can easily imagine a model combining all of the above (except,
perhaps, weight and a very large lens). Which criteria do think are
incompatible?

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01001010
Large lenses ("pilot" glasses) are usually not especially curved, I believe
that is suboptimal and mostly done for looks for historical reasons. (At some
point, an optician told me that was the case and that the optimal shape would
be spherical to optimize distance from the eye.)

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steanne
drill-mount frames.

~~~
01001010
Is there a difference between 'drill-mount' and 'rimless'? These fulfill some
of the criteria, but I fail to find such with a nice, large, preferably cup-
shaped, lens.

~~~
steanne
it's the same thing, but lens shape is not dictated by the frame. you're
likely to find pictures of rimless glasses with small lenses because small
lenses are popular now, but you can choose any shape you want.

~~~
01001010
I'll see what I can dig up, thank you.

