In comparison the glasses I have even with the most advanced glass is extremely thick and only a small area doesn't cause color shifting.
Small, and round. Both will make the highest prescriptions very thin since the flaring out of the lens doesn't happen. Most of the mainstream optometrists don't specialize in frames like these.
Lenses are also available in 1.7+ high index in plastic lenses or even higher if you don't mind glass. Glass lenses while brittle at high index, can be additionally hardened as well.
It's helpful to find a frame manufacturer that can hide higher prescriptions in the thickness of the frame.
Companies like OGI, Anne Et Valentin have suitable frames for high prescriptions, which include adjustable nosepads to get the lenses right, and also a hybrid frame where the lenses might be wrapped in a combination of metal and plastic.
At least one of the manufacturers above have such an option iirc
Edit: Answer here, by the looks of it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41237519
As a longtime user of toric contacts, I have tried a dozen brands and every single one has the exact same mark. The shape will keep them from moving out of orientation, but it isn't enough to put them back into orientation if put in wrong, at least not quickly.
Care to share exactly what contacts you are using? Do you have astigmatism in one or both eyes? If it is toric and for astigmatism it will say so on the box- many people have it in only one eye, so the boxes will be different, and only one will say toric.
If you really are using toric contacts, but not aligning the mark, I am willing to bet you will be able to find the mark, align it properly, and your vision will be remarkably better.
Edit: One reason you absolutely need the mark is because the optometrist also needs to be able to tell if they are staying in orientation like they're supposed to, by visually checking the alignment mark. It needs to point straight upwards (vertical). If not, they can prescribe you one that is made pre-rotated to compensate.
I have never previously thought about this in terms of rotation (as I was not even aware that the contact lenses were asymmetrical), but I do normally have to blink a few times after inserting the contact lens before I have sharp vision. But in my experience it takes a few seconds for this to happen and does not depend on inserting the lens at any particular orientation.
I have glasses too, so I would notice if the contact lenses were giving me significantly worse vision!
The brand is '1 Day Acuvue Moist for Astigmatism'.
A lot of times your local distributor doesn't carry many of the astigmatic lenses because they can sit on the shelf for a while (it can 100x the available combinations) so they special order. I doubt they're specially manufactured per order for soft lenses.
One brand: https://synergeyes.com/consumer/duette/duette-cl/
Or just hard lenses. My first were hard and in retrospect, they were less comfortable, but I had nothing to compare them to so I was more than happy with them. That was quite some time ago, but it was my understanding that hard lenses worked better with astigmatism.
A new doctor said I was on the edge between soft and hard and suggested I trial soft. It felt like wearing nothing. I did sorta notice they would blur on and off at times, but I opted for them and wore them for several years. Then he suggested the hybrid one for one eye and that's what I've been with.
Wherever it was that they wanted to settle (assuming they were ever planning to settle) left everything out of focus.
Eventually I got tired of poking myself in the eye all the time and gave them back.
But for sport use it's fine. For every day use I use glasses and it's perfect. Except of course for the inconvenience of wearing them!
Do you think RGP could be worth trying out for me ?
My understanding is that even non-toric RGP lenses can correct some degree of astigmatism.
Once thing that you can do with contacts is so-called Monovision [0], where one lens is slightly under-corrected and your brain figures out which to use. I'll put on reading glasses for close detail work but otherwise go from driving to working at a computer without any focus troubles.
[0] https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/monovision
This is correct. Both of my eyes have astigmatism, but in differing amounts. One eye is corrected with a non-toric RGP while the other requires a toric RGP. The line is around a 1.75/2.00.
The nice thing is that they last pretty much forever and care is pretty easy. Just clean them daily and soak them overnight in disinfectant/conditioning fluid.
I wouldn't wear them for sport though because they're quite expensive and they come out easily (they're very small). There's some slim chance they could damage your eye because the material is hard.
Honestly, your setup sounds pretty much ideal. If you're not into the idea of LASIK or PRK or even ICL then I would stick with what you have – glasses plus lenses for sport. Saves you the trouble of switching contacts and reduces your chance of infection or eye troubles wearing and switching lenses all the time.
It would be really nice to have 20:20 vision without contacts or glasses but some of the stuff I've heard (extreme dry eye feeling, distortions, glare/dazzling at night) just don't sound worth it.
If you lost your glasses, would you be able to walk around? I was -6.5 and 3.5 astigmatism and I was stuck if I lost my glasses. Had to carry contact lens boxes and solution with me. Post-LASIK I'm something like +0.5.
I get halos if I look directly at overhead street lights at night, that's about it. It's underwhelming as a side-effect. I don't stare at street lights at night very often!
How do you do with oncoming headlights while driving at night?
(I'm close to the age where my mom and sister had to start wearing glasses.)
I was 30 years old and wore -4.0 lenses.
Yes, sometimes I get dry eyes, but it is such a minor thing that I don’t even notice it, and it can be alleviated entirely by just using eyedrops twice a day. If I could go back in time and reconsider my decision, I would still go with it 10 times out of 10, not even a question.
Expect some discomfort afterwards for a day or two. Then expect painfully dry eyes in the morning for a month or three and a bit of light sensitivity. After that it's all roses