Are Meg's as effective as onion goggles?

[borgy1769]

Hello all

I just had a quick question regarding glasses. I have onion goggles and they work great, but as you know it's hard to wear them out in public and have people take you seriously. I was wondering, before I invested $250 in MEG's, if they are as effective as onion goggles, or at least similar to the same amount of eye coverage? Any feedback will be highly appreciated. Thanks

Eric

[RobLIC]

I am really grappling with this issue right now, the whole "what to do in public" thing. Seems to me there are three realistic options: MEGs, custom made moisture chambers with plastic side shields and something like the 7Eye "Cape" model, with a photochromatic lens.

Pluses/minuses
MEGs: Nice looking, but only one style of frame and not a particularly tight seal against the eye
Custom made moisture chambers: Tough to find a men's frame with a thick enough temple to conceal the shields. Specialists who will manufacture them prefer the frame to be somewhat roundish, because it's easier to manipulate the plastic that way. But not everyone wants to look like John Lennon.
7Eyes: Great seal, great looking, but the frames are so thick that when the lens goes clear in the photochromatic type, it creates a goggle effect.

I miss anything?

[Guest]

Pluses/minuses
MEGs: Nice looking, but only one style of frame and not a particularly tight seal against the eye
Custom made moisture chambers: Tough to find a men's frame with a thick enough temple to conceal the shields. Specialists who will manufacture them prefer the frame to be somewhat roundish, because it's easier to manipulate the plastic that way. But not everyone wants to look like John Lennon.
7Eyes: Great seal, great looking, but the frames are so thick that when the lens goes clear in the photochromatic type, it creates a goggle effect.

I miss anything?

Nope... think you summed it up pretty well!

The only thing I would dispute is the round frame thing with the custom moisture chambers... my frames are rectangular, and they worked out great as moisture chambers... so if your optician insists on a round frame, then try to talk him into trying a rectangular frame - it can be done, and turns out great!

Also, a story about my custom moisture chambers:
I was working in a rather small store the other day...maybe a 8' x 16' work area only... there was me and one coworker... after a few hours, I asked her if she noticed anything weird about my glasses (I was just curious... thought why not ask?)... turns out, even after working in very close quarters with me all that time, she noticed nothing unusual about my glasses... when I took them off to show her the side shield part of it, she was amazed that she hadn't noticed a thing!

[borgy1769]

Thanks

I really appreciate your feedback. Could either one of you post a picture of what you are talking about? Maybe a picture with the glasses themselves and then with them on? Just wanted to see the difference in appearance between what you are talking about and the MEG's. Either way thanks again for your feedback.

Eric

[Guest]

I have pics of mine posted on my dryeyezone blog.

Just click on the blog link in the upper right corner of my posts and you'll see my blog posts...

[Susie28]

Wow your goggles look great!! I'm totally enthusiastic!
How much have you paid for these?
I'm quite displeased with my MEGS for 2 reasons:
1. they look awful because they don't fit in my face (they much too large for me)
2. they don't protect me eyes enough in air conditioned rooms
But your goggles are wonderful. I think they can't be called "goggles", these are very nice glasses with an unremarkable side shield
How did you find an optician for the customization?
I want these beautiful glasses for me, too!!! Now I hate my MEGs

[Guest]

How did you find an optician for the customization?

I just walked into a local Lenscrafters in a local mall... described to the optician what I wanted... he had never heard of such a thing, but said there was this one guy in the city who was into doing really unusual stuff... he said if anyone could make these, it would be him. Sure enough, this ended up being the guy who made them for me!

I kind of lucked out I suppose.

If you do a search on the forums for "custom moisture chamber glasses winnipeg" you'll see my thread all about it... also included are directions on what is needed to make them. Any optician should be able to make these, as long as they have a lab on site where they could grind the lenses down to make room for the side shields. The trick would be in finding one who thinks it's an interesting enough project to give it a try!

Good luck!

[borgy1769]

Thanks for the response. Yeah, those glasses look pretty good. Might have to try to go for that route. Also, I noticed there is a doctor in Fort Lauderdale (30 minutes from me) who specializes in dry eye therapy. Paul Gilwit is his name. I can't find any other info on him other than one sentence on this site. I might give him a shot to see if he can express my meibomian glands which he claims he is able to do. I wish somebody on this site had been to him before...Maybe I just need to pave the way.

[Susie28]

SAAG, thank's a lot for the information. That's great.
Hope I'll find a good optician in Germany, too.
Would you also say that the custom moisture chambers are more effective than the MEGs? For me, the MEGs don't do a very good job, especially in air conditioned rooms....

[Guest]

Yes, they are definitely better than MEG's if the MEG's don't fit to your face perfectly.

My MEG's fit ok, but still left a fair bit of gaps... my custom ones on the other hand have a lot less space between the shields and my face, so perform much better for me.

[Susie28]

That's so good to hear SAAG! I'm very happy for you