Eye Glasses?

Ever see the movie "Somewhere in Time"? The part where he sees the current era coin in his pocket and loses his place in time? That's how I feel when I look in the mirror wearing my male eye glasses. I'm thinking about acquiring a feminine pair or two from an online site. Anyone have experience with this? I do know that I will need a new prescription. I also thought about contacts and I may do both because there are times when contacts become irritable to me.

I also thought about Lasik but I wear bifocals and I don't think that procedure is quite ready for prime time.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Recommendations?

Thanks

Lauren

i depends on what look you want i dont have another feminine pair i tend to just wear my everyday ones they are kind of a unisexish frame anyway. i have thought about too and would also like to know how it worked out.

Lauren,
Last time I went for an eye test , I asked the young male SA if he could do me a deal on a female pair, he hesitated for a moment and then took me to check out the ladies frames, while we were looking he told me of a dressing experience which had to attend a party, it worried him because he enjoyed it more than expected and wanted to try it again. On my collection I gave him some contact numbers and showed him some pictures , he was so grateful to find he wasn't alone and shouldn't feel guilty about how he felt .

My glasses are great he gave me a great deal on a pair of varifocals, along with my two for one deal on my male ones.

I have been wearing almost unisex style glasses for the last few years. Some came from the female section and others from the male. It will be important to try the frames on with your wig or longer hair to get a true idea of how they look. I personally do not care for the more feminine style with the upturned outer frame top, though I do like the mix of colors. A good trick would be when out (if you go out) is to ask to try on other people's glasses to look in a big mirror. That means you need to talk with them first so that you are not a total total stranger. I did that one night and found the style I wear now. It is really hard to tell how they will look in male mode only. Good luck.

PS: Once you have your new prescription there are a few good online sources where you can get prescription glasses for under $100, lens and frames). You just need to know the right frame and temple measurements, which a friendly optometrist may give you even if they vary from frame to frame.

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Originally Posted by XemmaX

i depends on what look you want i dont have another feminine pair i tend to just wear my everyday ones they are kind of a unisexish frame anyway. i have thought about too and would also like to know how it worked out.

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OK, I'll update this thread when all of this is worked out.

Lauren

Hi Teresa!

What an amazing story!!! I should be so lucky.

I love that dress you're wearing! Very flattering.

Lauren

I wear glasses normally, but for most Ellen pictures, I take them off. I posted a picture with them on while dressed last week, but you have to reach 10 posts to see it - I see you have been busy so it won't be long. If you are going about in the real world, then I suggest the feminine pair from online. I am considering trying contacts - I would prefer not to hide my eyes.
Hugs, Ellen

Hi Allie

I would love nothing more than to go out en femme and do this. That is a goal of mine that I'm not quite ready to test. I agree that nothing beats trying them on in person.

Thanks for the info.

Lauren

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Thanks Ellen. I'm looking forward to achieving those 10 posts!! Eyes are so much a part of it and you're right, don't hide them if you can.

Lauren

Lauren, I used to wear glasses. However my eyes changed and now I don't yet my main pair of sun glasses are feminine and never got a comment on them.

About 5 or 6 year ago, I finally got to the point that you are at now with glasses. I know this is based on only one experience, but I would just tell the person where you normally get your glasses what you need. I had a very positive experience with the person who measures and orders glasses with a local optometrist. She's always been very discreet and helpful. She also told me that I'm not the only crossdresser who has ordered female frames too. My guess is that you won't be the first customer with that request either.

Lauren, I wear glasses full time. Tried contacts but couldn't get on with them. My regular glasses are varietals, reactive lenses and we're it not for modern lightweight plastics, would be like jam jar bottoms! But thin lightweight plastics mean that the lenses are frame less, and appear unisex. I do have one femailed frame, pinched from my wife after she had lens replacement surgery. I don't use of line suppliers for my glasses because they cannot make sure that the frame fits properly

Lauren,
I recently got my eyes checked, and bought a new pair of semi-rimless no line bifocals. They set me back almost $350, not including the exam. I liked the glasses, but not the price tag. Geena however, needed a pair that were definitively more feminine. Locally, a female pair was going to cost me $150 +. After looking online, I found a company call EyeBuyDirect, and ordered a girly pair from them (no line, polycarbonate lensesj for under $75. Had my new Geena glasses in about 10 days, and I love them.

