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Glasses - what's your view?

AJB Temple

AJB Temple

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Spectacularly expensive?

Popped into our one and only local optician yesterday. My varifocals need replacing and a script change. My previous optician in Sevenoaks retired and his replacement is not great. So went to the local village. As an example Tom Ford designer frames (much needed to complement my incredible good looks) were around £520 plus lenses.

Exactly the same frame on-line is £160. The lens can also be done on line at half the price.

Anyone tried getting spectacles on line? My eyes are not bad really so thin, lightweight lenses are what I want. The on-liners claim to offer full rfunds if not satisfied. Not sure I believe that.

A
 
We go to SS and agree, glasses can be, depending on what you require and the depth of your pocket, spectacularly expensive. We've never had to much of a problem with the shop in town and they're quite happy to get frames in from other branches if SWIMBO or I can't find anything to suite.
However, for us, the real game changer is fitting the frames. It has to be done correctly and often involve tiny adjustments over a several weeks; with glasses bought online SS would get very sniffy (quite rightly) about adjusting someone else's frames. As it is, we can nip into town for a swift bit of adjustment and if it's still not right, go back a couple of weeks later until they're comfortable or we keep on going back until they are.

I can't see that happening with specs bought online - Rob
 
That's a good point Rob. I think I am fairly easy with fitting though.
 
The last time ( I mean final,for multiple reasons) I went into Ss the assistant did the fitting by squinting at me and jabbing at the lenses with a magic marker.
None of the other franchises even bother with that anymore.
In the absence of a proper traditional local optIcian be tempted to give the online thing ago provided theres purchase protection in place
Check independent reviews and go for it Id say
 
While I would like to use my local optician they are too expensive. Last time I went there it was over £600 for a relatively cheap frame and bifocal lenses. Last time I went to SS instead and it was less than £300 for two pairs of bifocals. I have looked at buying online as I can do the adjustment myself but I am too disorganised to get it sorted.
 
I have used both specs4Less and Zennioptical and have good experiences with both. However, I have a weak prescription, and I only need fixed focus lenses for driving when the light is poor, and for reading. The rest of the time I don't wear specs at all. However, each of my eyes (I only have two 🤣 ) is different, and SS have sometimes been a bit reluctant to give me a written prescription for both eyes. In my experience, the quality of the specs bought online has depended largely on the quality and accuracy of the prescription. On one occasion, I rejected the specs and I was refunded immediately, and replaced them when I had a more accurate written prescription from another optician. I'm not sure that I would trust the fitting of varifocals to an online provider though.
 
All food for thought. Thank you. The actual optician in Sevenoaks was, as far as I could tell, pretty good and I might go back for a new script or at least to compare with the eye test (NHS) in the village. The glasses that they made were unimpressive and twice had to be returned. I don't get on at all with bifocals - especially for computer stuff. I had them make some single distance glasses for piano playing - with exact measured distance to the sheet music and they even managed to make those incorrectly.
 
The fitting bit is so important.
I wore specs all through childhood. Specky four-eyes. At 16 I was diagnosed with keritaconus (sometime scalled conical corneas) and was told I would, one day, go blind. Specs don't help with keritaconus, so as that progressed I was offered contact lenses. What a revelation! I could SEE! For the first time in my life, at 22, I could see properly, it was wonderful.
Fast forward 15 years and my contact lenses kept falling off the increasingly conical and pointy and generally non-uniform corneas, so I had a cornea graft. Thank you to whoever didn't need it any more.
9 years later I had the other eye done, and 3 years ago I had that second eye done again, as ,by then, I was pretty much blind in that eye. Just light and darkness, no detail at all.
Throughout this I had specs as backup, but, whilst (very slightly) better than nothing, they were not great. I couldn't drive with them, for example.
The last pair that I had, from a reputable local optician, were very uncomfortable. I went back. They adjusted them. I went back. And again. They offered me my money back.
I also have lots of pairs of cheap ready-readers from Boyes's. £6 a pop, great. They are all comfortable, so I decided to see what the difference was.
Aha! The arms were a different length by a very noticeable margin, maybe 10mm. No wonder they didn't fit, no amount of twisting and turning and bending is going to make up for that.
I can't actually remember how it ended. It was all going on whilst I was planning this move. All I know is I have no idea where those specs are now and I don't wear any.
After that last graft, my sight in my left eye, which was practically zero before the op, is quite useful, even without my lens. Almost good enough to meet the driving threshold. I wish my right eye was as good.
I'm currently battling with the French health people to get some lenses prescribed here (the UK hospital has discharged me, whether I like it or not. Fair enough, I suppose, although I have, until this year, still been a UK tax payer). But, as in the UK, there are too many patients and not enough specialists.
I don't know how I could have negotiated that fitting process with an online retailer. Sometime I think it is best to pay for a proper service rather than try to rely on a "free" supply service.

