Safety Glasses

[ChrisA Edwards]

I hope this is the correct forum for this question/thread.

I'll be 62 tomorrow, up until two months ago I had near 20/20 vision in both eyes, only requiring the use of 1.5 readers for stuff up close.

Just before Thanksgiving '18, I had shots in my eyes to slow the damage my type one diabetes is doing. Unfortunately one of those shots gave me a Staff infection, which lead to emergency surgery and ultimately a 75% loss of vision in me left eye.

So now Safety Glasses have a very real new level of importance to me.

I hate to admit that I only occasionally wear a full face shield, but do wear a respirator any time I'm cutting or sanding.

So I'm looking for suggestions of where or how to get good set of bifocal safety glasses. Preferably a full size lens with the lower half set to a prescription level.

I've never had any prescription glasses, so I'm not sure if this is something I should look into down at a Lenscrafters or the like.

Thanks

P.S. This latest condition may slow me down in my other favorite hobby (motorcycling), but I don't let it intend to get in the way of my woodworking.

[Jamie Buxton]

Your first stop is with an optometrist. That's doc who examines your eyes, and gives you a prescription for lenses. You take that to an optician, who makes glasses for you from that prescription. In some states, the optometrist and the optician can be the same person. In other states, they have to be separate businesses. The optician can make any style of glasses for you, including bifocal safety glasses.

[Lee Schierer]

I would avoid the low cost "big box" eyeglass outlets. Product quality can vary widely. My wife and I recently decided to try one of the low cost place out of three pairs of glasses all of them had badly distorted lenses due to the lenses not fitting correctly in the frames. The lenses were fine until they were installed in the frames. The store refused to fix them as they claimed distortion was normal.

Go to a professional opthomologist, that deals with safety glasses for industry and get genuine safety glasses with side shields.

[Mike Kees]

I wear safety glasses that use an "optical insert" behind the safety glass lens. They are a wrap around style,the good thing is when the lenses get scratched up the safety part is like 13$ to replace. I have two pairs,clear and darkened for outdoors. I like these because I wear my glasses all the time and therefore my safety glasses are always on.

[Dan Rude]

I started buying my progressive bifocal glasses as safety glasses. I like them, besides that they are cheaper than regular glasses. I also do not forget to wear them. Dan

[roger wiegand]

I have a pair of progressive bifocal safety glasses with side shields that I got through my job that work quite well and offer good protection because I wear them continuously in the shop. Glasses you don't wear are completely useless! Similarly plastic glasses you wear over your regular glasses tend to be uncomfortable and taken off, rendering them useless.

Most discount sources don't offer real safety glasses, a real optician or specialty supplier should be able to get them for you. We have a guy in a truck who visits all around the area a couple times a month who is an excellent provider. By the time you get progressive lenses with all the anti-scratch coatings be prepared for a bit of sticker shock, my last pair was over $400. Compared to an eye injury that's nothing, of course.

The best safety glasses are the ones you will wear -- all the time, without fail. While there are obviously hazardous situations that require a lot of protection, eg face shields while turning or grinding, many eye injuries happen due to "freak occurrences" that happen when you are doing things you don't regard as dangerous. Comfortable, high quality eyewear rated for impact that you can and will keep on all the time is the best protection. Don't forget the side shields! You come to ignore them pretty quickly and they increase the protection level quite a bit.

400995

[glenn bradley]

Sorry to hear of your journey. I pretty much avoid bargains in brain surgery, parachutes and eye care. I went the direction with the most coverage I could get. I also wear glasses outside the shop but, these are safety rated frames (designed for frontal impact) and impact resistant lenses.

400999

Not a great fashions statement this side of the 1970's but, comfortable enough that I will suddenly notice I am still wearing them while out at the grocery store :D.

Unfortunately there is a trend toward bargain eye wear just as you can get your teeth straightened through the mail. Do yourself a favor, seek out a well recommended optometrist, get a good exam and a proper pair of specs. Reduced vision in one eye will foul your depth perception and reduce your light intake. Both can cause what would be a minor boo-boo in the living room to become an injury in the shop. Your brain will eventually make up for this pretty well, I speak from experience. Take extra care until things balance out.

