eyeglasses!!

[pinkytoe]

DH had his first eye exam in ten years and now has a prescription for bifocal eyeglasses. We have always just worn reading glasses so kind of blown away by the price of them these days. Any advice would be helpful as this is new to us. Hard to understand the $350 price tag we are quoted after insurance. It seems like a real racket.

[JaneV2.0]

Costco has good prices and frequent sales. Mine aren't bifocals, but they ran about $135.
It is a racket considering most frames are comprised of about fifty cents worth of plastic.

[nswef]

Mine are about $600 - part because of a very strong prescription, then add variable bi focals, high density, non reflective or reflective whatever lenses and it's like buying a car...options add on lots. Having worn glasses since third grade they are vital to me. At 65...it's worth it, but always sticker shock. I don''t buy and expensive frame either. I try to get 4 years out of a pair, sometimes have gotten more.

[KayLR]

It's definitely worthwhile to take your prescription and shop around. My last ones were from Costco as well, and I do wear bifocals. Sometimes there are coupons in the paper for optical shops; might be worth looking into.

[Float On]

http://www.39dollarglasses.com/eyeglasses/metal-bifocals-black.html

Buying directly where you get your eyes examined can be very expensive. I'm going to try one of the on-line sources next time. You need your RX plus the measurement between your pupils. 39$glasses offers bifocals but I'm not sure what kind of bifocal that is.

I tend to like to have several glasses to choose from plus RXsunglasses so I could never afford 4 pair at $600 each - I currently have black/silver, tortoise shell brown, and red and can sometimes be found with 2-3 pair pushed up on my head while I'm looking for a pair because I really need bifocals now (can't see the computer screen or books or anything up close like food with my current single RX).

[catherine]

My DD got hers online, and I was going to get mine online as well. I wear progressives and they cost $500. If I remember correctly, getting them online cost about half of that. So definitely when I get my next pair. The ones I have now are fine--but I should have gotten a higher quality glass for the lens because they are now a bit scratched and hazy and hard to see through. I should have opted for the better lens.

I think the website was zennioptical.com but I can't be sure. It was pretty user-friendly if I recall.

[thinkgreen]

I use Zenni Optical. When I get my eyes tested they try to sell me glasses for $400. They are progressive lenses. I was able to get them at Zenni for under $100. I've been very happy with the glasses too.

[pinkytoe]

I was able to get them at Zenni for under $100.
How in the world do you get a good fit buying online? I can see if you are placing current ones but when starting from scratch not so sure.

[ToomuchStuff]

I am probably not the true one to ask. Due to family working for an eye surgeon, I have always had a disount at a local eye glass place. (realy good disount)
Still, I have heard both good things and bad about the online stores (seem better with single, non extreme perscriptions, so the lens doesn't have large merge parts). I haven't tried them. We did have a disount eyeglass place, that only sold closeout models, where I think my single prescription lens, in their closeout (whatever was on the shelf) frames, cost around $50 a pair. Neither place had safety glasses, so I ended up at Sam's club where I bought them for somewhere between $150-200.00.

Prices may vary somewhat by location. I know some on site (in about an hour places) had their insurances go up a few years ago, after several pieces of eyeglass making equipment, started blowing up. (one local one was investigated as a bomb for a couple of days, until they figured out what happened)

[Dhiana]

I, too, was shocked at how much eyeglasses cost. Just got my first real pair after using dollar store reading glasses. When it got to the point where I kept switching strengths for doing fine embroidery/reading to another pair for computer work I broke down.

Jumped in the deep end right away and got trifocals and LOVE them! No more headaches except for the almost $600 cost. I'm curious as well as to how to get the cost down for my next pair. Especially if one can't try on the frames from an online place?

[rosarugosa]

Here's another vote for Costco's. I wear progressives and I think they ran about $160.

[thinkgreen]

Pinkytoe - Zenni has a good tutorial on their site. Most eyeglasses have some numbers printed on them which indicate the size of the frames. Then you need to either get your optometrist to tell you your pupillary distance or measure it yourself. The first time I chose a style of glasses similar to what I already had to be safe. On receipt there were some adjustments to be made to the tightness of the arms so I went to the local eyeglass store in the mall and they made those for me. Zenni makes it pretty easy, you can even upload your photo to see what the glasses look like on you. They do run specials now and then, i.e. 10% off (right now) or buy 2 get 1 free (was the deal at the beginning of July).

DH has more vision problems than I do so we pay the big bucks for him at the optometrist because he needs the ongoing support for his glasses. My eyes need glasses but I don't need support beyond the initial adjustment.

If you are starting from scratch you may need to look around at the eyeglass stores and accumulate some info on the correct frame size and see what you feel looks good on you. But once you get a feel for what you want do some comparison shopping before you buy.

My brother is disabled and goes through several pair of glasses a year. I am able to get him a dozen pairs of glasses at Zenni for the price at the optometrist. His are single vision and cost $20 or so from them.