To think nowadays you need a mortgage if you need glasses?

I’ve just had an eye test, been wearing glasses since I was 10.( now in late 50’s)
I’d left it for around 3 1/2 years since my last test, had changed jobs and couldn't justify the cost
Its cost £870 for the test and new glasses
I nearly fainted! Think the frame was nearly £300?! But wearing glasses i feel comfortable in is important to me , I have a hang up from wearing those hideous nhs frames when i was a teenager, pink or blue
It has been around £600 for my glasses in years gone by…
All our Dc’s wear glasses too, our eldest pays for his own as he’s working
our middle DS is still studying so we bought his last year—£600
Our DD has been having the special lenses that slow down the rate of short sightedness,
been paying for those at around £35 per month? With a sizeable amount up front
Think i’ll be wearing the new glasses forever now-crazy prices

I nearly put you abu because if you think that’s expensive, wait until varifocals!

The lenses alone are over £300

If you are close to an Iolla I really recommend. You need to already have an eye test then go in choose any frame and the cost is always £85 for single lens glasses including all lens coatings and thinning as required. It’s a really refreshing pricing strategy and the frames are designed and made by them in house not by one of the major operators. They are the first pair of glasses I’ve had that I think really suit me and that I feel look good.

Unfortunately those websites are only useful for people who have fairly simple prescriptions.

I get mine online. I wear varifocals so mine can run expensive even in Specsavers. My most recent ones cost me £65 at Glasses Direct.

I just bought some glasses which set me back almost £400. I agree with you!

The fact that they're 'only 50p a day' isn't much help when they can break anytime and you then have to stump up £500+ for a replacement.

If my glasses break, I can't work. I can't drive. I'm fucked.

Luckily my parents pay for mine. Yes, I'm 37 and my parents still pay for my glasses.

I agree, it really irritates me. I don't WANt new glasses, I just need a new prescription. I did go online last time and still expensive but half the price of Vision Express reglazing.

I agree, it really irritates me. I don't WANt new glasses, I just need a new prescription. I did go online last time and still expensive but half the price of Vision Express reglazing.

Because long long ago, at some point ,Margaret Thatcher took optical services out of the NHS except for those people who it was decided needed them most.So people more at risk of eye disease,children and people receiving some benefits/ low income get free sight tests.Of those,children and the people on some benefits/low income get help with the cost of glasses as well.

Upsetting, isn't it? The same happened to me, couldn't find them for 2 months and then I found them yesterday!! They'd fallen down in the car between the seat and handbrake. Good luck, keep looking ....(note to self- dont buy Prada spectacles)

Nearest Costco: 60 miles away!

Thankfully, I'm old, so don't have to pay. I have Varifocals, which bumps the price up.

I really need new glasses, but every time I see some I like, I get so shocked by the price that I can't justify spending that much. I saw some really lovely frames in an independent optician's recently and asked the price: £430, just for the frames!

I looked at the frames in Asda, but there weren't any I liked.

If it's something you use everyday then it works out to about 50p a day, which seems pretty cheap if you consider the alternative isn't being able to see!

I think glasses are actually cheaper than ever before because there are so many alternatives like glasses direct etc. Twenty years ago you could only buy them on the high street and didn't have other options.

Would further the recommendation for asda though.

Also a lot of workplaces will pay for/refund your eye test, might be worth double checking with yours, or even suggesting it if they don't already.

Yes to all of the above but throw in needing prescription sunglasses too! £500! (Got it down to £400 by only having the middle range thinning in the sunglasses and getting the cheapest frame.)

My eyesight is so bad and my prescription so complicated, the cheapest pair of glasses I can get is around £600. I can no longer wear make up, have short, boring hair that I can't colour due to allergies, and I can only wear trousers and flat shoes due to painful, swollen joints so that does save me a bit of cash.
I have to make sure I save over the year in case I need new specs.

Unfortunately not all ASDA stores have opticians - our nearest one is over two hours away.

I was going to say the same. If you wear them at other times then it doesn't apply, unless you have a different pair solely for vdu use which would qualify.

It's bad when you start becoming nearsighted too and need varifocals.

I had no issues using my local optician until that happened. I then needed to change my lenses every year for a few years.

My local opticians wanted £180 for the frameless style I prefer to wear. Then £350 for the lenses. I couldn't justify £350 again and again as my reading prescription changed.

Asda glasses are slightly less robust, in my experience. BUT they are a lot less expensive and I'll take the trade off. £160 for 2 pairs of glasses (one sunglasses) with thinned, varifocal lenses and anti glare coating. Bargain.

My last pair of glasses was just over £500 - that was with an offer on the lenses and after an nhs voucher had been removed.

However, I have complex lenses (-12.5) and they were varifocals. The frames were about £160, because they come with a sunglasses that magnet on to the front (due to the strength of my lens I can't get sunglasses of the shelf, and due to price I don't want to get a pair just to be sunglasses, so the extra is worth it. They are so easy to put on and off too).

The cost of glasses has gone up each time I get a new pair- approx every 1-2 years.

@LarryForPrimeMinister You have said you are as blind as a bat without glasses. What strength are your lens?

My understanding is once they become complex ( which i think is -10 for shortsighted but may be wrong) you get a free eye test and a voucher towards the cost of lenses (I thinknit is about £20 per lenses once every 2 years so not a massive amount, but better than nothing.

I recommend Specs by Post. Their prices are low, there's a good choice, and customer service excellent. 👓

I get free tests (terrible eyesight) but even with not very exciting frames, my thinned varifocal lenses at specsavers were about £400. I might look at asda or other providers.

The problem is that they are essential for people who need them (and cost zero for those who are lucky enough not to), and 'cheap' or 'expensive' mean nothing if the price is more money than you have available to buy them; they're something that you must have, but you nevertheless have to somehow do without if you can't afford the cost.

Just like poor people shouldn't have to sit at home freezing or go without meals, but if they don't have the money needed to pay for heating or food, they are left with little alternative.

£300 is a bargain - mine are over £500 a pair.

They are, indeed, cheaper, but after a "fun" experience with them refusing to admit my lenses were not what they should be (after the second time I went back) I ended up at the eye hospital. It turned out that my lenses were not the correct ones for my eyes, nor did they correspond to the prescription they had given me, which was not the same as what was in the glasses, nor was it what I needed. After that experience I have stuck with independent opticians and avoided the big chains! As I need varifocals, thinner lenses and correction for astigmatism as well as being very short sighted, my lenses tend to cost several arms and several legs. Sympathy to the OP, I know the feeling.

They only have to pay for the glasses if you use them solely for VDU.