[Kevin Jenness]

Like Glenn and Roger I wear specs all the time, safety rated frames with scratch resistant high impact plastic lenses and removable side shields that I get through my optometrist/optician's office.. There's a pretty good variety of frames available. They are expensive, over $400 with photochromic lenses, but well worth it for me. I am not great at remembering to don the side shields, but the fact that I always have them on has saved me untold misery several times. In one incident years ago I dropped a drill with a 1/4" bit chucked up on the floor. The drill bit broke, ricocheted and cracked a lens, but no injury resulted. I have worked with many people whose vision didn't require correction, and most of them wore safety glasses rarely- not a good risk especially if one eye is already compromised.

[Jim Andrew]

You might pay attention to how the frames fit around your nose, my safety glasses close things off pretty well, but my readers do not. I have gotten tiny specks in my eye while wearing my readers.

[Mitchell Garnett]

In my experience many optical companies are no longer providing prescription safety glasses, apparently out of concerns about liability issues. When I purchased my last pair, I found Walmart was the only place I could get them. I admit that If I was willing to drive 50 miles to Seattle I might have had different results.

[Justin Ludwig]

Get your prescription then visit https://www.zennioptical.com/b/goggles

[Nick Decker]

I've tried Zenni and one other online company, although not for protective glasses, and I won't do it again. The low price is, obviously, tempting. The service after the sale was non-existent.

In both cases, I was using my current prescription, a prescription that works great on the glasses from my local eye doc. In both cases, there was distortion that was not seen with my local glasses. In both cases, they said sorry, but we followed the script you sent us.

For me, lesson learned.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

All I wear, all day, every day is a pair of progressive bifocal safety glasses with glass lens. Expensive! This pair cost me $700.

[Art Mann]

I have two pairs of prescription glasses obtained from Zenni Optical and I like both of them. I am accustomed to paying several hundred dollars for glasses but not any more. I can't tell the difference between Zenni and any of several pairs I got at the Ophthalmologist's office.

[Bob Lang]

You can get wrap-around safety glasses with a bifocal reading lens for less than $20. I think the big box stores have them, I order them from Amazon.

Bob Lang

[Greg Hines, MD]

Your optometrist should be able to make you a pair safety glasses that work for your Rx whatever it is.

Doc

[Justin Ludwig]

I've tried Zenni and one other online company, although not for protective glasses, and I won't do it again. The low price is, obviously, tempting. The service after the sale was non-existent.

In both cases, I was using my current prescription, a prescription that works great on the glasses from my local eye doc. In both cases, there was distortion that was not seen with my local glasses. In both cases, they said sorry, but we followed the script you sent us.

For me, lesson learned.

That sucks you had a bad experience. I've used them for 9 years and never had a problem. I buy a couple pair because they are so cheap and pick the one I like best - toss the other. If I bought glasses from my eye doc, I'd spend $150-$250.

For $29, it's worth a try IMO. Otherwise you'll be paying over $300 for prescription goggles. Maybe the OP can look for a low profile pair of glasses that fit under goggles.

[glenn bradley]

That you had a back experience. I've used them for 9 years and never had a problem.

Let's not get confused. Glasses, like shoes or a quality hat, are specific to the wearer. Some folks can wear the most generic work boot with great comfort and long wear. Others need something a little more specific. Foster Grant made a fortune in designing a sun glasses line that would fit most people, most of the time and that's great.

Some people's glasses require a bit of prism or one pupil is significantly higher than the other, we know who we are through experience. The greater degree of variance from the average, the more generic eye wear becomes unsatisfactory. This doesn't make them bad, just inadequate for all situations.

Like anything, if you can get equal service for less money, it is a boon. If you need a little more personal service, we expect to pay for that.

[Lee Schierer]

If you hold your glasses up in front of a polarized light and see blue or purple areas in the lens that is distortion. You can also put on a pair of polarized sunglasses and look at the lens while hold the lens toward a bright window area and see the same thing. If you remove that lens from the frame and the blue and purple areas are gone, the frame is distorting the lens. A good optometrist or optician will do this before you ever see the glasses to make sure the lens is properly mounted.

[Mel Fulks]

Nick, I get my prescription done by a doctor who moved here from California. I'm in VA. The first pair of glasses was not
exactly right,turned out there was a difference in the way they were noted. After a problem she graciously accepted
the East coast model.

