Eyeglasses fall apart

[bmcald]

My lenses popped out of a pair of plastic frames and a pair or steel frames during a long hot day of sailing. I thought that a pair of "frameless" glasses, where the lenses are held to the ear and nose pieces by small screws set into the lens, might be the answer, but find that the lens gets soft or something and the screw falls out. Would have lost the glasses if not for the string keeping them around my neck.

Is Lasik the only answer? Anyone hit on the perfect eyeglass frames for sailing?

[Sailmc]

I like my contacts. They are disposable. Thow them away at night and put a fresh pair in in the morning. Much better than glasses in the rain or spray.

[bmcald]

Sounds good, but I wear bifocals and contacts don''t seem to be an option for me.

[Dave A]

Talk to a good office, they can sometimes get you fitted with contacts which will work at both ranges. Sometimes they do one eye near and one far, I know it sounds wierd but for some people it works great and no you don''t lose your distance perception. My broker plays golf tournaments with that set up. The near far setup didn''t work for me but they got me set so I only need a pair of "+2 cheaters" for real small reading. Sailing, driving etc. no problem.

[Sailmc]

The near, far thing is called mono vision. I have been doing it for about 5 years. It works pretty well but all of the options have some compromise. You do lose some depth perception but you will learn to compensate for this. I have no trouble docking my boat this way. It sure beats the hell out of trying to keep rain and spray off your glasses.

[Sailormon6]

I don''t know about frameless glasses, but the main reason I''ve found for lenses falling out of framed glasses is that the lenses are not properly fit to the frames. When the lenses are ground too small for the frames, they have to be installed with a thin gasket around them, too prevent them from rattling in the frame opening. The gasket allows the frames to flex too much, and the screws back out. I don''t accept glasses that have a gasket around the lens, and I have no problem with the screws backing out or the lenses falling out. When there''s no space between the lenses and the frame, the lenses actually support the frame, and keep it from flexing.

[flicker]

My vision was so bad that, without glasses, the E at the top of the chart was a big black blotch. My wife and I got Lasik and, while my vision is not now as good as hers came out, I can drive without difficulty except at night in a strange area where I have to be able to read small street signs at a distance. I did get a pair of glasses to correct for this but I rarely need to use them.

The reason I got Lasix was in case of a rough abandon ship or MOB in which I would be likely to lose my glasses. One thing that scared me was the thought of being adrift and virtually blind.

I would only recommend, if you are interested in Lasik, that you don''t go for the cheapest buy. My wife and I went to a large international corporation and it went bankrupt before our 1 month follow-up appointments. I had asked the emminent doctor if this was a possibility and I believe he lied about the company''s solvency.

I am very happy with my Lasik results and, though there are no guarantees with any surgery, I would do it again.

Chas

[PaulBl]

I''ve worm glasses 40 years and can''t do much beside get out of bed and reach for them when I get up in the morning. heck I couldn''t find the dock let alone the boat without mine.

Lasik would not work for me given the correction and the prism adjustment. Contact lenses are the same problem too. I also need bifocals as well.

For sailing I like a pair perscription Ray Ban frames with a strap across the back so they don''t fall in the drink. On the water they are great.

One thing you can do is get a warranty from Pearle Vision. For one year they replace at 90% and in year two it''s 80% coverage. Basically if you don''t lose them and can haul them in they replace them pretty much with no questions asked. All added up my glasses generally run a regualr and sunglass pair for about $750. The warranty is chump change.

Framless won''t hold up. They are for old guys that sit around all the time. Titaninum has been pretty good for me. They don''t get bent as easily and I have never had a lense come loose. I am very hard on glasses and have been for a long time. The platic rRay Ban''s worked pretty well too.

Go with as small a lense shape as you can and use the ultra high index plastic (most expensive). This will make the thinest and smallest lense and most important the lightest weight on the nose. Light weigt reduces a lot of the problems. I had thick glass lenses and the frames trashed much faster. I think it was the estra weight that agravated the problem.

The anti glare coating is really nice but you need to use lens wipes to clean them or they don''t clean easily. One thing I found with Pearl is that the coating reacted with something and fogged up (may have been chlorine). They replaced it under warranty for $30. Plus one time I sat on the Ray Ban''s another $30. If you can replace them cheap don''t worry as much.