Online is one way to go, Lauren, but I'd encourage you to go somewhere where you can try on frames for fit and style. The worst you're going to get is a raised eyebrow. No, really.

Hugs,


Kelly

Thanks Dana. Strange how eyes can do that.

Lauren

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Your comment made me smile a lot Jenny. I live in a metropolitan area and I would be surprised if I were the first crossdresser. I'm tempted to do just that. Perhaps a call in advance to get a reaction and set the stage. Although I would not be dressed I find the thought kind of intriguing.

Lauren

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Hi Kaye

That is a concern I have as well. The glasses do have to fit properly. I really don't mind unisex glasses and I will consider them but my current eye glasses shout "techie nerd" (great for interviews) and that is definitely not the look I want to convey from my feminine side.

Lauren

Hi Geena

Well that is awesome that it worked for you. I'll look into EyeBuyDirect. Nice eye wear is always expensive. My current pair cost about the same as yours.

Thanks

Lauren



Hello Kelly Marie

I'm smiling again because Jenny just made the same suggestion. As I told Jenny I think calling around to get a reaction would be a smart way to go. I'm almost positive that the ladies where I currently get my glasses wouldn't blink. Almost. I'd probably try there first because they provide a quality product. I'm do for an eye exam anyway.

Lauren

Hey Lauren,
I have three pairs of glasses for different looks. All of them came from eyebuydirect and they are all great. For a good fit you need to know exactly your size. Information on how to determine this is available their website. Good luck.

Hi Jeri Ann

Well that's two votes for EyeBuyDirect. I'll definitely look them up.

BTW, I love your look. Is it OK to say that? Lauren

I bought a pair of fem glass from zenni.com online for 92 dollars a couple of years ago love them

Thanks Ronda. I'll look them up.

Lauren

I wear bifocals. I don't necessarily always need them for distance, but when en femme, I have a pair of rimless glasses. They are totally unisex, so no issues.

Thanks Jamie. Yep, I have to do bifocals as well. Rimless are nice.

Lauren

Lauren I forgot to mention that I wear progressives. Without them I can't read a menu so whoever I'm with has to order for me. :-)

LOL. You made me laugh at myself Jeri Ann. I've had that happen to me before so I understand. I've been using progressives for years. Not related but I guess a fun fact about me is that historically, whenever I get new glasses I get two pair. The second pair is the exact same frame and lens but they are sun glasses. I have a mild photo-sensitivity and I find that the transition lenses do not transition fast enough (either way).

Have a great evening :)

Lauren

Attachment 274281Always admired her for her hair and glasses.

I have purchased feminine glasses from the Lenscrafters chain several times. The SAs have varied in their enthusiasm for showing me women's frames, but it worked out each time. I also went a couple of times to a boutique optical shop in the Chicago area that advertises itself as TG-friendly. Superb service and a great selection of fancy designer frames, some very feminine, but the prices were astronomical. I bought one pair of frames there probably ten years ago that I have had re-lensed a few times as my prescription has changed. To be honest, I suspect most independent shops would be equally open to your shopping there -- if for no other reason than they are really hurting for business these days.

My last three pairs of glasses, two of them women's, have come from Zenni Optical, another discount mail order outfit. You have to wait two or three weeks for them and do the final fitting yourself, but I've found the quality to be fine, especially the lenses, which got my difficult progressive prescription closer to "right" than any of the other shops I've used. In other words, I see through them more clearly than any other glasses I've owned. Glasses that used to cost me $350 or so at Lenscrafters were around $70 from Zenni, with better optical quality. I don't see any downside to that! One thing I appreciate about cheap glasses is that I can afford to have different styles and colors to go with different looks, seasons and outfits. I haven't jumped too deeply into that yet, but intend to get a couple more pairs soon.

