Varifocals

Beenie

I am now at the age where high-index varifocals are needed, and as you will probably know, these are insanely expensive on the High Street. My last pair of specs was well over £300.

My enquiry is this: is it really possible to get varifocals from an internet shop? The optician seems to do a lot of measuring and adjusting the fit. If I'm paying a fraction of the price on the internet site, then I will happily pay for a High St person to adjust them, but I wondered if anyone had experience and thought that strong prescription varifocals are not suitable for internet purchase.

If anyone has done it successfully, and can let me know which site they used, I would be very grateful.

Clowance

I believe one internet supplier - I think its glasses direct but am not sure - will send an optician to check your eye measurements (you have to have had your eye test first). I think when I enquired about a year ago this cost about £100 on top of the glasses. I didn't do it because it made them as expensive as high street cheapies, although I do wonder now whether you could use the measurements say a year later for another pair of specs hence spreading the cost.
However the latest pair I had - eye test at Boots, specs from a local optician - caused a lot of problems as when I got the specs they were made to the prescription, but the axis on the prescription was wrong so I couldn't see through one lens. Luckily for me the local optician (and it wasn't their fault) got it fixed for free, but technically it was Boots responsibility and i would have had to chase them for the money to correct the problem.
I tell you this because I am now pretty wary of buying varifocals from anyone! HTH.