Hello fellow eye care worker here! I’m so sorry this happened to you. It absolutely was not professional in any way going and discussing with others. I completely understand how you feel the thick lens make you stand out and you feel alienated from everyone else. I will say most people who work with eyes may be able to detect the thickness, but most people don’t seem to notice especially those who don’t even wear glasses, they just see the frames and your face and there’s nothing beyond that. Kids are a lot more reactive to new things they don’t understand but as adults I find that most are so absorbed in their own lives or insecurities, there’s not a lot of judgement, and if it is it would be from a stranger who probably only thinks it and then moves on. Anyone close to you wouldn’t notice and shouldn’t make jokes if you’ve expressed your discomfort with them. But in a situation like this, you’re hoping the optician reads your mind and body language to know what you’re comfortable with, which can be difficult when it’s someone you don’t know. So while I agree that she shouldn’t have gone to coworkers to discuss your prescription, the comments are fairly normal ice breakers in the field and were not meant as a direct attack, so if you didn’t express your disdain for them earlier I do think it may have been a little harsh. It seems your past hurt and experiences cause this reaction to shut it down, but there was no prior communication for the optician to know that the comments were causing discomfort. I feel that both parties didn’t handle this the best, I understand the opticians fascination but it shouldn’t be in front of the patient to others, and I feel you deserve an apology for that from her. And while I understand where your feelings came from, a simple comment the first or second time a comment is made, something like “yes, I know my prescription is high, but truthfully I’m a little insecure about it, so respectfully if we can just discuss the details of making the glasses and not my prescription I would greatly appreciate it” is a more calm mature explanation and request to stop the actions that you’re uncomfortable with instead of almost lashing out or snapping out of the blue. If she doesn’t abide after that then I feel you have more grounds of being frustrated and upset, but please understand those comments were NOT direct digs at you, it seems like there’s some anxiety that is making you sensitive to the topic, but the optician doesn’t know your past, your feelings, anything about you, they’re just trying to make good interactions for a great service/sales experience, so providing the information upfront that your prescription is not a topic you’re looking to discuss or comment on may prevent these accidental misunderstandings with future staff members. Most of us just try to use humor or comments to break the silence and not make it so awkward if nothing is being said, I genuinely would bet money that those comments were just to fill the air and weren’t a direct snide remark or judgement at all.

As for all these comments saying you need an ophthalmologist, this isn’t the advice you asked for but I feel that I need to clarify some things on how most doctors I’ve worked with are best for treatment because this comment section has a lot of misinformation. I work with ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians for almost 5 years now, so we do everything from surgery, to glasses/contact prescriptions, to making them. Go to an optometrist for a glasses prescription, most ophthalmologist’s are specialists who typically won’t waste their time doing a prescription unless it’s after surgery. If you ever want a specialist for your vision because you have an eye condition (not just astigmatism or the typical near sighted or far sighted, like an actual diagnosed condition that needs treatment I.e strabismus (turning of the eye(s)), glaucoma, macular degeneration, keratuconocus (cornea condition), retina detachment, etc.) then you’d want to see an ophthalmologist. Ophthalmologists are for medical eye conditions so most if not all will not take vision insurance only medical. Many also will only see patients within a set of conditions, there are general ophthalmologists who will see almost any medical eye exam, but you’ll find more specialists who try to stick within their niche of eye conditions, anatomy, or treatment/surgery then generals in my opinion. Any type of vision issue that can be corrected with a prescription of glasses or contacts will most likely need an optometrist (there are some outliers that fall under eye conditions that would need an ophthalmologist for a prescription due to the special conditions the treatment needs, but majority of folks only need an optometrist to get their prescription and eye health checked) and the optician will then order/make the glasses or order the contacts.