Buying Glasses Advice

melancholly

Running_Horse wrote: »

Like everything in life you get what you pay for, and you would be amazed how many will spend fortunes on clothes, cars, holidays, phones, PCs, etc, but won't invest money in the only pair of eyes they will ever have.

i kind of agree - but i do find it very frustrating with a high prescription that has only stabilised in the last 2 years (i'm 27 - they said it would happen when i was about 16!!) to have to 'invest' in my glasses every year since my eyes deteriorated (every 9 months when i was younger!)... and to have to pay for an eye test when doctors appointments are free! having had glasses since the age of about 6, between my parents and myself, i have invested a small fortune in my only pair of really quite rubbish eyes!

and that's not the fault of opticians or anything like that, but it is incredibly annoying that the rest of health care is free.... but it's certainly not going to change soon, so i have to put some money away every month so that i can pay the bill when it next comes along.

Running_Horse

It used to be free and subsidised. Thick glass lenses into these frames:
http://www.retrospecs.co.uk/catalogue/default.asp?b_id=168&c_id=1&s_id=2&pg=2
We used to churn out thousands of the things. Not sure it was really better then.

elljay

Dear all

Before Christmas I went for a routine eye test and ordered some new spex. My others are years old and scratched, although my prescription hasn't changed, and I decided it was about time!

I spent ages looking at the various frames with the assistant but to be honest I hadn't a clue which were nice and which not and in the end, out of frustration, just plumped for one mid range style. They all looked much the same to me, i.e. just me in glasses and I couldn't picked any of them above another. There was a bogoff offer on but as it had taken me such an age to choose one pair I didn't want to be there till 2010 and as I have a life outside of the opticians I just took one and they gave me £20 off. Now that I've collected them I absolutely hate them to bits, they are heavy over the eyes and make me look permanently grumpy and as if I've got 2 lots of eyebrows. I've given myself a reasonable time to adjust to a different look but I know I'm not going to wear them. It's not the opticians fault -I chose them, but I wonder if there's any kind of second hand market for glasses, these cost me nearly 2 months food bill and I can ill afford to have them sitting in the cupboard, and could do with selling them. Failing that I'll pass them to one of the glasses charities.

Any thoughts anyone? I've been so stupid. Thanks.

Liz

Poppy9

Go back to the opticians and ask them will the lens fit in another frame. Frames are cheap, it's the lens that cost the money.

Have you asked other people for honest opinions? If you wore the same glasses for years these must be an improvement as they will look more modern/fashionable.

Alikay

I've done this before, and unfortunately there wasn't anything the optician could do, as the lenses are cut/ground to fit the dimensions of a particular frame. Maybe if the frames come in a different softer colour, perhaps they'd let you swap? I also felt I looked cross and the spex were very obvious due to my previous ones being a thinner lighter metal frame and a softer colour, but the fashion IS for more obvious spec styles these days, with strong shapes, thicker arms and bolder contrasts - maybe you'll get used to them.:D

minnie123

Why don't you keep them as a spare any buy some more. I got mine from a website "Want Glasses" and I went through quidco and got cashback. They were only £25 and they look as good as the £200 plus ones in the opticians.

tidus

Have you considered going back to the opticians and telling them you've changed your mind about the frame? Many places will cooperate and let you swap them, especially if you went to one of the big companies, who have a 30-60day satisfaction guarantee in many cases. The frame will have to be in a re-sellable condition however, but it should be OK if you've hardly worn them.

I bet even a little place would try to help you out. Give it a go.

elljay

Thanks all, but to tell the truth even if the shop did take them back I don't feel I have the confidence to choose something else. I don't know how to make that decision, as I said they all look much the same and all I see is me in glasses, grumpy or otherwise. As Poppy9 and Alikay have said, they're probably fashionable and all that, but I'm not a particularly fashionable person so any would probably look wrong. I need to have them adjusted slightly so I'll sound them out when I go in next.

Thanks everyone, I'm just so cross with myself over this!

foxxymynx

could you not take someone that you trust with you?

I hate choosing frames (used to love it when I as a teen) and my DH always helps me choose now and it's usually a frame that he's picked up that I end up getting!

Poppy9

Take some pictures of yourself in your new specs and then you will see yourself how others see you or even take a picture and PM someone you trust on this site you with old and new glasses.

I hate myself in glasses as I have a wide nose bridge and glasses sit lopside on me. Luckily I only have to wear them for driving, TV or theatre etc but I take my OH or DD with me and they are blunt (when they get up off the floor from laughing) if the glasses look really awful!

If you want to PM me I will give you an honest opinion.