Optometrist Reports Rise in Patients Requesting 'Main Character' Glasses

Optometrists across the country are reporting a significant increase in patients requesting eyewear based not on facial measurements, lens requirements, or frame fit, but on which fictional character they wish to resemble, a trend the profession has dubbed 'main character dispensing.' Dr. Iris Diopter reports that in the past six months, she has received requests for 'the Harry Potter' (round wire frames, regardless of face shape), 'the Atticus Finch' (heavy tortoiseshell, regardless of prescription), 'the Velma' (thick square frames in orange, which no manufacturer currently produces), and, on three separate occasions, 'the glasses that make me look like I'm about to say something intelligent in a Netflix documentary.' 'The request is always the same,' Dr. Diopter said. 'They don't say I'd like a frame that complements my facial proportions and accommodates my progressive lens. They say I want to look like the clever one in the film. They have a specific character in mind and they want me to replicate the look, regardless of whether the frame is suitable for their prescription, their face, or the laws of optics.' Dispensing optician Marcus Rimless has been asked to source 'Morpheus sunglasses from The Matrix' (a custom frameless design that is not commercially available) and 'whatever Meryl Streep wore in that thing' (a description he was unable to narrow down to a single film or frame). The most challenging request, Rimless reports, was from a patient who wanted 'the glasses that John Lennon would be wearing if he were alive today and also an accountant.' Rimless suggested a round titanium frame. The patient said it wasn't 'accountant enough.' Dr. Diopter has accepted the trend with pragmatic resignation. 'People want to feel something when they put on their glasses,' she said. 'If that feeling is I am a protagonist, I can work with that. As long as the prescription is correct, the character is their business.'