New to glasses / night driving glare.

[Teddy Lop]

Had a checkup yesterday, given a scrip for -.50/-.25.

Not worth bothering for the most part IMO, only thing I struggle slightly with is distance detail, but one thing that I really struggle with is glare at night - which which is even worse now it seems the fashion for the throbber end of cyclists is to fit strobes to their bikes - the optometrist informed me glasses would help with. When I questioned her further she was a bit vague though.

Any experiences? I actually think my aversion to glare and flashing lights goes beyond physical but if I can treat the symptom...

[threespires]

In November I enquired about yellow style glasses at my optician and he talked me out of them.
Whether that was a scam to get me to order his own remedy for glare is anybodies guess. A private rather than nationwide optician.

[A500leroy]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glasses-Driving-Polarised...

will help for a while but u get used to it.

[Teddy Lop]

threespires said:

In November I enquired about yellow style glasses at my optician and he talked me out of them.
Whether that was a scam to get me to order his own remedy for glare is anybodies guess. A private rather than nationwide optician.

I tried some cheapo ebay specials but found they reduced overall detail. Might try some more expensive ones though - I have to do something .

But I'm wondering if anyone who wears a light prescription notices a difference in glare susceptibility without glasses?

I think my issue goes beyond physical - I find flashing lights like Audi animated indicators slightly hypnotic and modern ambulances pretty much blind me - I have to put up my hand between my eyes and said ambulance.. But hey if I can treat the sympton

[gazapc]

Not strictly glare in the way you describe but I suffer when it is bright outside (squinting, eyes can water). I have a modest glasses prescription for driving/seeing long distances and wearing them does seem to make a noticeable difference to the effect of the brightness. Could be in the mind, but if it works don't knock it.

[Dogwatch]

threespires said:

In November I enquired about yellow style glasses at my optician and he talked me out of them.
Whether that was a scam to get me to order his own remedy for glare is anybodies guess. A private rather than nationwide optician.

Just had a prescription pair made at the suggestion of optician as I have mild cataracts. They do help a bit at night but it's like driving in France years ago, everyone has yellow headlights!

[anonymous-user]

As someone who has worn glasses and contact lenses for 30 years, the only advice I can give here is to buy the very best lenses you can from your optician.

There will be 4 or 5 different levels of lenses available when you buy your glasses, and I used to always buy the low grade ones with and maybe pay extra for coatings etc.

I recently switched to treating myself to the very best lenses offered by my optician which were Zeiss with anti-glare and blue light filtering, and I can honestly say they are worth every penny, especially for driving and at night.

[Fastpedeller]

Lord Marylebone said:

As someone who has worn glasses and contact lenses for 30 years, the only advice I can give here is to buy the very best lenses you can from your optician.

There will be 4 or 5 different levels of lenses available when you buy your glasses, and I used to always buy the low grade ones with and maybe pay extra for coatings etc.

I recently switched to treating myself to the very best lenses offered by my optician which were Zeiss with anti-glare and blue light filtering, and I can honestly say they are worth every penny, especially for driving and at night.

Interesting you should say that. I have a very strong prescription c-7.5 and in the past had been going to labs that make the glasses for opticians (cut out middle man ) in order to get the varifocal/high index/coating etc below £400. A couple of years ago I went to a supermarket for Daughter to get tested for contact lenses, and noted their deal is that you buy the frames and any lenses are included (ie can have varifocal, photochromatic etc) at not extra cost. They reserve the right to decide when they apply high index. I decided to try them, and the lenses I have are Shamir Freeform (computer controlled grinding ie not restricted to a set radii) and IMHO these are the best lenses I've ever had! the cost was £38 (about the only frames we liked that were a suitable size for my requirements - we weren't deliberately aiming for bargain basement). The frames are spring arm etc, not the highest quality by a long way, but certainly acceptable. Back to the OP, have your lenses got anti-reflective coating? this is often are omitted from low power lenses as deemed not required.

[anonymous-user]

Fastpedeller said:

Lord Marylebone said:

As someone who has worn glasses and contact lenses for 30 years, the only advice I can give here is to buy the very best lenses you can from your optician.

There will be 4 or 5 different levels of lenses available when you buy your glasses, and I used to always buy the low grade ones with and maybe pay extra for coatings etc.

I recently switched to treating myself to the very best lenses offered by my optician which were Zeiss with anti-glare and blue light filtering, and I can honestly say they are worth every penny, especially for driving and at night.