So, after 3 grafts from 3 different donors (thank you, thank you, thank you) I really am (non-specky) Four Eyes.
S
 
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In the States, I bought $7 frames from Bon Marche and had prescription lenses fitted to them by an optician. Maybe opticians will do that here? Seems crazy to spend hundreds on frames.
 
Windows said:
In the States, I bought $7 frames from Bon Marche and had prescription lenses fitted to them by an optician. Maybe opticians will do that here? Seems crazy to spend hundreds on frames.
Click to expand...
The frames are important for comfort and vanity reasons. I am dealing with customers often.

Opticians here generally refuse or find an excuse not to fit lenses to frames they have not supplied. They also provide no guarantee. Some will do it but charge typically £40 plus VAT. I don't have any frames to hand that I like enough to have re-glazed.

It seems to me that lenses generally are manufactured using a programmed machine, that also does the polishing and coating. So the key thing is the prescription and sizing. In the vast majority of cases I suspect the optician just orders the lenses on line from the manufacturer to fit a frame number. If the guarantee on-line is similar, and credit card protection is in place, it seems worth a punt cutting out the high street middleman or woman.

As for frames - the on-line system allows you to provide measurements from a pair glasses known to fit. This includes lens diagonals, arm lengths, bridge width etc. You can have several frames sent first, next day, to check aesthetics. There are various deals such as second pair for peanuts.

I'll think it over, but I do not have any of the issues that Steve suffers from.

A
 
My wife has used online a couple of times with success. I have just got a new prescription and my Alexander McQueen frames are still perfect and I like them so I’ve sent off to Lensology for new lenses. Total cost with coating around £45. There is pupil distance for my single lenses which was easy with existing frames. Varifocals have more measurements to consider I think. But if you’re happy doing it yourself then online is certainly cheaper!
 
Sheesh, I had no idea it was so expensive. I'm on my second pair of glasses. The first live in the workshop, and I haven't needed new ones for 10 years or more. I work and drive without glasses, and do most of my woodwork without them. Sharpening saws or reading in the evening are the only times I need them really.
 
I just a bought new glasses two weeks ago from a chain store (Lenscrafters. They are everywhere over here.) My last pair was I think 5 years ago and they were badly scratched and had mismatched earpieces since the dog chewed off one of the originals.

$150 for the new frames I chose and $300 for the progressive lenses. One year guarantee of everything except being lost or stolen. If they get scratched they will replace them. No charge for fittings or adjusting.
 
Yes Mike, I can drive and do woodwork etc without them, but computer work and reading needs help. My current pair, wearing now, are 10 years old, but I'm aware of slight deterioration. I think decades of professional looking at screens has not helped. I find that teaching piano students really needs glasses now.
 
Wonder who else has prescription safety glasses? Just got a new pair from Specsavers, £90 I think they were. Sadly millimetres are pretty much impossible without them now.
 
I wear varifocals with three different areas in the lens and I have found that the disposition of the different focal areas is absolutely critical for me. The better lenses (Hoya, Canon) are vastly superior to the cheaper ranges.
Fitting by a local optician is then critical to place the different areas in the right place relative to my eye.
Not cheap, but each pair lasts about 3 years and I can see without difficulty, whereas the high street opticians were unable to provide anything that did the job.
Approx cost, about £600, of which about £150 is for the frames (I'm obviously not as good looking as Adrian!). Only one of the lenses is varifocal, the other lens is just a balance lens, which makes the price even more shocking.
Excessive profits for the optician? Undoubtedly, but I can read, drive, see into the distance without trouble so worth it for me.
 
My $7 frames were on sale. Standard price probably $60-$80 and entirely equivalent in quality & stylishness to the frames that cost $250 in opticians at that time. (This was all a few years ago). I don’t think mine were Fossil, but there would have been Fossil sunglasses sold in the same area. I wouldn’t suggest getting crappy, ugly frames to save a few quid, but if you see frames at retail that are of a style and quality that you like and fit well, it’s an easy way to save $100-$200. My optician didn’t blink about fitting lenses to existing frames and didn’t charge any extra. My lenses cost about $200 at that time.

Pricing of both lenses and frames is or was driven partly by the health benefits of the local population’s largest employers. Of course opticians were going to charge minimum of $200 for frames when the big employer had a yearly $200 allowance for frames in their healthcare benefits. I guess pricing in the UK is just driven by whatever the market will bear.
 