[Nick Decker]

I totally agree with what Glenn said about the specialized needs that some people have. My issue was more about the options I had if there was a problem. Zenni must work fine for a lot of people or they wouldn't be in business. My local eye doc will do what's necessary to make things right or he knows HE won't be in business.

Another issue I had was the basic quality of the frames I got online. There's a reason they cost $10 or so, as opposed to $80 - $100. Think Harbor Freight.

[Chris Kennedy]

I have gotten my safety glasses from Safevision. They have a large selection. I prefer wrap around with gaskets compared to side shields. My day work doesn't require safety glasses but i pretty much switch pairs when I walk into my shop.

[Justin Ludwig]

Let's not get confused. Glasses, like shoes or a quality hat, are specific to the wearer. Some folks can wear the most generic work boot with great comfort and long wear. Others need something a little more specific. Foster Grant made a fortune in designing a sun glasses line that would fit most people, most of the time and that's great.

Some people's glasses require a bit of prism or one pupil is significantly higher than the other, we know who we are through experience. The greater degree of variance from the average, the more generic eye wear becomes unsatisfactory. This doesn't make them bad, just inadequate for all situations.

Like anything, if you can get equal service for less money, it is a boon. If you need a little more personal service, we expect to pay for that.

I agree 100%. But the price is worth the try IMO.

[Ronald Blue]

I understand that everyone wants a bargain. However, you only have two eyes and it amazes me that people will take a chance with a cheap pair of safety glasses. Isn't the wrong time to find out that cheap pair isn't as impact resistant as it should be when you actually have that moment of impact? Properly fitting safety glasses with side shields can literally save your eyes. There are times that you need goggles or a faceshield in addition to safety glasses. I'd be all in for trying Zenni or whomever for just street glasses but not when protecting my eyes is the primary objective. Having worn safety glasses for past 40 years I know they can and do work. What is your eyesight worth to you? Just my 2 cents.

[Art Mann]

Zenni sells premium frames that are about as good as any you can get but you have to pay more.

[Lane Hardy]

My suggestion is like many others here, I wore corrective lens for 37 years and I fly airplanes for living, I got to a point that I needed trifocals to have distant and visision at 12 inches over my head to read the over head panel, then 18 inches to see the Instrument panel in front of me.

I opted for lasic surgery (I am not suggesting you do that it is what I did at age 46) that solved all of my problems, Having worn glasses since the elementary school I was use to having something in front of eyes all those years, after the surgery it was great not having obstruction to my vision such as the frames of the glasses. When I was
In the shop I had to get in the habit of wearing safety glasses, real safety glasses not the polycarbonate type that look cool that you can by for $8.00 at the big box store.
I am glad I did have real safety glasses, I was doing something stupid with the table saw cutting a 4 inch log, and forgot to put in the riving knife, I should have been using a band saw but I did not have one. I also should have been using a miter sled, but I was not. I got a kick back and that wet hickory Chung of wood hit me square between the eyes and on the nose.
I saw stunned, and in a daze. The first thing I did was stop the saw then After regaining my assessment abilityies, I reached for my nose to expect a bloody gooey mess. To my relief no blood, no real visual trauma. My nose was acheing pretty bad. I called for my wife we placed a bag of frozen peas’s on face, that kept the swelling down.

i sat in a chair and just reflected on what had happened, and how lucky I was.
A few minutes latter I went to the shop to look at my safety glasses, the glasses had obsorbed at lot of impact and spread the energy to the bridge of my nose. Looking at glasses I saw smudge mark that was about 1/4 in diameter inline with my right eye. Looking at the log it had a stob protruding from the log 1/2 to 3/4 of and inch long. Had I been wearing the cheap safety glasses I could have lost my eye,

So my suggestion is look for proper Safety Glasses I am glad I did.

Lane

[Ellen Benkin]

I have always worn optical safety glasses with side shields. I got them from my optometrist and, frankly, they will last forever. Not pretty, but functional.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I've worn bifocal safety glasses for years. Get them at the optical center in local Walmart. Last pair had those "cute" smaller frames, which look cool, but next pair will have the big frames and lenses. Small lenses let too much stuff get past. Keep a pair of Dollar Store readers in my welding helmet.

[Dave Lehnert]

A few years ago I got a pair of safety glasses at Walmart. They are the wrap around style. I like them a lot and plan to get a new pair soon. I dont think they were much more than $80. Maybe cheaper???