New eyewear: Ziena Oasis

Isn't this a stunning frame?

Would you believe it is also the best non-goggle Rx-able moisture chamber you can buy?

An aesthetically pleasing moisture chamber has always been a contradiction in terms. Most of us have compromised in some way or another with goggles that rate either somewhat or very high on the dorkiness scale. For prescription glasses wearers, the options are narrower (and usually uglier).

Those who can afford to slide up the scale from goggles have had to get either custom moisture chambers built for their glasses, or Micro-Environment Glasses, both of which are very good, but neither of which you would ever consider if you didn't have dry eye.

So the Ziena has arrived to fill an important niche. And you would hardly believe from the picture that it does fill it - but it does.

The frame has a silicone eyecup which attaches with several tiny little magnets. No foam. The silicone is very, very delicate and as it approaches the face curls under slightly. It forms a nice (not airtight) seal most of the way around. It's extremely comfortable. For those of you familiar with MEGs, it's kind of the reverse design in that there is a gap at the top rather than the bottom. Seemed counterintuitive to me and I really wondered how it would perform. But it was great. And once I had these things on my face I didn't want to take them off, outdoors or indoors.

The Ziena is easily the best pair of glasses I have ever had for driving. In a weeklong test, they did not fog - period. Amongst all the 7Eye and Wiley glasses I have ever used (and they are many) all of them have fogged at least occasionally when driving.

The lenses are larger than most 7Eye or Wiley glasses I've had, so my vision was better. And while the silicone eyecup is semi-opaque, it's clear/whitish and light comes through so you don't get any of the tunnel-vision effect most moisture chambers produce. These glasses are real design coup.

So, to boil it down to essentials:

PROS:

1. Beautiful.

2. Effective for dry eye protection.

3. Good vision.

CONS:

1. Price and ongoing expense. With no prescription, you're looking at a minimum of $290, and you're probably going to have to replace that silicone shield ($35) every month or two. It's new, so I really won't know for awhile how long they'll last. I'm not even really sure how to clean it.

2. Hinge placement (see note below)

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For those of you whose dry eyewear budgets are in the double rather than triple digits, don't worry, there's an excellent new product due out soon - probably before the end of the year - that I tested awhile back and really liked! So stay tuned - it'll be in the blog and newsletter when it comes.

FRAMES / LENSES

There are three framestyles: Glossy black, light tortoise, and brown fade. The one pictured above is light tortoise.

Lens options are much as for other 7Eye products:
- Sharpview if you want the basic darker lens for outdoor use
- Photochromic 24:7 lenses for indoor/outdoor (best if you want to use this at the office)
- ColorAmp Polarized
- ColorAmp grey or copper

If you need RX, you can either get a local dealer to produce it for you, get it direct from 7Eye, or purchase the frame on my site and take it to a local optician to get whatever lenses you want in it (including clear lenses).

HOW/WHERE TO BUY:

They are not yet available on the 7Eye website. So:

Local: Call 7Eye or go on their website to get local dealer phone numbers. Not too many dealers have them yet though.

Dry Eye Shop: Click here to buy or just to look at the different frame/lens combinations. I have several of these in stock including frame-only for those who need Rx (I don't sell Rx - you would need to take it to your optician). Anything not showing in stock has to be special-ordered so please allow an extra 5 days for delivery.

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NOTE re: Hinge placement:
This will probably not affect anyone except people like me whose skin is freakishly sensitive to metals (I can't wear necklaces or watches even for one day). The hinge on the Ziena is much further up on the earpiece than 7EYE's other products in order to accommodate the eyecup, so a teensy bit of the metal comes pretty close to my cheek. It's only a little, but after about a week of frequent wear my cheeks broke out. Again, I think very few people would be affected by this. I am so bummed about it because if it weren't for that, I would be wearing this full-time - yes, even at the computer at my home office!