I need new specs. Prices seem to have exploded since I bought my current specs in 2019. Not only that, the way they are sold has also changed. Rather than just sell a pair of glasses the optician offered 2 choices. The first was to lease 3 pairs; for example a main pair plus prescription sunglasses plus ... something. I have never had a second pair and cannot imagine why I might need 3 pairs. Anyway this option allowed for free replacement of my specs if my eyes change within the lease period, and a change of one pair per year presumably for fashion reasons. All this for just 2470 euro, paid monthly.
After I stopped laughing they came up with a second offer, of 2 pairs for the price of 1. Outright purchase so no changes allowed. For that the price was around 1500 euro - I don't have a record of the exact figure.
I still considered this a crazy price. I said I wanted one pair, no lease, no "extras". Rather than getting 2 pairs for the price of 1 at 1500 euro this option was 1 pair for the price of 1, ie 1500 euro. No cheaper than getting 2 pairs.

I left the shop and went to a different optician. Their prices were almost exactly the same. Again I left without buying anything.

Recalling this thread and I had a look online. A bit of digging around and I came up with an alternative. I booked an appointment at an opticians in Estonia. This was available next day, but I opted for the day after that, which was this past Thursday. Another eye test, even though I took my prescription with me, but that was free if I bought spectacles. I selected frames - they had the same brand names as I had seen at home - and ordered a pair. Total cost, including delivery, eye test, my travel cost and a night away, was 700 euro, saving me 800 euro. They make the lenses in house, and my specs will be ready by 27.03.2026, when they will post them to me. My local opticians have to farm out the lens work and were quoting 3 to 4 weeks, so I am saving time as well as money.

My experience has been positive so far. I don't have the spectacles yet of course but I see no reason why there should be any problems.
 
Just4fun said:
I need new specs. Prices seem to have exploded since I bought my current specs in 2019. Not only that, the way they are sold has also changed. Rather than just sell a pair of glasses the optician offered 2 choices. The first was to lease 3 pairs; for example a main pair plus prescription sunglasses plus ... something. I have never had a second pair and cannot imagine why I might need 3 pairs. Anyway this option allowed for free replacement of my specs if my eyes change within the lease period, and a change of one pair per year presumably for fashion reasons. All this for just 2470 euro, paid monthly.
After I stopped laughing they came up with a second offer, of 2 pairs for the price of 1. Outright purchase so no changes allowed. For that the price was around 1500 euro - I don't have a record of the exact figure.
I still considered this a crazy price. I said I wanted one pair, no lease, no "extras". Rather than getting 2 pairs for the price of 1 at 1500 euro this option was 1 pair for the price of 1, ie 1500 euro. No cheaper than getting 2 pairs.

I left the shop and went to a different optician. Their prices were almost exactly the same. Again I left without buying anything.

Recalling this thread and I had a look online. A bit of digging around and I came up with an alternative. I booked an appointment at an opticians in Estonia. This was available next day, but I opted for the day after that, which was this past Thursday. Another eye test, even though I took my prescription with me, but that was free if I bought spectacles. I selected frames - they had the same brand names as I had seen at home - and ordered a pair. Total cost, including delivery, eye test, my travel cost and a night away, was 700 euro, saving me 800 euro. They make the lenses in house, and my specs will be ready by 27.03.2026, when they will post them to me. My local opticians have to farm out the lens work and were quoting 3 to 4 weeks, so I am saving time as well as money.

My experience has been positive so far. I don't have the spectacles yet of course but I see no reason why there should be any problems.
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That’s well done, but! (Sorry to say) I saw an advert over here a while ago so I’ve just looked online and specs are so cheap it’s as if they pay you to wear them lol. Frames for $20 lenses not much more and if you don’t like them it’s money back within 60 days.
 
We did a trawl of Sevenoaks (££ town yesterday) plus our local village one. I would say on average varifocal lenses on the high street are at least double the readily available on-line price and extras (coatings are at least double). Frames are 50% to 150% more than on-line depending on brand and quality.

It's insane. Opticians are heading for oblivion with such mark ups, as with s prescription and on-line AI eye and face mapping, plus money back guarantee, on-line will kill the high street business model. I had this chat with our regular opticians yesterday and he said varifocals are a risk, with much sucking of teeth. My view is with money back no-quibble guarantee and credit card payment, there is minimal risk.

