Safety for glasses wearers

M

MarcoG

Inactive
So I've been pretty cavalier about eye safety both when working in my little wood shop and on the firing range. Having had a near miss or two in my days, I've started being more safety concious.

The problem is I wear prescription glasses and so far the only thing I could do was wearing standard safety goggles over them. Long story short, all of the ones I've tried were uncomfortable to the point of being considered torture or hamper visibility to the point of feeling like I'm drunk. Or worse yet, a mix of the two.

So is there any alternative to buying prescription safety glasses, because boy, are those prohibitively expensive...
 
Check out industrial safety companies. They sell full on prescription safety glasses for way less than you might think.
 
Polycarbonate lenses in your glasses

Polycarbonate lenses in your glasses is all you need.
For over 20 years my daily wear glasses have been polycarbonate. They cost a little more than glass but ARE safety glasses, because they are polycarbonate. They are lighter than glass and will not shatter.
 
I agree with the polycarbonate lenses in your everyday prescription glasses. I've had mine for years and had no problems with safety. While I usually wear a face shield when working with power tools, it is not always possible and my normal poly lenses have served me well. They show a few marks from pieces off the grinder, chips off the air-cutter and what not.
 
The short-coming of prescription lenses, be them polycarbonate, is that they are too small to provide adequate coverage. I always wear safety glasses over the lenses. If you are specific in your search, you will easily find the ones that are specially designed to be worn over prescription lenses. They may be a bit more expensive, but not much.

-TL
 
I found some over glasses safety glasses at Home Depot. About $15. My prescription glasses are too easily scratched. At $800 a pair, I'll protect them and gain some additional coverage.
 
So is there any alternative to buying prescription safety glasses, because boy, are those prohibitively expensive...
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Not always. These guys have a limited selection, but they're cheap. You just need to get your prescription numbers from your eye doctor.

I get weird reflections if I wear goggles over my glasses.
 
I always shoot against soft berms so have no real need for extra safety beyond my daily glasses. Sure there is a chance that something obscure could happen, but I feel the odds are vastly in my favor.
 
I always shoot against soft berms so have no real need for extra safety beyond my daily glasses. Sure there is a chance that something obscure could happen, but I feel the odds are vastly in my favor.
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The shooting backstop material should not dictate the level of safety glasses used. When shooting their are plenty of things that can impose risk of eye damage completely independent of the backstop.
 
Prescription glasses that are not made of glass offer good protection for direct impacts from the front. The side is another issue. I wear the fit over top sunglasses which you can get in yellow and various tints, and they offer protection from the sides. Take a look at Sun Glass Rage's web site. I also picked up a pair of polarized yellow ones that I sometimes wear at night to cut down glare. Cocoons seem to be pretty good, but more expensive.
 
Captains1911 said:
The shooting backstop material should not dictate the level of safety glasses used. When shooting their are plenty of things that can impose risk of eye damage completely independent of the backstop.
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Cops don't wear safety glasses on duty. Sure my chances of a one in million event occurring and making it past my regular glasses is higher than with safety glasses but I am confident in my chances against murphy. When I go to the range I ask if regular glasses are enough and they always tell me yes. They never ask if they are poly or glass. So the place that sees exponentially more glass wearers of all different experience levels feels the risk is low enough, and apparently their insurer agrees, I think I can feel pretty confident. Sure I could be overly cautious , but if I was going to do that, would I really risk going to shoot a gun in the first place? Besides a direct ricochet what would you say are the dangers? Unless you are wearing goggles the slight wrap around safety glasses offer very little extra protection after the direct impact which is negated by a soft backstop.
 
I found some over glasses safety glasses at Home Depot. About $15. My prescription glasses are too easily scratched. At $800 a pair, I'll protect them and gain some additional coverage.
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Same. Mine are a little odd to wear at first, but after 5 minutes I forget I'm wearing them.
 
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