Glasses - Why so much?!

Kapakra_2

hi everyone.

I'm looking for a little advice, I'm partially sighted, by that I mean I have no sight from my right eye and I'm very short sighted in my left.

this usually has no impact on my day to day life, until it seems need new glasses!

I was given eye test (free in Scotland) and then told the best price for lenses, not including frames, was almost £400! now considering one lens has almost no prescription I thought this was a bit expensive. I shoped around a bit and can't seem to get a better price.

it seems a bit harsh that they should be so expensive, if I didn't have them I would be house bound!

has anyone had a similar experience? id be interested to hear it.

dose anyone have any advice on reducing the cost?

thanks

lostinrates

kapakra wrote: »

it seems a bit harsh that they should be so expensive, if I didn't have them I would be house bound!

I can't help with practcalities of cost, but to help you feel better about the cost: it is a price worth paying to not be housebound

melancholly

what prescription do you have? i'm ~-9 in both eyes and pay under £300 for frames and lenses at costco. i think the lenses were £125 each and that's at the maximum index to make them as thin as possible.

ali-t

You should be able to get some money off. I used to get an NHS discount for having a complex presecription which was -10 in one eye and -8 in the other with astigmatism.

I always consoled myself that with cost per wear over 1-2 years it wasn't actually that much.

GlasweJen

Asda don't charge for thin lenses if your prescription is between -20 and +20 and your cyl is less than 6. Their glasses are £50 for george glasses, £70 for designer glasses or you can get 2 for £90. If you're wearing vari/bifocals you pay a £40 top up per pair of glasses (£110 for 1 pair or 2 for £170).

I should mention that i work for asda opticians but we don't get comission from sales so i don't profit from making this post.

melancholly

GlasweJen wrote: »

Asda don't charge for thin lenses if your prescription is between -20 and +20 and your cyl is less than 6. Their glasses are £50 for george glasses, £70 for designer glasses or you can get 2 for £90. If you're wearing vari/bifocals you pay a £40 top up per pair of glasses (£110 for 1 pair or 2 for £170).

I should mention that i work for asda opticians but we don't get comission from sales so i don't profit from making this post.

what index is that? that's the first place i've heard of that does this!! even online my lenses were over £100 each!

GlasweJen

We have a chart that we use to determine which index to use. Not meant to reveal the way we do it but our thickest plastic lens is a 1.5, we go right up to 1.74 double aspheric plastic and 1.8 and 1.91 glass is also included in the offer. All lenses are anti-reflective coated and all kids lenses have UV coating as standard as well.

It all depends on your prescription, if you're above a certain threshold your lens isn't determined by the chart but by a dispensing optician.

jenniewb

I have a similar problem with my lenses being a high prescription, different in each eye and then having an astigmatism in each eye.

I get quoted prices starting at £300 and if I choose to get these lenses, they are so heavy for my face, give me headaches and slide down my nose. (I tried them before!) the best lenses I had were slightly thinner, came in at £400 but OUCH! Am I not so very grateful to have parents to buy me decent Xmas presents! (I went halves, near enough sold the contents of my home to ebay).

I was told I am not short sighted enough to get the full price paid for with any NHS discount as I am low waged. They offered £30 plus the eye test cost. I have tried several optitions and all give prices starting at around £300. Its so annoying that there is no help with costs out there as I need my eyes a great deal! I cannot even see the computer screen without them let alone bus details, read food details or find many things (I realised this the hard way after having a freak accident and going without my glasses for a week whilst a new pair were remade for me).

One thing I would add though: get insurance! I think my lense insurance was the best thing I ever did!

Skint_Catt

I would second & third Asda - they are amazingly helpful (and cheap) for my contacts and DH got varifocals for £140 - his Dad paid over £400 It's a bit of a drive for us but we won't go anywhere else now.

If you're still struggling with costs why not look to see if one of these Health Policies will give you a good payout?

Lirin

kapakra- I'm blind in my right eye, (optic nerve hypoplasia) and very short in the left, -5.25....Very simple order really, as I don't have to worry about axis or cyl!

I've paid up to £400 before for glasses, as I like the 1.6 double aspheric's, and I generally find the blind eye makes no difference- the lens in the right is usually the same as the left to balance out the weight.

www.glassesdirect.co.uk- not bad prices, only ordered from there the other day to see what the quality was like. Fairly fast delivery- had a request to contact their optician over a query on my order, which was simply both lenses being the same. Very impressed. I'm on a healthcare plan privately, which I'm usually getting much much more out of every year than I pay in. I just gave them the receipt from GD, and doesn't seem to have been a problem.

I'm not eligable for any help, as I'm not blind enough. It does push up an order asking for 1.6 lenses, anti-reflective coating, and anti-scratch (though I used to cut lenses for Specsavers and doubted very much whether it works, but usually only a few pounds.)

I'm going to go do a big order now from GD, as the initial order was simple plastic heavy lenses in plastic frames- 2 for 24 pounds. Initial order was to check the quality, and it's handy having a few spare pairs to throw in the car, even if they will never be fashionable!

I'll let you know how I get on.

Lirin

Adding- just ordered while it was in my head- £156.05 for two pairs, with free delivery. Was on here I found the link to them- there's a discount code GD1010 for 10% off.