For example. Hoya premium vf lenses with coatings at an old school opticians in Sevenoaks, £618 quoted .- pls frames On line, exactly the same £150. 4 times markup. Blue coating premium on high street - £65 plus VAT. (This is good for LED screens). On-line extra above anti glare, anti mist, droplet and anti-scratch - £15 inc.

I am going on-line for a premium lens. My script is not complex or very strong. Saving will be circa £450. Second pair with sunglasses lens just £35.
 
AJB Temple said:
We did a trawl of Sevenoaks (££ town yesterday) plus our local village one. I would say on average varifocal lenses on the high street are at least double the readily available on-line price and extras (coatings are at least double). Frames are 50% to 150% more than on-line depending on brand and quality.

It's insane. Opticians are heading for oblivion with such mark ups, as with s prescription and on-line AI eye and face mapping, plus money back guarantee, on-line will kill the high street business model. I had this chat with our regular opticians yesterday and he said varifocals are a risk, with much sucking of teeth. My view is with money back no-quibble guarantee and credit card payment, there is minimal risk.

For example. Hoya premium vf lenses with coatings at an old school opticians in Sevenoaks, £618 quoted .- pls frames On line, exactly the same £150. 4 times markup. Blue coating premium on high street - £65 plus VAT. (This is good for LED screens). On-line extra above anti glare, anti mist, droplet and anti-scratch - £15 inc.

I am going on-line for a premium lens. My script is not complex or very strong. Saving will be circa £450. Second pair with sunglasses lens just £35.
Click to expand...
Which online source do you use, Adrian ?
 
Not made a final decision yet Roger. It will be driven largely by lens quality - and I have yet to make a decision on that. I would prefer to go with Blackfin frames (titanium, Italian, made by the original family) as I find they fit me well and are very comfortable for me, but they limit on-line choices. I will report back when I make a decision and when they arrive.
 
I've received an appointment at the RUH eye clinic in Bath for the 8th April. It's too check out the cataracts I've, apparently, got - picked up by the SpecSavers optician at my biennial check near the end of last year (October time?).

Although they informed me of the cataracts, they're not 'at a point for concern' yet BUT... The prescription glasses/lenses (with VF) have faults that a second eye test revealed but the optician couldn't rectify during the test: they couldn't align the verticals during the 2nd test... which is worrying - butdid (of sorts) in the 1st tests!

Having bought two pairs of glasses (buy 1 get 1 free at X£... in case I break one pair!) - somewhere around £280 'ish (can't remember 🤷) it's disconcerting... The prism I had in one eye wasn't diagnosed in that eye but in the other eye instead at the 1st test. At the 2nd the prism basin BOTH!

Hopefully the eye clinic check with be of help to resolve the issues and - should I get on the list for cataract removal/removals - I'll get some better vision and not need VF or other lenses. I'm expecting I'll still have to wear glasses because of the prism issues - unless the cataracts operations help with them?
 
Cabinetman said:
That’s well done, but! (Sorry to say) I saw an advert over here a while ago so I’ve just looked online and specs are so cheap it’s as if they pay you to wear them lol. Frames for $20 lenses not much more and if you don’t like them it’s money back within 60 days.
Click to expand...
I can only dream of those prices. The glasses I have ordered, though cheap compared to locally-sourced, are still expensive in my view.
 
Cabinetman said:
That’s well done, but! (Sorry to say) I saw an advert over here a while ago so I’ve just looked online and specs are so cheap it’s as if they pay you to wear them lol. Frames for $20 lenses not much more and if you don’t like them it’s money back within 60 days.
Click to expand...
Is that for standard reading glasses, or for custom made-to-order?

You can have a pair for a fiver here... if you need something between +1 and +2.5, the same in both eyes and no cylindrical component. If you just need reading glasses because you've become long-sighted with age, it's dirt cheap because it's a standard product. Most people that started needing glasses before about age 40 are looking at a custom prescription and lenses made to order, and I'd be surprised if those are the same price anywhere in the world.
 
