Glasses noo!

[Gray]

Just been Opticians, looks like im in need of glasses [Knew that anyway] just spent damn near £350 on a pair, erk, pick them up next week i recall

Nooo :'(

I was impressed by how much my vision did increase though, everything seemed that much clearer. The main reason for getting them was down to the Advanced Driving and the likes because i was having problems seeing signs at a distance.

Got some Oakley Frame, that was the stinger, i dont know if im gonna get used to wearing them though when out and about :s

 

[ECA]

Rah welcome to the club speccles!

I wear a pair of £300 police frames, they look so good compared to what I was wearing years ago during school etc.

Thank god there are good looking glasses these days ( my eyes are too sensitive for contacts ).

 

[Ch3tan]

Glasses cost a fortune, but the frames can be had for a pittance if you shop around. It's the ultra thin glass lenses that kick your bank balance.

Contacts are also very very comfortable these days, and the latest disposables can be worn for 20 hours or so without drying up. May be worth considering.

 

[TdC]

that's pretty expensive though. I've got a pair of ray-bans for a third of that. as Chet says, it's the good glass that will be the expensive bit. I've got some specially coated stuff that is pretty harsh per glass. The optician told me off for going mountainbiking with them on

 

[Ch3tan]

Europe seems to be cheaper for frames and lenses than the UK. Germany especially, we get raped for glasses here

Gray, good point raised by teeds though -exactly how bad are your eyes? Because I pay about that for mine, and my eyes are shot to buggery. If your eyes are not that bad it sounds like you have been ripped off.

 

[Tom]

My glasses were getting so bad I opted for eye surgery to correct most of the problem.

Which it has, and I can now wear spiffy fashion specs. The surgeon neglected to inform me of the slightly droopy eyelid I now have I look like a bit of a spacker so one day I think Mr Wallet will be paying a visit to Mr Plastic Surgeon's bank.

 

[TdC]

the average lens, and that's just with anti-glare coating and no special wierd optical tricks, here in holland costs about 80e each for a non-glass one. um, 55 squids?

I suppose the average frame costs about 200e (120gbp?). Ofc there are cheaper and more expensive ones. I was offered a frame for 550e, say 400gbp, but that would be hand made, while I watched, and tailor made to my face by the optician. I'd expect nothing less for that price.

 

[Gray]

Well its over a distance that my eyes are fubar, the optician said anything over 2 meters seems to be the problem, so short-sightedness.

The Frames i got were some Titanium Oakley ones, which cost £240 -20% due to some sale that was on, the lens themselves cost £128, they was some "special" lens which began with "Z" cant recall the name mind.

I got shot over the price of the eye test too, damn near £25 for that, evil prices... It was Conlon's that i went too

 

[Ch3tan]

No idea who conlans are, but the eye test fee is correct. Doesn't sound too bad, except I think the price of the frames still seems high. Try and find out what is making your lenses cost so much though.

If your eyes are over about -4 then your lenses are going to start getting thick and you need to spend the cash on thinner lenses, are your eyes that bad?

 

[TdC]

wierd. eyetests are free over here mostly. your country sucks!

 

[Ch3tan]

Well duh! we've been saying that for years. And people still want to move over here for a "better life"*.









*benefits

 

[Tom]

At my opticians they have a machine that records a hi res piccie of your retinas at every test. Costs about another £10 to have this done, but each time you visit they take another picture, and they can see problems as they develop by comparing previous photographs with the most recent.

 

[tris-]

wierd. eyetests are free over here mostly. your country sucks!

might pop into an opticians next time im in holland then

 

[Noc0de]

I just paid £200 for 2 pairs of designer frames - pretty impressed tbh.

One pair are fcuk and the others are osiris.

Worked out @:

£125 for 1st pair of frames + standard Pentax Lens
£125 for 2nd pair of frames + standard Pentax Lens

Buy 2 for 1 (guess where I shopped? ) = £125

Then pay for the coatings or alterations to lenses.

So I had anti-reflective + anti-scratch put on both @ 30 each (£60).

Came to just over £200 w/ £18 eye-test (which I'm claim back off company).

It's true, you start paying shite loads for the thin or super thin lenses e.g. £60 > per pair to have this - but luckily I'm not completely blind so don't need.

Always a bit miffed how you can pay like £300 for a single pair of glasses/lenses when there are 2 for 1 deals going etc. Seems like rather a lot of money and no back-up pair? :-o

 

[taB]

I'm gonna use this lot for my next pair, http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk opticians are too bloomin expensive.

Also, if you are using a computer at work (how else are you posting here) then your company health & safety document most likely requires the company to pay for an annual eye test if you want it, I know mine does.


Ben.

 

[TdC]

Seems like rather a lot of money and no back-up pair? :-o

yeah back-up pair ftw tbh. I have a fairly active hobby that I do, and have an extra pair of glasses (the cheapest I could find) especially for that, so if I prang and break them it won't matter that much.

 

[Gamah]

I wear Quicksilver frames, being blind is a bit of a shit (although my vision isn't that bad, I can see without them on just cant read any signs etc ). I can't wear contacts because I can't touch my eyes, gonna get laser surgery done one of these days though.

You're really self concouis of them when you first start wearing them, but after a while you get used to it and don't even notice them.

 

[TdC]

yeah, I was looking at the QS frames before I settled on teh RayBans. they're nice too but the ones I tried had straight legs as opposed to the more standard ear hooky things and I wasn't too keen on them.

