I use to enjoy wearing rimless (aka frameless) glasses. Unfortunately, a few years ago, it was necessary to add a prism into my prescription for the right eye. This made the outer edge of the lens, where the temple attached, 3/8" thick. With the brand of rimless glasses I had, Silhouette, (the brand carried by my optician) the piece which attached the temple through holes in the upper corner of the lens would no longer hold securely due to the new thickness. So I had to settle for a more standard frame.
Does anyone here have, or know of, a brand of frameless/rimless glasses that can accommodate such a thick lens?
I think the trick is to get a thinner lens, There are some relatively new lens materials that refract light more strongly than traditional lenses, so you need less curvature. They are called “High Index” lenses. Whether they would work for your particular prescription, I couldn’t say.
I wear pretty thick glasses. For many years (more than thirty), I’ve worn the same style of frames. They’re made by Art-Craft (http://www.artcraftoptical.com/products/dress/legendarylooks/rimway/index.htm). The lenses are attached to the frames with a screw that passes through a hole drilled in the lens (actually, two holes per lens), so, as long as you’ve got a screw long enough, the thickness of the lens doesn’t matter.
OK, these days they’re a bit retro. Or old-fashioned. Or antiquated. But they work for me.
I am not an optometrist, or an optician, nor am I competent in any way whatsoever to offer the kind of advice an actual optometrist or optician could give you.
My wife works in an eye doctor’s office who prides themselves as a “high-end designer” retailer. Here is my understanding:
My wife constantly touts high index lenses. That allows the lenses to be thinner and lighter than regular plastic lenses. So you may want to see if your eye doctor can get high index lenses that will allow you to keep your Silhouettes.
My wife’s office carries a line of frames by the Danish company Lindberg. These frames are attached to the lenses by some kind of super glue. So I think that no matter how thick your lenses are, the lab should be able to glue everything together. But they are VERY expensive.
(Lindberg also makes regular rimmed glasses, but they are rather hispster-ish to me)
Due to my wife’s begging a Lindberg rep, I was able to get a pair for cheap and I loved them. The best pair of glasses that I ever had. Unfortunately I lost them in a boating accident and they are sitting at the bottom of some Florida river.
My wife didn’t have any more favors to call in to the Lindberg rep, and we weren’t able to afford Lindberg’s regular price, so I got Silhouettes instead. I like them, but vastly inferior to my Lindbergs.
If you can afford them and your eye care professional does not carry Lindbergs, you can take your prescription to another eye doc that does carry Lindbergs and get them to take care you.
I have extremely odd vision requirements (I’m amblyoptic, if anyone is curious) and for some reason, I’m hell on frames. I had rimless glasses several years ago, and loved them. They didn’t love me. The lenses were the super hoopty-doo kind, “unbreakable,” and the lenses cracked–twice. After the second repair (where everyone in the optician’s shop had to come see this miracle of destruction) I said “no more” to the rimless. I don’t know the brand of the next pair I got, but the damned lenses kept popping out of the frames. I’d switch my glasses (from sun to indoor) and whoops, the lens is out again! I was just about ready to throw away all my glasses and just get a dog and white cane.
THEN I was introduced to a brand of frame that is so flexible and durable you can allegedly tie knots with it. This is the one advertised as the frame the dog can eat, and they will still survive. I was SO skeptical. And the optician promised me over and over and over, if the lenses EVER pop out, come back in, any time, and I’d get new frames.
The frames cost more than the lenses, and I left the shop minus an arm and a leg, and I had new glasses. That was easily five years ago, and the lenses have NEVER YET popped out, broken, or done anything they are not supposed to do. The frames are practically brand new. I’m sold. I’ll never get another brand of frames again. Just ask the optician for the frames that can be eaten by the dog.
~VOW