I wish I could wear spectacles. I used to have some as a backup for when I couldn't wear my contact lenses, but these days they make little to no difference.
The problem is that my corneas are so damaged and deformed, after three grafts, that anything that a spectacle lens does on the end of my nose gets wrecked again as the light passes through my cornea. With my lenses , which act as a "cladding" to the corneas, 6/6 vision, without 6/12 in one eye, about 6/360 in the other. (Here in France they work in 10s rather than 6s*, but the principle is the same).
I'm currently wearing my spare lenses, having lost my proper ones. The loss happened last summer. The trouble is that if I lose one of these...
After waiting 6 months at the specialist eye clinic in Limoges, in December, they tried every blank lens they could find, nothing would fit. So they took scans of my corneas and sent them to the manufacturer for their advice.
"I'll ring you next week".
Next week, even next month, came and went. I went in and asked (my French face-to-face is much better than my French over-the-phone), I was told to wait. I got my friend to phone on my behalf. They will chase it up.
Eventually I got my appointment, last week, over three months after she promised me "next week". Great, I shall have a prescription.
Ha.
She did have a new selection of blank lenses, to try the fit. One by one she fitted them an took photographs. I'm pretty sure that she simply stuck a phone up against the ophthalmascope. Or is it a keratometer? I forget.
I asked to see the photos. Ye gods, no wonder they have difficulty fitting anything.
So the plan now is to send those photos to the manufacturer and ask them to suggest a prescription based on what they can see. She'll ask them to do it "vite".
With the prescription I can then go to Krys ( a big chain here) or any independent opticians, to have them made up. I have no idea what the cost will be. I do have optical stuff as part of my health insurance, but whether it covers complex needs like mine, remains to be seen.
I wait with bated breath.
*6/6 means one can see at 6m what Mr Average can see at 6m. It's derived from the previous standard of 20/20 vision, but metric. 6m is, for all intents and purposes, the same as 20ft.
 
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Accipiter said:
I've received an appointment at the RUH eye clinic in Bath for the 8th April. It's too check out the cataracts I've, apparently, got - picked up by the SpecSavers optician at my biennial check near the end of last year (October time?).

Although they informed me of the cataracts, they're not 'at a point for concern' yet BUT... The prescription glasses/lenses (with VF) have faults that a second eye test revealed but the optician couldn't rectify during the test: they couldn't align the verticals during the 2nd test... which is worrying - butdid (of sorts) in the 1st tests!

Having bought two pairs of glasses (buy 1 get 1 free at X£... in case I break one pair!) - somewhere around £280 'ish (can't remember 🤷) it's disconcerting... The prism I had in one eye wasn't diagnosed in that eye but in the other eye instead at the 1st test. At the 2nd the prism basin BOTH!

Hopefully the eye clinic check with be of help to resolve the issues and - should I get on the list for cataract removal/removals - I'll get some better vision and not need VF or other lenses. I'm expecting I'll still have to wear glasses because of the prism issues - unless the cataracts operations
Click to expand...
As you know I have prismatic glasses and have been told that the lenses they use to replace the ones inside your eyes can’t correct for prismatic issues
 
Well I don't know if they are conventional, but they are certainly not scleral. They are about 8mm in diameter. Rigid (you don't want any flexible ones following the contours of MY corneas!), gas-permeable. I'm assuming that the ones they are about to prescribe will also be GP.

One of the things I find frustrating about living here is the lack of availability of contact lens solutions. In the UK I can buy good quality solution and saline at any supermarket. So I bought my wetting solution and saline at Morrison's or Tesco (identical product just different own labal), complete with a new case, and I bought Boston cleaner at my local Ssuperdrug, all at affordable prices.

Here in France I can buy solution for SOFT lenses at my (3/4 hour awy) local Action (like Wilko or Boyes'), but that is no good to me. The big supermarkeets like Carrefour and Intermarché don't stock anything, not even saline. My local Pharmacy does have some solutions that I don't recognise and at twice the price I am used to. For Boston it's the Big River.

I'm still using my UK stash, but that is not going to last, or even stay in date, for ever.
 
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Scleral lenses are much bigger than 8mm. They sit on the white of the eye and do not come into contact with the cornea at all.
Apparently, a bit of a mission to get them in and out the eye until one becomes adept at it.
The space between the cornea and lens is filled with saline which in effect smooths out the irregularities of the cornea.
Quite a mission to get them fitted and also expensive but the people I know with keratoconus say they are a gamechanger.
Not freely available but apparently there is a supplier in the UK. The lenses I know of here in South Africa come from New Zealand
 
Steve - if you visit the UK periodically, we are not that far from Dover / Tunnel (40 - 50 mins drive) and we would be happy to stock up with whatever solutions etc that you want. You can pick them up and have a coffee and bacon sandwich at the same time. I have no idea of the shelf life of this stuff as I have never had contact lenses (my wife has), but more than happy to help sourcing things here if you tell us what you need. Adrian
 
Thank you Adrian.
I have less and less reason to visit the UK. I have no family of my own, my best friends are dead and now I have been discharged from NUH there really isn't anything to go back for.
But if I do, we have a deal. In fact, it might well be worth going back just for a bacon sandwich. The French really can't make bacon.
S
 
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