Interesting you should say that. I have a very strong prescription c-7.5 and in the past had been going to labs that make the glasses for opticians (cut out middle man ) in order to get the varifocal/high index/coating etc below £400. A couple of years ago I went to a supermarket for Daughter to get tested for contact lenses, and noted their deal is that you buy the frames and any lenses are included (ie can have varifocal, photochromatic etc) at not extra cost. They reserve the right to decide when they apply high index. I decided to try them, and the lenses I have are Shamir Freeform (computer controlled grinding ie not restricted to a set radii) and IMHO these are the best lenses I've ever had! the cost was £38 (about the only frames we liked that were a suitable size for my requirements - we weren't deliberately aiming for bargain basement). The frames are spring arm etc, not the highest quality by a long way, but certainly acceptable. Back to the OP, have your lenses got anti-reflective coating? this is often are omitted from low power lenses as deemed not required.

my prescription is -5.25 in both eyes so I'm pretty short sighted! Worn daily contact lenses for 22 years.

My contact lens 'deal' with the optician (Boots) means that I pay monthly for my contact lenses and also get 50% off any frames and lenses.

I haven't really taken much advantage of this but decided that because I'm wearing my glasses a bit more these days, I might as well push the boat out.

So my latest pair are some very lightweight composite Ray-Ban wayfarer style frames complete with the top end Zeiss lenses with all applicable coatings that were offered. Should have been £520 for the lot, but my deal meant I paid £260.

Now that I have had them for a few weeks I am incredibly pleased. The optical quality of the Ziess lenses is amazing. incredible clarity. They are also incredibly thin (despite my prescription) due to the high refractive index of the Zeiss glass.

The anti-glare, anti-reflective, blue light filter, and smudge resistant coatings are worth it as well.

For the first time in 22 years I find myself actually wanting to wear my glasses as much as I do my contacts, especially for driving and driving at night.

[Skyedriver]

Trouble with buying the best lenses is they still get scratched when you are crawling under a car.....
I'm currently wearing an expensive frame with decent (not zeiss) lenses. A couple of month ago I walked into a door frame in the dark, buggered the frame hinge. THey are less than a year old and covered in small scratches from various incidents.

[HelenT]

Teddy Lop said:

Had a checkup yesterday, given a scrip for -.50/-.25.

Not worth bothering for the most part IMO, only thing I struggle slightly with is distance detail, but one thing that I really struggle with is glare at night - which which is even worse now it seems the fashion for the throbber end of cyclists is to fit strobes to their bikes - the optometrist informed me glasses would help with. When I questioned her further she was a bit vague though.

Any experiences? I actually think my aversion to glare and flashing lights goes beyond physical but if I can treat the symptom...

I'm an optometrist, generally not keen on prescribing low prescriptions but small myopic (-ve) prescriptions make much more difference at night than during the day as your pupils are much bigger at night so the starburst effect produced by light not coming to a sharp focus on the retina is much more noticable.
if I had someone who did little night driving and few symptoms I wouldn't prescribe but for night driving I would say your prescription would certainly help.

[HelenT]

Skyedriver said:

Trouble with buying the best lenses is they still get scratched when you are crawling under a car.....
I'm currently wearing an expensive frame with decent (not zeiss) lenses. A couple of month ago I walked into a door frame in the dark, buggered the frame hinge. THey are less than a year old and covered in small scratches from various incidents.

Check with your Optician depending on the coating it may be covered by the lens manufacturer's warranty on the coating

[Sheepshanks]

Fastpedeller said:

A couple of years ago I went to a supermarket for Daughter to get tested for contact lenses, and noted their deal is that you buy the frames and any lenses are included (ie can have varifocal, photochromatic etc) at not extra cost. They reserve the right to decide when they apply high index. I decided to try them, and the lenses I have are Shamir Freeform (computer controlled grinding ie not restricted to a set radii) and IMHO these are the best lenses I've ever had! the cost was £38 (about the only frames we liked that were a suitable size for my requirements - we weren't deliberately aiming for bargain basement).

Bearing in mind we (wife and I) typically pay £5-600 a pair for varifocals, and the last lot with Essilor lenses don't seem that great, that price and comment seems astonishng! Which supermarket was it, please?

[Fastpedeller]

Sheepshanks said:

Bearing in mind we (wife and I) typically pay £5-600 a pair for varifocals, and the last lot with Essilor lenses don't seem that great, that price and comment seems astonishng! Which supermarket was it, please?

p.m. sent

[Sheepshanks]

Fastpedeller said:

p.m. sent

Thanks. I'd found it was them through a quick Google. Reviews do seem very random!

