Eye Discomfort with New Sunglasses (non RX)

[jstluise]

Hello everyone

Hopefully someone can shed some light on my situation. I recently purchased a pair of non-polarized, category 4 (dark...~5-8%) sunglasses for mountaineering (http://www.julbousa.com/mountain/nomad). When I put them on inside the house, my eyes hurt (felt strained?) within a few minutes. Weird! I thought maybe because I was in low light conditions, but even then I didn't see how. Well, I got to try them out last weekend on a bright sunny day on snow. Needless to say, even after 2+hrs I still felt discomfort. had to stop halfway through the trip and switch to my regular sunglasses (oakley polarized cat3)...my eyes felt better the rest of the trip.

I've never experienced this problem before with any pair of sunglasses. The only difference with these new ones that they aren't polarized and they are darker (i've only had cat3 before this). But I don't see how this could make a difference. It's not like the lenses change anything about my vision. Everything looks clear and normal, just darker. I would expect my eyes to hurt if the lenses caused noticeable distortion of something.

I emailed the company to see if they had heard of this problem with this certain pair of sunglasses and they hadn't. This is their most popular pair of sunglasses and no where have I read reviews of people experiencing problems like this. They are sending me new lenses just to make sure there aren't defects in the lens. I doubt there are any defects...

Well now, since that weekend, my eyes still kind of hurt...while wearing my regular sunglasses and without them.  The discomfort is coming from behind the eye.  I don't know if its from wearing those glasses last weekend, but its been a week and still I feel it.

I'm beginning to think there is something wrong with my eyes. I've never experienced this and it seems as though no one else has either. Once the weather started to get better I wore my regular sunglasses (before I ordered my new ones) and I didn't notice anything at all...all felt normal. Everything changed when I introduced those new glasses. I haven't noticed anything changing with my regular vision either (I don't were prescription glasses either fyi).

Sorry for the lengthy message but has anyone experienced/heard of this? Could a problem with my eyes be causing this? If these new lenses don't help I might thing about doing and seeing an eye doctor to see what they think...this shouldn't be happening with regular sunglasses.

Any info or advice would be much appreciated!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[walker211]

Sorry for your troubles but glad to know I`m not crazy. Eye doctors seem to think I am. I have learned that the closer the lense is to the eye the better. The lighter the tint, and also the cleaner the lense. Also the more shaded. I wear a wide brim hat pulled down very low. Still expiermenting. Hemp helps but my line of work does not allow it. Good luck.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

1. It is not possible to damage the eye in an adult by wearing "the wrong RX" by wearing someone else's RX   It may cause eyestrain or even headache but not permanent damage.

2. Many people find that glasses even with no RX in them give them headaches or eye strain (think safetyglasses at work).

3. The problem could be that they don't fit you face and mechanically the frames are causing the problem or the lens may induce some optical abberation that you are sensitive to.

4. I would work on giving the glasses back and getting your money back and move on.

JCH MD