The optical performance of standard plastic and glass spectacle lenses was compared at increasing angles of oblique gaze up to 40° on either side of the optic axis of the lenses. For this purpose, the border enhancement method was used, a method which is suitable for monitoring small order changes in the retinal image. It was found that the enhancement band width increases with obliquity of gaze in all cases, signifying a deterioration in the retinal image. A glass lens will exaggerate this deterioration to some extent, whereas a plastic lens will exaggerate it to the greatest extent. It is shown that the relatively poorer performance of plastic is due to a relatively larger amount of narrow-angle scattering than is produced by glass.