It was a pain, but I finally have glasses. This whole story is an object lesson in buying what you like when you find it. I was the last person in my immediate family to be free of four eyes all day, every day. Mom, Dad and Brother have all worn glasses for as long as I can remember. My mom has worn glasses since she could crawl. I wore reading glasses starting in high school but they were optional, my eyes got tired if I didn’t wear them and I didn’t usually out them on.
I knew before I got sick that I probably needed to wear glasses full time. BUT while I was out of commission, I developed a fatty deposit on my retina which made it really hard to see, let alone read. I had to wait for it to go away before I get my eyes checked again. Good news is the deposit is almost entirely gone now and I was able to read again after a few weeks. The first eye test after getting well resulted in the doctor telling me, “You could get glasses, but you don’t have to.” Hooray!!
Or not… I let it go another year. My test last year showed I had to get a new pair of glasses to wear all the time. I didn’t want to wear glasses….
I went on a quest for the PERFECT pair to stick on my face, every day. It took me another year to find and purchase glasses.
Searching for Glasses
I know, I know. I was being picky. My requirements were:
- Light weight
- Black or dark grey
- Thin or rimless
- Not overwhelming or huge
- Not overly “branded”
- Preferably, made in a country with fair labor practices
It was tough. I gave myself some tough requirements, but I knew from wearing reading glasses for years that I didn’t like a lot of glasses. The glasses had to be AWESOME or I wouldn’t keep them on my face.
I searched high and low in LA and every city I went to. My optometrist carries the brand that I eventually bought and used to carry the brand that was my first pick. I found a pair I liked on my 2018 trip to Tokyo – they are made by IC Berlin. They were perfect! Extremely light, black, and not gigantic. I thought it was impractical to order them in Japan, so took some pictures and went home.
On my return to LA, I visited every store listed on the IC Berlin site at the time. No one carried them. My optometrist carried them but not anymore. They had a different, but similar, brand – Mykita. I kept trying but several places said the same thing, “We used to have IC Berlin but they were really had to work with so we changed to Mykita.”
Winning Glasses
After a few months of looking, I finally searched the internet for Mykita. The styles were nice, looked simple and light. Like IC Berlin, they had a unique hinge/spring feature on the arms. They are made with modern materials and made in Germany.
As it happens, they have a store in Los Angeles. I went in and found some glasses I genuinely liked. I took the names and style numbers down and went to see the cherry blossoms. When I got back to LA, I went to the Mykita store with Husband to make my final selection. I picked the glasses above but they were discontinued….
Lucky for me, my optometrist was able to get hold of one of the last pairs so I didn’t have to start my quest again. I now know that I needed the glasses more than I thought. I get headaches if I don’t wear them but it has taken some adjustment.
Mykita sells sunglass lens for their glasses too! I had some goofy around while at their store.
Do you wear glasses? What do you like about them?