Oakley prescription non-sunglass

[dontlook]

I have a pair of Oakley Flack Jacket prescription sunglasses that I have had for 2 years and love them. No distortion or anything. Now I have purchased 2 different regular prescription glasses, each from a different place, and I have distortion on both pairs. Anything in my peripherals (field of vision) is blurry or out of focus. I even got hi-index thin lenses. My old pair of regular r/x glasses does not have any distortion. To top things, it isn't my prescription because I have a new pair of r/x wrap safety glasses with the new prescription. What is the problem? And will getting Oakley lenses solve it?

PS: my friend just got a pair of Oakleys with Pearl Vision HD lenses and he has the same problem.
Thanks!

 

[oplok]

I had that same problem.. I tried to wear it for almost 4mo and its worst. I stopped it. Its bit expensive having transition lenses.

 

[jdd32]

When you said you bought prescription RX glasses, did you ask specifically for Oakley lenses? Most shops sell you Oakley RX frames but use their own cheap labs to fabricate non-Oakley lenses (eg. Essilor or Nikon). These lenses will provide distortions if they're not done properly or if their lenses weren't made to fit the curvature of your frames. Which RX Oakley frames did you get?

For example, I got Oakley 3113 fitted with Essilor lenses and absolutely hate them due to the amount of chromatic aberrations observed in peripheral vision. So much so I dumped them and went out and bought a pair of whiskers and put Oakley script lenses in it - no distortions whatsoever

 

[Weebs25]

Glad I read this I need to get glasses again and was just looking at all the Oakley frames a few days ago.

 

[jdd32]

There are some really nice lenses out there that imo is better than Oakley's lenses for flat curvature frames (ie. non-high wrap). However unless you know what you're asking for (and can validate the quality), my experience is there are many shops out there who tend to fleece you on cheapest, highest margin lenses from their labs.

My general advice is if you want RX flat curvature Oakley frames, do a bit of research on different lens technologies by different manufacturers. eg. Trivex lenses vs polycarbonate lenses

If you're looking into high-wrap Oakley frames, you're almost always better off getting Oakley RX lenses as most labs can't handle the accuracy of getting high wrap lenses done properly without distortions.

Again I'm speaking from my experience so your mileage may vary.

 

[Holbrook Hannah]

I'm new to Oakley but not to prescription glasses Why do high wrap lenses have distortion problems? I thought it was my eyes so glad to hear others have the same issue. Just would like to know what causes it.

 

[jdd32]

High wrap glasses have lenses that are relatively curvier than standard prescription glasses (think reading glasses). As such the curvature of the lenses start distorting images the more you move towards peripheral vision on your sides due to the physics of light refraction. If you have a prescription say -1.00, it's only true for flat lenses with slight distortions towards peripheral vision.

For high wrap lenses, the part of a curved lens that's directly in front of your eyes will also be correct but as your eyes move towards peripheral vision, light gets refracted relatively more than a flat lens (due to curvature of the lens) and thus you get relatively more distortions as your normal prescription is relatively more incorrect on these parts of the lenses. Oakley script lenses are all 3D crafted to compensate for these distortions thus you maximize peripheral vision without blur or ghosting. They do the same for plano (non-scripted) sunglasses and thus trademarked their HDO technology. FYI from what I've heard, the distortions are even more real for people who require multi-focal lenses.

There are other labs besides Oakley that does offer 3D sculpting of lenses (aka free-form lenses) but I've not yet tried them. Reason? If I'm spending 80% of cost compared to an Oakley lens, I may as well go all the way and buy the best from Oakley. Furthermore, Oakley labs guarantee less stuff up with the lenses or the fitting to their frames. They also have awesome after sales support. Case in point: I had a pair of script lenses on my wires and they fracture cracked after 2 years. Oakley gladly took them in (depsite out of warranty) and re-issued brand new replacement script lenses that cost a few hundred dollars. Try that on a smaller lab and they'll most likely brush you off and claim you broke them.

 

[Sounddragon]

Interesting stuff to read; I'm in the progress of buying myself a pair of Tinfoils and let the optician fix me some prescription lenses in them. He is a authorised Oakley dealer, so I'm very curious what I'm getting. He looked them up in his system and said it could be done with the (small) correction I need. Dunno if he was looking @ OEM Oakley lenses or lenses from his own lab.

 

[jdd32]

Some intro stuff on Oakley RX: Oakley

There's some nice articles out there on the net that dive into the technicalities a bit. Use your google-fu and you'll find them. I find it amazing at how technically complex it is to correct one's vision perfectly using a pair of lenses - something that people with 20/20 vision take for granted.

He looked them up in his system and said it could be done with the (small) correction I need. Dunno if he was looking @ OEM Oakley lenses or lenses from his own lab.

To tell whether or not you're getting real Oakley scripted lenses vs other brands, simply look for the Oakley's O symbol etched on the bottom corner of the left lens, similar to the "polarized" etching on non-scripted sunglasses. Some RX lenses have faint Oakley "O" symbol scattered throughout the lens. It's only visible under certain light conditions and you may need a magnifying glass to spot them.

 

[Weebs25]

I would think unless you request real Oakley lenses you will not get them. Just guessing they will make less.