I bought two pairs of prescription progressive glasses from this Sam’s Club Optical at the same time: one regular pair with Transitions lenses and one pair of polarized prescription sunglasses. From the beginning, the sunglasses never felt right. My distance vision seemed okay, but at closer distances things looked distorted or warped. I went back and specifically told them that I thought something about the prescription or lens setup did not match my regular glasses. I was told that the problem was simply because the lenses were polarized and that some people just don’t tolerate polarized lenses well. I accepted that explanation and, unfortunately, hardly wore an expensive pair of prescription sunglasses for almost two years. Recently I started testing them more carefully. When I look at something close, such as my phone, with both eyes open the screen appears slightly concave or warped. The instant I close either eye, the distortion disappears. My regular progressive glasses do not do this. The sunglass frames are also intentionally a fairly flat, traditional style similar in size and shape to my regular glasses, so this is not an unusually curved sport-sunglass frame. I’m not an optician, so I’m not going to claim exactly what is wrong with the lenses. But binocular distortion that disappears when either eye is covered deserves more investigation than simply being told, “That’s because they’re polarized.” What frustrates me most is that I raised the concern right after buying them and trusted the explanation I was given. Had someone carefully compared the two pairs, checked the prescription, progressive fitting heights, PD, lens centration, prism, cylinder/axis, or other fitting measurements, I might not have spent almost two years believing that I simply couldn’t wear polarized sunglasses. I would strongly recommend that anyone buying progressives here—especially an expensive second pair—make sure they are completely comfortable with them before the remake or warranty period expires, and insist that the lenses be carefully checked if something does not feel right.
