# Plastic glasses frames and no lenses?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 9, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158 "2012-10-09T01:26:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/22 "2012-10-10T18:03:34Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#):
>
> You people are completely out of touch with pop culture. Lensless glasses are for celebrities and professional atheletes who are promoting nerd chic as a fashion style.
I’m aware that people are wearing this affectation for “style” - I just don’t like it.
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/23 "2012-10-10T21:34:44Z")
> [@Napier](#):
>
> Why would plain lenses not be possible? They use them all the time, for people who only need correction on one eye.
I don’t know. That is what he told me. The whole story never made much sense to me, but the contacts and the glasses he sometimes wore over them were real.
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### Author:  [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/24 "2012-10-10T22:50:16Z")
> [@madmonk28](#):
>
> I’ve always called glasses worn by people who don’t need them Scarecrow Glasses (If I only had a brain). They’re intended to make the wearer look smart(ish).
I thought Sarah Palin was accused of these during the 2008 election cycle.
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/25 "2012-10-11T01:00:23Z")
> [@njtt](#):
>
> I don’t know. That is what he told me. The whole story never made much sense to me, but the contacts and the glasses he sometimes wore over them were real.
One possibility would be trying to get his vision care coverage to pay for them. Or that some corporate policy at the shop mandates that the frames leave the door only with actual corrective lenses installed in them. Ot a regulation to the effect that you may buy nonprescription or cosmetic specs at other places than opticians, and corrective ones only at the optician, that is interpreted such as to make it so it’s mutually exclusive.
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### Author:  [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/26 "2012-10-11T03:51:18Z")
For at least the past year, it’s been all the rage among the middle-schoolers to wear 3-D glasses that they’ve taken from the movie theaters and popped the lenses out of. They look every bit as cool and hip as you might imagine.
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/27 "2012-10-11T03:59:38Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#):
>
> One possibility would be trying to get his vision care coverage to pay for them. Or that some corporate policy at the shop mandates that the frames leave the door only with actual corrective lenses installed in them. Ot a regulation to the effect that you may buy nonprescription or cosmetic specs at other places than opticians, and corrective ones only at the optician, that is interpreted such as to make it so it’s mutually exclusive.
It was in the U.K. (and about 40 years ago). I presumed he had paid out-of-pocket for the glasses (or persuaded his parents to). As I said, it never made much sense to me, and he may have been putting me on in some way, but the contacts and the glasses were real.
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### Author:  [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/28 "2012-10-13T04:26:33Z")
A friend of mine, who is a bit of a trend whore, showed up one day wearing glasses with no lenses in them. I rolled my eyes so hard that the shock wave shattered the windows in the room and he never wore them again.
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### Author:  [@Viridiana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viridiana)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/29 "2012-10-13T11:44:51Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> Where are these people? I’ve never in my life seen a single person walking around wearing glasses with no lenses. Maybe some with flat no-prescription lenses – I’ve never even thought about it enough to look for it, and if I did I wouldn’t be certain anyway.
Young hipster or wannabe-hipster girls are doing it here now, I see one every once in a while. Straight-up standing-right-by-me-in-line-so-I-can-see-clearly big black no chance of glass in them frames. Personally I think they look like dumbasses.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/30 "2012-10-13T12:11:51Z")
Jackasses. Somehow I’ve not come across this trend. Good thing, too, because I would have difficulty resisting the urge to “tap” the nonexistent lens while asking, “Is that just a really good non-reflective… Oops! Sorry! Didn’t mean to poke you in the eye!”
Also far more likely with a couple drinks in me. Somehow as an obligate glasses wearer due to myopia, astigmatism, and dry eye that makes contacts very uncomfortable after just 4 hours or so, I’m a bit resentful of assholes who wear them for fun. They can fuck right off, after I poke an eye out.
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### Author:  [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/31 "2012-10-13T13:11:46Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#):
>
> I’m with **Mewl Dear** - this bugs me, too. I can’t quite put it in words - it’s like they’re mocking my lousy eyesight.
>
> Maybe the closest comparison is if someone had a serious limp that they were self-conscious about, and people with healthy legs were affecting a limp because they thought it was cool.
This seriously sounds bizarre to me, and I’ve worn glasses every single day of my life since the 3rd grade. I could perhaps see this argument 50-60 years ago when there were basically two styles of glasses period (heavy horn rimmed frames for men, and cat eye frames for women) and tough shit if they didn’t flatter your face. But even the tiniest optometrist in BFE will have literally hundreds of options available.
I’d say the trend began with sunglasses first. I know people who have literally dozens of pairs in different colors, shapes, styles purely for looks (not specialized lens colors for specific activities and so on). When you combine that with the “geek chic” trend over the past decade+, it makes sense that non-tinted glasses would/could follow.
