In my experience it was very worthwhile to see a knowledgeable vendor in person. I am 64 and have required a significant correction since my late twenties, and can't get used to contacts, so non-prescription sunglasses were never an option for me. However, I was using prescription polarized sunglasses of the wrap style which never really suited me: The vision was not as clear in one eye compared to my regular prescription glasses, and my eyelashes rubbed on the lenses which were too close to my eyes. I went to Granny Sherman of PMS Firearms in Salisbury NC and her expertise in selecting the right Pilla shooting glasses was invaluable. She identified several issues which were important to getting a good result with the prescription shooting glasses. I have a significant astigmatism, which can't be adequately corrected by glasses with more than a certain amount of curvature, which explained why the wraps were not serving me well. Some of the Pilla lenses are more curved and some are less so, and she got me in the ones which were the right shape for my astigmatism. Also, I had wanted to get the type of shooting glasses which use a clear prescription lens behind a tinted non-prescription lens, so that you can get several different tints without bearing the expense of grinding the prescription into each set. However, this style brings the lens closer to the eye and my eyelashes are on the long side, which made this a bad choice for me and explained the problem I had with my eyelashes rubbing against the wraps. So, I got two different sets of prescription lenses, pink for cloudy days and reflective-surfaced dark lenses for bright sun. I only needed one set of frames as the lenses are easily swapped out of these frames. Pilla has a nice website which gives you a good idea of what various tints do for you, but in-person fitting is important for other issues such as those I described.
For something as expensive as prescription shooting glasses it is definitely worth finding someone with the expertise to help get it right the first try. Salisbury NC is probably not convenient for you, but I would definitely try to identify someone in your region with the expertise and interest to help you choose wisely. Since your eye doctor is a shooter, maybe he could recommend someone.
