What's wrong with my glasses?

September 27, 2006 6:59 AM

Just picked up my (expensive) new glasses and noticed the left lens is significantly thicker than the right.

The right fits neatly into the (plastic) frame but the left sticks out on both sides. The difference in prescription seemed negligible to me: -8.25 to -8.00, but I got the thinnest lenses available (nikon, perhaps?) and I'm wondering if this is enough to make a difference. Should I go back to the optician or is this normal? I'm concerned they will just dismiss me so I'd like to know if I have a legitimate complaint or not.

posted by anonymous78 to clothing, beauty, & fashion (13 comments total)

Well, it's the edge that's thicker, but perhaps not the middle. Do you have more astigmatism in your left eye?
posted by Dipsomaniac at 7:03 AM on September 27, 2006

yes, it is at the edge and i do have more astigmatism in my left eye. however, i've never noticed a difference in lens thickness on older glasses.
posted by anonymous78 at 7:08 AM on September 27, 2006

Your left and right eye center may not be in the same place relative to the bridge of your new glasses, this would effect edge thickness.
posted by Mitheral at 7:17 AM on September 27, 2006

Yeah if you have astigmatism and these are nicer glasses/eye doctor, there is a chance they just did a better job correcting that. I say give them a try and then you have a specific complaint if it doesn't work out.
posted by shownomercy at 7:19 AM on September 27, 2006

Are they bigger or wider glasses than you've had before? A bigger diameter lens will need to be thicker around the edge, and the difference between left and right will be more noticeable.
posted by teg at 7:21 AM on September 27, 2006

The eyesight in my right eye is worse than my left eye. All of my fairly expensive (and the cheapo ones I used to have as a kid) have a thicker edge on the right lens.


If you are seeing fine out of the glasses - what exactly would you be complaining about?
posted by Julnyes at 7:38 AM on September 27, 2006

I would at least call and ask. No harm in asking. There's always they chance they accidentally used a higher index lens in the right side than in the left.
posted by lunalaguna at 7:39 AM on September 27, 2006

I have a similar occurence in my glasses as well. It was so bad that the lens often fell out! I brought them back to the shop I got them from, and they put a new, better fitted, lens in. It may just be that the lens is slightly too big for the frame and needs to either be shaved down (or whatever they do) or replaced. My frames are plastic too.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 7:49 AM on September 27, 2006

As others have noted, this is pretty standard if you have astigmatism. I do, and coincidently, my left lens is thick on the outside edge. Your glasses aren't wrong; your eyes, like mine, are.
posted by orthogonality at 8:00 AM on September 27, 2006

I got new plastic frames about a year ago, and after a couple of weeks noticed that the lenses were at different angles in the frames... I thought at first that one was about to fall out, the difference was that large. Went to nearest optical store and they said that this just happens with plastic frames -- the lenses often get put in at slightly different angles. She said they wouldn't fall out, but that making them the same angles would be really difficult. (Sadly, I can't remember *why* she said this all was. But at the time I found it convincing, for whatever that's worth.) Might be this is what's going on with you -- you can just see more of the edge of one lens because it's embedded in the frame at a different angle.

If it's bugging you, go double-check with the company. No harm, and you might get a problem fixed.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:53 AM on September 27, 2006

Are you thinking you got the right kind of lens on the right and one of the wrong ones on the left?

Despite your astigmatism, your corrections are so close it seems like a strong possibility to me. The fact that your previous lenses have no such disparity is almost decisive for me, in fact. Is there a chance the thin lenses you ordered are not or cannot be made with the appropriate correction for the astigmatism in your left eye?

I would say make sure you got what you paid for.
posted by jamjam at 11:14 AM on September 27, 2006

Practically speaking, only a small area in the center of the lens is actually ground for your correction, because that is the area through which you look 98% of the time. The perimeter of the lens merely continues the curvature of the correction smoothly, until the lens is big enough to fill the frame.

For corrections in the range you have (which is fairly myopic, but not extremely so, and about .25 diptor less than mine), large frames only produce heavy, very thick-at-the-edge glasses, that will be comparitively fragile. A good optician would have counseled you about this, and pointed you towards much smaller frames, which would have required only minimal lenses, and been significantly lighter in weight, helping them to stay put on the bridge of your nose, with far more comfort, and less indentation of your skin under the nose and earpieces.

Too often, eyewear stores allow customers to pick frames that the customers think "compliment their facial shape" or "go well with their coloring" and don't bother to advise them about the tradeoffs involved. Unfortunately, it's pretty difficult to "cut down" coated safety lenses for smaller frames; but next time, remember this, and go for a frame which is not some aviator clone, or big eyes fashion style, and you'll be far happier with the result.
posted by paulsc at 11:17 AM on September 27, 2006 [1 favorite]

I'm there with ya, paulsc, and had the same damn thing happen to me until I found a great optician who explained that with all my optical problems (severe astigmatism & nearsightedness) that I had to go with a smaller frame to accomodate the thinnest lens possible.

Even though my left lens is still thicker than my right, it is less noticeable now that I have smaller frames and definitely something a good optometrist would point out.
posted by PsychoKitty at 11:35 AM on September 27, 2006