With varifocals a lot is about how good the dispenser is - first pairs we got were brilliant, but the dispenser left and we've never been able to replicate that experience.

[Fastpedeller]

Sheepshanks said:

Thanks. I'd found it was them through a quick Google. Reviews do seem very random!

With varifocals a lot is about how good the dispenser is - first pairs we got were brilliant, but the dispenser left and we've never been able to replicate that experience.

Mine are varifocals, high index (IIRC 1.7?) - no problems. Due to my high No ( Minus 7.5 ) if I have large frames, even with the high index they would get thick at the edges, so I tend to go for smaller lenses, which of course restricts the available 'room' for the graduation to reading (hope that makes sense), but these have been good. My lenses are 50mmw x 27mm tall. Worth a try maybe (reject if no good?) IIRC there is a 30 day 'reject if don't like period'

[Glosphil]

I found Zeiss Drivesafe prescription glasses reduced glare at night and gave overall better vision. With a pair of prescription Polariod sunglasses total cost in decent frames was under £230 from Boots Opticians.

[NGRhodes]

Lord Marylebone said:

Fastpedeller said:

Lord Marylebone said:

As someone who has worn glasses and contact lenses for 30 years, the only advice I can give here is to buy the very best lenses you can from your optician.

There will be 4 or 5 different levels of lenses available when you buy your glasses, and I used to always buy the low grade ones with and maybe pay extra for coatings etc.

I recently switched to treating myself to the very best lenses offered by my optician which were Zeiss with anti-glare and blue light filtering, and I can honestly say they are worth every penny, especially for driving and at night.

Interesting you should say that. I have a very strong prescription c-7.5 and in the past had been going to labs that make the glasses for opticians (cut out middle man ) in order to get the varifocal/high index/coating etc below £400. A couple of years ago I went to a supermarket for Daughter to get tested for contact lenses, and noted their deal is that you buy the frames and any lenses are included (ie can have varifocal, photochromatic etc) at not extra cost. They reserve the right to decide when they apply high index. I decided to try them, and the lenses I have are Shamir Freeform (computer controlled grinding ie not restricted to a set radii) and IMHO these are the best lenses I've ever had! the cost was £38 (about the only frames we liked that were a suitable size for my requirements - we weren't deliberately aiming for bargain basement). The frames are spring arm etc, not the highest quality by a long way, but certainly acceptable. Back to the OP, have your lenses got anti-reflective coating? this is often are omitted from low power lenses as deemed not required.

my prescription is -5.25 in both eyes so I'm pretty short sighted! Worn daily contact lenses for 22 years.

My contact lens 'deal' with the optician (Boots) means that I pay monthly for my contact lenses and also get 50% off any frames and lenses.

I haven't really taken much advantage of this but decided that because I'm wearing my glasses a bit more these days, I might as well push the boat out.

So my latest pair are some very lightweight composite Ray-Ban wayfarer style frames complete with the top end Zeiss lenses with all applicable coatings that were offered. Should have been £520 for the lot, but my deal meant I paid £260.

Now that I have had them for a few weeks I am incredibly pleased. The optical quality of the Ziess lenses is amazing. incredible clarity. They are also incredibly thin (despite my prescription) due to the high refractive index of the Zeiss glass.

The anti-glare, anti-reflective, blue light filter, and smudge resistant coatings are worth it as well.

For the first time in 22 years I find myself actually wanting to wear my glasses as much as I do my contacts, especially for driving and driving at night.

I am also impressed by the Zeiss lenses.
I have the regular (not extra thin as milder prescription )Zeiss lenses with their top end Duravision platinum coating, my opticians gives a 2 year anti scratch warranty, vs 1 year from Specsavers (that I have previously).
Here they are compared, the blue Zeiss glare is far less than the green of the Specsavers (you can see more detail of my jeans through the glare):

Edited by NGRhodes on Monday 17th February 00:02

[Mr Pointy]

Teddy Lop said:

Had a checkup yesterday, given a scrip for -.50/-.25.

Not worth bothering for the most part IMO, only thing I struggle slightly with is distance detail, but one thing that I really struggle with is glare at night - which which is even worse now it seems the fashion for the throbber end of cyclists is to fit strobes to their bikes - the optometrist informed me glasses would help with. When I questioned her further she was a bit vague though.

Any experiences? I actually think my aversion to glare and flashing lights goes beyond physical but if I can treat the symptom...

How old are you? Is there any chance you are developing cataracts as poor night vision is a common symptom.