 

[MaCaBr3]

I have perfect vision, I rule.

 

[Gamah]

I have perfect vision, I rule.

You shall be part of the master race when Hitler returns!1

 

[Ch3tan]

Always a bit miffed how you can pay like £300 for a single pair of glasses/lenses when there are 2 for 1 deals going etc. Seems like rather a lot of money and no back-up pair? :-o

As you said standard lenses. Which are shit for anyone with a high prescription.

People pay stupid money so they can have thin, good quality, ultra light glasses. These are never included in crappy 2 for 1 deals.

Why would I want a backup pair that I would feal like a donought wearing when I can simply have disposable contacts for backup? Glasses are covered under home insurance anyway.

 

[Mobius]

I've had glasses for about 5 years now. Feels a bit weird at first, I found myself constantly taking them on and off, trying to live without them. Eventually you forget they are on your face though and you take them on and off when you go to bed without even realising it. I tried contacts but I have a dodgy thing with eyes, like if you put your fingers near my eyes or your own eyes, mine will water like mad. Or if anybody in a movie has anything happen to their eyes it sets mine off too. Obviously this made it difficult to put contacts in My glasses are quite good though, they're bendy and scratch resistant. They've taken quite a battering and are relatively unscathed.

 

[Noc0de]

As you said standard lenses. Which are shit for anyone with a high prescription.

People pay stupid money so they can have thin, good quality, ultra light glasses. These are never included in crappy 2 for 1 deals.

Why would I want a backup pair that I would feal like a donought wearing when I can simply have disposable contacts for backup? Glasses are covered under home insurance anyway.

I believe the thin & light / ultra-thin lenses are included - you just pay more e.g. £60 for thin & light, or £80 for ultra-thin. However, its still 2 for 1 on frames.

So if I'd have been as blind as a bat and needed something like ultra-thin lenses it still would have been 80 * 2 + 125 = 285 (still cheaper than £300 and got back-up pair that don't make you look like a donut).

Also, seems a shame to make a claim on home insurance for a pair of glasses?

 

[inactionman]

Just get surgery like I did, it cost me £900, and I've now got perfect vision. Still suffer a bit from dry eyes, but that should clear up in about 2 months (according to the surgeon), and it's controllable with eye drops.

 

[TdC]

tbh I'm curious if my insurance will cover that. it's expensive over here though: about 1500eur per eye :/

 

[babs]

Mrs Babs had laser eye surgery last year. Cost 2,000 cos she had the wavefront thing which gives you a special retina scan and custom prescription, but contacts would've cost that much after a few years, and I think just about any cost would've been worth it for her. A week of wearing special goggles and lookiing a bit like a fly were the only drawbacks.

She got zapped at 3pm, by around 8pm she could see perfectly well and by the next morning's check-up she had better than 20/20.

I used to wear glasses cos I have some spazzy thing called amblyopia in one eye, but they didn't make any difference so I just walk about like some kind of cyclops bumpkin instead.

 

[inactionman]

Babs, sounds like she had Lasik (quicker recovery time, but the flap in the eye persists for a decade or so). I also had wavefront, but Lasek (the surgery that takes longer to recover from but has less long term complications than having a flap in your eye). It's even cheaper now, £395 per eye http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....MESE:IT&viewitem=&item=110077104753&rd=1&rd=1 , because my eye had lots of imperfections they threw in the wavefront for free. Yeah buying it through ebay seems a bit odd, but it's no different from the service they normally provide. They are just selling the slots that they normally find difficult to shift (e.g. saturdays like mine was).

Teedles, you may want to come over here to do it, it sounds a lot cheaper, and you can get the aftercare over there. Insurance won't cover it, although the long-term cost savings make it worth it!

 

[Ch3tan]

I believe the thin & light / ultra-thin lenses are included - you just pay more e.g. £60 for thin & light, or £80 for ultra-thin. However, its still 2 for 1 on frames.

So if I'd have been as blind as a bat and needed something like ultra-thin lenses it still would have been 80 * 2 + 125 = 285 (still cheaper than £300 and got back-up pair that don't make you look like a donut).

for the cheap plastic ones maybe. My glass lenses cost £130 last time I had them done. Prices may have come down since then, but I would be very suprised if they let you have the good quality glass lenses for less than a £100 in this country.

edit - yep, have a look on specsavers webby. The cheap pentax plastic ones are under a £100, but the good quality pentax, nikon and kodak glass lenses cost nearer to £200. And I have been wearing glasses for 3/4's of my life and beleive me there is a difference.

 

[TdC]

395gbp = 600eur. 1200 eur both eyes, plus a hundred or so for a return flight and some for expenses. say 1500 total.

I saw an IntraLASIK treatment that used lasers only, ie the initial cut is also by laser, for both eyes here for 2898e. that's also the most expensive one btw: you can get LASEK by the same people for 998e.

 

[inactionman]

If you are seriously looking at it teedles, go for lasek, it's a 5 day recovery time, but it's a lot less invasive! Plus it's a lot cheaper, as you don't have to worry about extra lasers and flaps, as they just use alcohol to detach a flap of the outer layer of skin from the eye and then laser directly on the cornea (the skin flap is then put back to act as a sort of bandage, under a bandage contact lens).

Bear in mind that after the surgery you won't be able to bike for a few weeks, plus they recommend wearing sunglasses outside for the first 3 months.

Also well worth getting wavefront!