On Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:25:30 +0000, Richard wrote:

My limited experience of buying glasses, having had the same pair for
over 10 years, is that one must hunt the shelves to find a pair that
fits rather than choosing a pair that one likes and having them made to
fit.

Having the frames made to fit with regards lens spacing and arm length is
important to the correct functioning of the glasses. You need to naturally
look through the right part of the lens, even for simple prescriptions let
alone anything vari/bi focal or with astigmatism correction.

Proper fit and frame size is what a proper optician(*) will do but you
can't walk into a proper optician have a sight test wait 30 mins and walk
out with a new pair of glasses... The optician I use fits the frames to my
head properly

(*) There are specific names for "opticians" depending on their
qualifications. They messed with them a number of years back I think the
one you really need is an "ophthalmologist" rather than an "optician" or
"dispensing optician".

--
Cheers
Dave.