cheap strong glasses

Catspajamas

Hi I wonder if anyone could help me. I have recently got my prescription for glasses with my worst eye being -10 distance sph (what ever that means!) I can't see a thing without them.
I really need some new glasses as this has got quite a bit worse from my previous pair. I just can't find anywhere cheap to buy them from. I've tried online, but no sites I can find will do below -8. The cheapest I can find at my optician (Specsavers) is their cheapest frame plus £40 for thinning. I know the thinning is not 100% necessary, but my previous glasses weren't thinned and the lenses are just rediculously thick, heavy and quite uncomfortable. It is like looking through the bottom of a milk bottle!

I am getting really fed up of having to buy glasses every few years, I am not even interested in designer frames or anything fancy, I just want to be able to see and really resent having to pay to be honest! Oh well rant over. Any advice would be great!

Thanks everyone

Catspajamas

I've tried glasses direct but they won't do any worse than -8

gunsandbanjos

megancara wrote: »

I've tried glasses direct but they won't do any worse than -8

I missed that bit of your post so deleted my recommendation.

OCD

Go to you local optician. That way you will get the glasses made, fitted and adjusted to you accurately.

It is worth paying for this service and a quality pair of glasses.

Catspajamas

I understand that my optician is going to do all that, but it just seems like they have a monopoly on it! I want to get good glasses but it would by moneysaving if I didn't shop around. At the end of the day I've got a fixed budget so it would be nice to be able to get some mildly attractive thinned frames rather than the cheapest ones from my optician. This will be my second pair in the last year due to deteriorating eyesight and so any money saved would be great as I already have to pay for the tests. I will find the money from somewhere if there is no other option as there is no choice really...I need to see!

Rebekah24

hmm.. if you have a valid prescription shouldnt be a problem buying elsewhere. What about just getting the lenses updated?? I have had my specs for 6 years! Just get new lenses

Hopefully someone will have some recommendations for you sharpish!

mishkanorman

although you may want to save money, is it really worth cutting corners with your eyesight ? even the slightest error in fitting and centralising the lenses will mean your glasses will be useless.

you should be entitled to a complex lens voucher which will give a bit of help towards the cost, another option is to look at something like a Bupa plan which may work out more cost effective.

Humphrey10

megancara wrote: »

I understand that my optician is going to do all that, but it just seems like they have a monopoly on it!

I need to see!

if you need to see get the glasses made by a proper optician, if you don't need to see too well and don't mind the glasses being made up incorrectly go to Specsavers or order them from the Internet etc. I got some from specsavers once, the prescription was slightly wrong and there was an unneeded correction for astigmatism, I'm never going again!

melancholly

just lost a whole post - boo!

try D&A and Boots to check prices. don't be afraid to ask for a discount (Boots did 10% off mine years ago - i was just taking a while to decide and they offered it, without me even trying to haggle!).

i get mine done at costco, which ends up about the same as the online prices, but it still isn't 'cheap' by any stretch (i'm about -9.5, which is quite similar - maybe by next year i'll hit the magic 10 to get a complex lens voucher!). thin lenses aren't optional - my lenses are the 1.74 thinnest kind and still are about a centimetre thick at the edges.

it sucks having to pay so much.... it really does. it's something i need and can't do anything without. don't expect to get thin frames though - at this level, the lenses will be thick and nice light metal frames aren't a good option.

Catspajamas

mishkanorman wrote: »

you should be entitled to a complex lens voucher which will give a bit of help towards the cost

Thanks so much for this information, I had no idea that there was any NHS help and will look into this.

GlasweJen

Asda will do you a pair of glasses for £65. That's with extra thin (or glass) lenses, the MAR coating and scratch resistant coating.