If you are wondering could the prescription glasses you wear make you troubles in airsoft then you should know that there are solutions to your problem. Prescription glasses are important to you and you probably depend on them so that means that you may have some minor difficulties with some eye protection that players without glasses wear, but this does not affect you much. I will explain you what to do to solve any problem related to this because any problem that may occur related to this is solvable. There are many players on the fields all over the world who wear glasses and yet play airsoft.
If you wear prescription glasses you have two options, one is to get prescription inserts and solve all problems and the other is to find goggles and masks that will fit the frame of your glasses. In short, there is an expensive option with prescription inserts and cheap one with fitting goggles or masks.
Now, before I mention the solutions I shall inform you that switching to lenses may be a smart choice for you if you find that the glasses annoy you too often in life. I know people who swapped their glasses for lens and have not regret it so far, however if you do not like poking yourself in the eyes every day for multiple times I understand.
I will mention the cheap and effective alternatives first.
Wear OTG (over the glasses) goggles
This is the most common way how people who wear glasses deal with this problem, the idea is that you just find frame-fitting goggles and put them on your face while keeping the glasses on their place without adjusting anything. If you manage to find the goggles that allow you to do this and they do not bend the glasses at all, then you will have simple and great time. Not goggles nor glasses will fog more than they would fog otherwise, so the additional fogging will not be a problem.
It is of your personal preference whether you will like this or will find some other method that will suit you better.
Not all goggles on the market are made to fit the glasses users, this means that you will have to make more research when buying goggles and check twice whether the frame of your glasses will fit inside the frame of goggles.
I have made a research to find such goggles that will fit the frame of glasses and I will share it with you, however still check twice because some people wear unusually wide frame.
The following models have shown to fit most glasses frames and players reviewed them accordingly.
- Arena FlakJak goggles
- Save Phace Recon goggles
- ESS Land Ops goggles
There are more models that will fit you, but the mentioned models are the ones that I have found to be positively reviewed and I have actually seen people who wear prescription glasses putting these goggles on their head without experiencing any difficulties.
Wear full face masks
This is the second effective and cheap option that will also provide you with additional protection because full face masks cover your entire head while goggles only protect the area around your eyes.
I have found that face masks have pretty wide frames on their own and often look robust, this is a good sign because it means that you will have easy time fitting the mask on your head while wearing prescription glasses.
Full face masks like ones that paintball players wear are also a great pick for airsoft games. If you really care about protection than you should consider them.
However, if you play on hot days and on the sun, some people may experience that the sweating bothers them and this can also be followed by increased fogging. Playing indoors often eliminates this problem and if you experience any fogging outdoors there are ways to solve it as well.
Sometimes wearing a full face mask may bother your aiming if you use scopes on some guns but it is rarely a case that bothers players.
I prefer the alternative that includes goggles for eye protection and lower mesh mask.
Some of proven-to-work face masks that will fit the frame of glasses are:
- Dye i4 Face Mask
- Dye i3 Face Mask
- Sly Profit Paintball Mask
The mentioned masks are also positively reviewed by players who wear prescription glasses and I have seen them fitting these masks on their face while wearing prescription glasses.
Get prescription inserts
This is the expensive but satisfying way to solve the mentioned problem, soldiers wear glasses too and this is exactly what the military sends them to do. You do not have to be in military to get yourself prescription inserts but you will have to cash out for the inserts a quite sum of money. I have not wondered through this too much but as I have seen the prices start at $90 for high rated models.
This is something that I would recommend you to do if you think that you will use glasses/goggles with such inserts often in life. Some people need eye protection for work or for hobbies they often do, and this is a smart option for them because it makes it easy and often the glasses/goggles that you put the inserts into last for a very long time, so this is seen as sort of an investment.
Having an eye protection that is built specially for you must be expensive but I think it is justified, whether you want it or not is up to you, as a beginner in airsoft you certainly do not need these.
This is how it works: You need two prescription lenses that will fit into the insert within the goggle canopy.
The ones that soldiers use are Wiley X SG-1s and I must say that I like the design and principle.
The biggest advantage of this is that you will not have to worry about any possible problem with itching or pressure that may be caused by goggles or masks pressuring the sides of frame of your prescription glasses.
How to stop the fogging?
No matters what you choose to go with, all airsoft eye protection goggles and masks fog from time to time, it is just a matter of time and weather conditions. This is not supposed to bother you unless it happens from the very moment you put the mask or goggles on. If you play for hours it is not a big deal to experience some fogging, however minimizing fogging is always a recommendation.
You can minimize or completely remove fogging by applying some anti-fog techniques and devices, I have written a guide on this topic and if you want to know more about how to deal with fogging you can find my guide here.
Conclusion
There you have it, you can choose between different goggles, masks and inserts. The most important thing is however, to measure the frame of your prescription glasses and check whether they are compatible with the desired model or not.
I suggest you to invest in something that will last you a long time because once you find something that fits you better do not lose it. If you think that you may need eye protection for other things in life beside for playing airsoft, then it is smart to contact a doctor and tell them more about it, having a special protection glasses with inserts feels good.