Prescription eyeglasses: What a racket!

[scho63]

I've been wearing contact lenses for about 45 years and only wear my eyeglasses for backup, puttering around the house, to give me eyes a rest or for a quick short drive to a store or fast food drive through.

I hadn't bought new eyeglasses for about 14 years and they are beat up, scratched and old prescription.

During the last 3 months of my doctor-palooza visits, I went to my opthalmologist for a checkup. I suffered two retinal detachments, one in June 2002 in my right eye and the second with two tears in my left eye in May 2004, almost to the day.

My prescription is super high as my eyesight is horrible. I need binoculars to see 5 feet in front of me.

About a month ago got the checkup done and a new prescription.

This week I went shopping for a new pair of eyeglasses. I nearly fainted as I got prices with the frames I picked of $585-$730. The refractive lenses for high prescriptions was over $300 alone.

Today I went to Walmart vision and got a real nice pair of glasses and lenses for $213.

I felt like a champ leaving a Walmart. What a difference.

How the hell can a family afford eyeglasses if a couple of kids and one parent needs them.

Holy shit just crazy cost.

[BWillie]

Zenni pretty cheap but you can't get exactly what you want. I have a couple golf sunglasses that I don't care about but if you want to get nice designer sunglasses...shit $800+

[007]

****. Lets talk car insurance dude. Talk about completely raping the public.

[TambaBerry]

Yeah my pair last year cost me 20$ and that was for copay

[lewdog]

Get those losers you work for to offer you medical, vision and dental insurance.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Get those losers you work for to offer you medical, vision and dental insurance.

I have super health insurance and $0 out of pocket for anything BUT eyeglasses or contacts. My eye exam was covered.

My CPAP machine and mask were 100% covered and was like $1,200 retail.

My prescriptions $0 co-pay. Doc visits and hospital 0% co-pay.

I get two dental checkups a year, free emergency dental and most all covered with pre-approval.

Only having to cover about $500 a year out of pocket for contacts and $225 once every 10-15 years for a new pair of eyeglasses is fine by me.

I can't imagine how much I would have had to spend since 2019 with everything I have been through medically.

I wouldn't be having $1 lunches cause I would be broke as a joke.

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by DaFace

You can get a pair on Zenni for $7, though I usually add a few upgrades and end up around $50.

This is the way to go. Before I had cataract surgery I bought from Zenni. I had a really funky prescription and they had no problem fulfilling it. I did upgrade frames and my prescription was more expensive but I still only paid about $80.

One caveat. My first order arrived within a week. It came from their USA factory. Subsequent orders came from China and took a couple of weeks. If you need them fast, pay the $20 expedite fee. It's worth it.

[scho63]

Learned about Zenni today.

Who said CP isn't a wealth of knowledge?

Even poop threads have a nugget of knowledge if you look hard enough.

[myselff77]

I jumped on the Zenni bandwagon when my son learned how to quickly rip glasses off my face and throw them. Much better he throw and scratch up a $50 pair of glasses than the $600 pair I previously had. I haven't really noticed any difference in quality either.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by myselff77

I jumped on the Zenni bandwagon when my son learned how to quickly rip glasses off my face and throw them. Much better he throw and scratch up a $50 pair of glasses than the $600 pair I previously had. I haven't really noticed any difference in quality either.

My wife and I have bought ours from Zenni exclusively for about the past decade. I read reviews online from people who have the opinion that they're lower quality, but I guess I don't have the context to understand in what way. I'm sure other places are more stylish if that's what you're going for, but I've gotten plenty of compliments for the ones I have, so they're not exactly ugly.

I pay for the upgrades to smudge-resistant lenses, but that's largely it. I've never had an issue with scratches (and I largely just use my shirts to clean them - definitely not going out of my way to use microfiber cloths every time or anything). I suppose if you literally get a $7 pair, it's likely that the frames will be pretty flimsy, but that seems what you would expect. I just looked at my order history, and I tend to order a new pair every 3-4 years, which seems pretty average I would think.

The only major downside from my perspective is that you can't try things on. Every once in a while, we've gotten a pair that we ended up not liking. That does suck, but when you're paying $20 instead of $200 (or more), it's pretty easy to just accept that you'll make a mistake from time to time, and it still works out well in your favor in the end.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by 007

****. Lets talk car insurance dude. Talk about completely raping the public.

My wife was sitting at a stop light in heavy traffic. Some teenager wasn't paying attention and ran into the back on her. Car totaled.

Fast forward to our next bill. Goes up $200. I call to ask why and its because my wife was in wreck. But, it wasnt her fault. Doesnt matter. You were involved in a wreck, everyone gets a rate increase because Florida is a "no fault" state they can raise rates on everyone just like you caused the wreck.

[srvy]

[luv]

My husband doesn't wear glasses, and I didn't start wearing glasses until I was 24. I'm hoping the kiddo is like his dad, but, if not, I'm hoping he's old enough to pay for his own by the time he starts needing them.

No-line bifocals are expensive, too.

[FlaChief58]

Thankfully, I only need readers.

[Coach]

The only complaint I have is that the high RX isn't compatible with rimless glasses that I have come across, unfortunately.

[lcarus]

Originally Posted by scho63

Even poop threads have a nugget of knowledge if you look hard enough.

They have nuggets of poop too