- Diane

One of the few (only) benefits of aging is that you will likely get cataracts. The benefit in my case is that after surgery I no longer wear glasses, but I do wear Ivanka Trump sunglasses.

My vote is for EyeBuyDirect. I've recently purchased 3 pairs (male distance, female distance and male-ish distance with 80% tint for sunglasses). I just started wearing bifocals (from a local optometrist), but find them annoying when I'm on the computer. I got those three pair for about $90 bucks total with shipping and it was two orders. There is a picture in the beauty section with me wearing my 'Stephanie glasses'. You can also upload a photo to their site and try them on virtually.

Hi Kelly

Mmmmm ... not quite me but she's obviously enjoying herself.

Lauren


Hello Diane

As a male I've had lousy service with Lenscrafters so I'll pass on them. I've been to a few different eye glass providers and some do better than others. At one place the peripheral vision was completely blurry and after 3 attempts to get it right I gave up and went elsewhere.

I'll look into Zenni.

Having multiple pairs is nice and I would like to do that as well, particularly in sun glasses.

Thanks

Lauren

Hi Joanna

Now that is making lemonade from lemons! I'm really happy that you turned that to your advantage.

Lauren

Hi Stephanie

EyeBuyDirect is getting a lot of mention so I will definitely check them out.

I'm still new here and have not attempted to venture to the other forums. I'm not sure if I can even see them yet.

Thanks

Lauren

I permanently wear glasses (nearsighted). While at the optician (as James) I imagined myself-as-Lily's face in the mirror when selecting my glasses, so if both myself-as-James and myself-as-Lily looked good wearing the glasses it was a deal

Now that is a very awesome experience!
:)

If you just want some glasses for appearance sake and don't plan to drive while wearing them, just go to you local store and buy a cheap pair of "readers". I go to Walgreen's or Rite Aid and try the feminine looking frames until I find one that fits. When I need to I use my corrective lenses but for most occasions they are unnecessary.

I only use reading glasses, and I have several pairs of male-styled ones, but also two pairs of female-styled ones, that I use when dressing.

I wear reading glasses and have pairs for both genders.

I often wear my female ones and no one notices.

They are not outlandish feminine anyway.

I have a couple of pairs of dollar store glasses which, at best, are unisex (when I have been out dressed I never get around to trying on a pair with wig and make-up).
Those dollar store glasses I wear most of the time (even driving) except when I get down to reading something (books, menus, etc.)
Don't be afraid to buy a pair.

Hi Lauren:hugs:, I wear readers and I have a few pairs of the women's style frames less than $10.00 a pair...:daydreaming:...

I had a fresh prescription from my local optometrist from buying male glasses, and went online to Bonlook, which had a pair of big cat-eye frames I really wanted.

I sent them the prescription and the order, but they needed additional information.

Pupillary distance (PD) doesn't appear on most prescriptions.

But Bonlook had a scheme to get the measurement: you send a photo of your face holding a credit-card at a certain place on your nose, and looking straight into the camera (there is a detailed instruction) and they use the standard size of a credit card to work out your pupillary distance.

Once I dressed up, and put on my best makeup only to put a credit card on my nose and send them pics, the glasses arrived in a week or two and I love them. They are perfect! About $120 for everything, not including my eye exam, which I already had done earlier. My day job pays for my male glasses, because the nature of my work requires constant safety lenses on the job, so I only pay for the exam anyway.

The last time that I got new glasses I went en femme and had the woman assisting me help me to choose a pair of women's glasses. Then I asked her to help me pick a pair of uni-sex glasses that I wear when presenting as a male. I think that the women's style glasses really help my feminine presentation.