I personally look better with my glasses than without, because even with nearsighted lenses, the frames help to give the illusion that my eyes aren’t as small and deep-set (even generally anti-glasses people agree with me). Because of this I’ve never seen a reason to use contacts. I could see the appeal of LASIK since it’d be actual correction (how cool would it be to actually _see_ in the shower?!? :D). But if I ever did get it, I’d be one of these d-bags who then wear nonfunctional glasses because I like how I look in them.
And really, why is the idea of eyeglass frames as strictly fashion inherently absurd? It makes sense that, as a society who has used eyeglasses primarily as functional items, it seems weird. But _objectively_, why is a pair of lensless frames all that weirder than any other decorative thing around the eyes/face?
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### Author:  [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/32 "2012-10-13T13:15:37Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#):
>
> Jackasses. Somehow I’ve not come across this trend. Good thing, too, because I would have difficulty resisting the urge to “tap” the nonexistent lens while asking, “Is that just a really good non-reflective… Oops! Sorry! Didn’t mean to poke you in the eye!”
>
> \ They can fuck right off, after I poke an eye out.
And _they’re_ the jackass? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/33 "2012-10-13T15:02:37Z")
It’s a new hipster spoof on the old hipsters who were wearing grandpa frames five minutes ago. Let’s call it post ironic.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/34 "2012-10-13T16:38:06Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#):
>
> This seriously sounds bizarre to me, and I’ve worn glasses every single day of my life since the 3rd grade. \ But if I ever did get it, I’d be one of these d-bags who then wear nonfunctional glasses because I like how I look in them.\
Maybe we’re coming at it from two different perspectives - I wouldn’t wear glasses if I didn’t have to (I’m like **SeaDragon** - I can’t wear contacts and I’m leery of lasik). They’ve been a pain in my ass for 30 years now, and there isn’t much I can do about it. People who are _choosing_ something that I wish I didn’t have to deal with irritate me.
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### Author:  [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/35 "2012-10-13T17:34:32Z")
But I seriously don’t understand why that would _irritate_ you. It’s not like their wearing purely-decorative glasses is affecting or impacting you personally. I’m not trying to be snarky, here; I _literally_ cannot wrap my mind around this concept.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/36 "2012-10-13T18:23:44Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#):
>
> And _they’re_ the jackass? :dubious:
Ha. Well, I never said my objection was rational.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/37 "2012-10-13T18:44:53Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#):
>
> But I seriously don’t understand why that would _irritate_ you. It’s not like their wearing purely-decorative glasses is affecting or impacting you personally. I’m not trying to be snarky, here; I _literally_ cannot wrap my mind around this concept.
You know, I would never question the glasses someone was wearing _if there were lenses in them_. It just wouldn’t come up. For some reason, even if they told me they were non-Rx lenses, it still wouldn’t get my ire up like no lenses at all. And I can’t really think of a good explanation as to why. I may need to contemplate this and poll some friends and come back later. There is definitely a root in it, though, like they’re thumbing their nose at those of us who _have to_ wear the damn things.
Prescription glasses are a necessary expense. Most of us don’t have a ton of extra money to buy more than one set. We’re stuck with what’s on our face for at least a year, or until the next Rx change when we may or may not be able to afford a new frame along with the expensive-ass lenses. It’s like wearing frames without lenses is a mockery toward those of us who don’t have a choice, aren’t wearing them for fashion even though we may choose the most fashionable frames that work with our prescription. We still have no choice but to deal with the downside of wearing glasses, like them being in the way sometimes, and dirt and smudges on the lenses, and, you know, _not being able to see without them_.
It’s like, on a much smaller scale, someone going around in a wheelchair when they don’t need to. To make some kind of statement. A lot of us with glasses are all too aware of what would happen if we lose them, if they fall off and we can’t find them. If my vision wasn’t correctable, I would be incapacitated. _I wouldn’t be able to function without my glasses_. Wearing frames without lenses feels like a mockery of that.
Like I said, I have no claims as to rationality.
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### Author:  [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/38 "2012-10-13T19:11:34Z")
Prince circa 1986: [Prince Per4ming Sign 'O' The Times | Monique T | Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/princelover4ever7/2653966056/)
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/39 "2012-10-13T19:13:24Z")
Yeah, I’m not claiming it’s totally rational, either. Whether or not someone else puts frames on their face doesn’t affect me. If you can’t understand why someone choosing to do something that I have to do and don’t want to do would irritate me (even if it is irrational), I don’t think I can explain it any better, though.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/40 "2012-10-13T19:19:53Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#):
>
> Prince circa 1986: [Prince Per4ming Sign 'O' The Times | Monique T | Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/princelover4ever7/2653966056/)
[Prince this year.](http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/Prince_Afro.jpg) 😃 (The 'fro is my point.)
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### Author:  [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-glasses-frames-and-no-lenses/637158/41 "2012-10-13T19:45:09Z")
It’s OK, **Mewl**. We can’t all be Lisa Loeb…
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