Glass Eyeglasses

These are my eyeglasses.

I need to get a new set of glasses.  The lenses on these are very badly scratched and, to add to it, I haven't been to the eye doctor for quite awhile.  I'm going soon.  I know that my correction has changed and, given as my lenses are so badly scratched, I need to get a new set of lenses anyhow.

The frames for these glasses are Bausch and Lomb rimless frames.  This particular set of frames probably dates from the 1950s.  They could be a bit older.  I really like this type of frame, of which I have several, as they're nice and light, and the lens is not very large.  When I started wearing eyeglasses, in junior high, it seemed that all the frames were enormous at the time, and it always bothered me.  I was afflicted with that type of lens, with periodic attempts to wear contact lenses, for many years.  It wasn't until I happened upon the idea of pressing my father's old frames into use that I finally found a type of frame I liked.  I was in law school at thee time.

These frames are also "temple frames".  I don't know the origin of the name, but temple frame glasses feature the hook type ear piece, which I also really like. Temple frames were originally designed for horsemen, as the glasses that featured them would not come accidentally, or at least were less likely too.  In my experience, this is absolutely correct.  I've come off horses wearing glasses, but I've never had the glasses come off.

Now, I'm afraid, I'm faced with a dilemma.  When I first started wearing glasses of this type, you could still get them made with real glass.  This is no longer true.  All rimless frames feature plastic lenses now due to safety concerns.  I don't know that there were really very many tragic accidents attributable to glass lenses in this type of frame, but the lenses will not pass a required test, which features dropping a steel ball on the lens from a certain height.  As glasses of this type either have a notch cut in the lens, or have a hole drilled in the lenses (two of each, actually) they have a built in weakness.  

Indeed, I had thought, some time ago, that you couldn't get real glass lenses at all, but I now believe that's not correct.  You can.  But not in rimless frames.  So my dilemma is whether or not to go with plastic again in these frames, which I really like, or to go with glass in some other frame.  If I did that, frankly, I'd look for an old pair of round wire rim glasses, which have a similar shape and profile, but which aren't quite as classy, in my view.  Or, alternatively, I could get plastic again and also try contact lenses again, thereby putting less wear and tear on the lenses.

Probably all involves a lot more pondering than most people bother with, for their eyeglasses. But then, I've been using these frames for over 20 years,  and they're over 50 years old, which is unusual in and of itself, no doubt.