I have several pairs from Zenni. I will never set foot in an optical store again. 2 weeks to my door. Last time we bought glasses there, my wife and I got 14 pairs of presciption glasses for 237 dollars. Not bad.

I would definitely recommend you to buy your feminine glasses! A couple years ago I ordered my female glasses online, and I'm glad I did. My female glasses probably is the main feminizing item for my face. I just used the the same prescription I got with my male glasses.

When we're on the subjekt, I'm not really a fan of the trend right now with woman using that 80's pilot style glasses. That is just another item woman are using "male apparel" When will we se the trend go the other way?Attachment 274360

I'm one of the lucky few whose eyes got better as I got older. At 19 I found my eyes were getting weaker; when checked, I needed a -0.75 correction for distance. That eventually went to -1.5 over the years, I struggled to read the 20/50 line on the eye chart. At about 50, I started noticing that my eyes hurt after wearing glasses early in the day. Rechecking my vision with an eye chart, I was 20/25 without glasses, and could even read most of the 20/20 line. And I could still read just fine without reading glasses. Going to the ophthalmologist, my vision was back, the prescription had gone to -0.5, at worst. ???
I never heard of people's vision getting better as they aged. Yet, there it was. I could see quite fine without my glasses. What I also found, was that as I got tired, my vision got worse. After working a double shift, I needed my glasses again if I tried to drive at night, and while I could still read, my eyes would hurt after a while. But if I purchased the cheapest +1.0 readers, I got a headache; so, I was a trombone reader now. Yet, I got headaches if I wore the glasses when I woke up in the morning.
Weird.

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Originally Posted by Wen4cd

Pupillary distance (PD) doesn't appear on most prescriptions.

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That's because the glass maker does the measuring.
+1 for Zennioptical.
Inexpensive, so much so that we can afford girl frames AND guy frames. I have several of each.

Add another vote for Zenni optical , I get my male glasses every year from my optometrist, then ask for the prescription so I can order my girl glasses on line, there site allows you to take a selfie, and see how you look with every pair they sell.

got a pair of progressives for about 60 dollars

I've used GlassesDirect, and the service is very good.
The advantage of buying online is that there is no face-to-face contact with anybody.
However, they do call you on the phone if you order bifocals or varifocals, especially if you've never had them before.

I'm really fortunate in that my wife's prescription is almost the same as mine, and she has loads of old pairs in a drawer, that she will never wear again. So I use those when I go out. Most of the most recent ones are quite unisex, but the older ones are most definitely for women.

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Originally Posted by Wen4cd

Pupillary distance (PD) doesn't appear on most prescriptions.

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I take a photo of myself holding a ruler over my eyes.

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Christine, you look totally convincing. I am so envious!

I used to wear contacts, but they would irritate early on, due to tiny particles of eye shadow powder getting under them, no matter how careful I was. So, I bought fem glasses from 39 Dollar Glasses.com. No questions were asked. Eyebuy Direct is also good. You need to know your prescription. The PD they ask for stands for "Pupillary Distance", which is simply the distance between your pupils, so the lens will be directly in front of your pupils. They have a small chart for you to figure it out. The guy in the white coat gets $100 or more to hold that little ruler across your eyes. That's what he is doing. The fem glasses are just one more small detail to make you look more fem, and disguise your face a little. I never bother with the contacts anymore.

Goodness, I love you all. Thank you so much for all the suggestions and stories. I'm envious of many. I will update the thread with the resolution when that happens but please keep adding to it.

Lauren

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Amazing Christine. Those glasses are perfect for your look.

No, I'm not looking for what we call "aviator" glasses. I use to wear them as a younger male but that was then (the 80's!) and this is now. I'm kind of like you in that I want something that says feminine more so than unisex. Who knows, it may have the same effect for me. I won't know until I try.

Thanks

Lauren

Attachment 274362
Here is me in my "Stephanie glasses" :)

I am an eye glass wearer.
I don't know if you gals realize it but, most male and female frames are more or less the same now .
In fact, some are now even marketed as "unisex".
I guess the days of overtly feminine frames are over.

Just today on the news, I saw some news commentators........ one male was wearing red framed glasses and a female was wearing those black "Buddy Holly' glasses

BTW......
I don't know if a link is allowed but..... this is a real "eye opener"..... pun intended .
http://www.alternet.org/story/148024...e_alternatives

I'm just in the process of replacing my glasses, and I've been struggling with both the choice of frames and price.

Have you found a type of frame that accentuates your femininity? I notice a lot trans women online go with the very large, dramatic, wider-wider-than-your-face thick frames. Perhaps it's something about making the face seem visually smaller? Every time I try them myself, all I can say is "wow, this makes my jaw look so large!" After trying on a lot of pairs, I actually find that rimless ones are nice on me, but I heard that this is a style typically worn by men. :(

I really want to buy online because of the price. Question for all the online shoppers: how do these websites ensure a good fit? Not just proper focusing of the lenses, but head fit? I find some women's frames pretty snug on my temples. My prescription does not list pupillary distance, btw.

Have any of you bought progressive, lady's tri-focals on line? If yes, which company? What style number? Satisfied? Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Jesse Six

I'm just in the process of replacing my glasses, and I've been struggling with both the choice of frames and price.

Have you found a type of frame that accentuates your femininity? I notice a lot trans women online go with the very large, dramatic, wider-wider-than-your-face thick frames. Perhaps it's something about making the face seem visually smaller? Every time I try them myself, all I can say is "wow, this makes my jaw look so large!" After trying on a lot of pairs, I actually find that rimless ones are nice on me, but I heard that this is a style typically worn by men. :(

I really want to buy online because of the price. Question for all the online shoppers: how do these websites ensure a good fit? Not just proper focusing of the lenses, but head fit? I find some women's frames pretty snug on my temples. My prescription does not list pupillary distance, btw.

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I picked the biggest frames on the site, they can really change your face. But still, they look small on me. These would be huge on someone of normal size, but I push 6'8" in heels, so they look normal, I couldn't have really went with anything smaller.

The site I shopped at had detailed measurements for every frame they sold and other methods of sorting by size. I think they even would mail you five sets of 'tester frames' as a time so you could try them on at home

Attachment 274397

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jesse Six

I really want to buy online because of the price. Question for all the online shoppers: how do these websites ensure a good fit? Not just proper focusing of the lenses, but head fit? I find some women's frames pretty snug on my temples. My prescription does not list pupillary distance, btw.

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Ive bought some several pair online. I don't know how other sites handle it, but EyeBuyDirect will let you return a pair if you arent satisfied. What I also did was get one of those small, retractable measuring tapes from a dollar store (also useful for measuring bra size and female waist btw). I then measured the dimensions of my old pair so that I had a base measurements. When looking at glasses I could then compare those to what I currently had. As for PD, I used the same tape measure and using a mirror, measured my PD. I did this prior to getting a new pair from a brick and mortar store and took a peek at my records and was spot on. Most sites will also let you upload a photo so that you can virtually try them on.
Side note, when shopping for female glassrs, I tend to gravitate towards the bigger, rectangular ones. I have a rather wide face (frames are >130 mm and my PD is 72 which is higher than normal) so the bigger frames tend to make the face look smaller in my opinion. Hope this helps!

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I really want to buy online because of the price. Question for all the online shoppers: how do these websites ensure a good fit? Not just proper focusing of the lenses, but head fit? I find some women's frames pretty snug on my temples. My prescription does not list pupillary distance, btw

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"pupillary distance" is just the distance between the centers of your two pupils. You can measure this your self..

BTW, "Eye Buy Direct" makes all this very clear.. making buying glasses on line easy .... and you can even try them on "virtually" by uploading a pic of yourself. :)

Fitting glasses is pretty simple. The ear pieces are all bendable, along with the nose pieces. The mainframe of fem glasses does seem to be a bit narrower, due to womens faces being a bit smaller then mens.