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

My last bill for reading glasses, eye test, retina scan and all that jazz was £500!! I go to a lovely private family run shop who we’ve used since the late 90’s. There’s no hard sell, they don’t do buy one get one free, prescription is always spot on. Not cheap but a great service. They even give tea and biccies and bring selections of frames based on face shape.

I recently got my first pair of varifocals. Went to Costco. Designer frame was £120 but lenses were almost £300!

Must vary depending where you are then, just had mine done and it was only £5 for the scan

Try the dentist. Mine told me I need a tooth removed.
The quote for extraction, bone grafting, implant and crown is around £7k. My insurance will cover around £2k. I can afford the £5k luckily enough but what do most people do. Bankers. And that’s just ONE tooth!

I get my eyes tested and buy my specs online…mine are only reading glasses tho.

You aren’t wrong, I had a shock in July at specsavers at how much they wanted for a pair of glasses, like another poster I’m
8.5 and it upsets me how much I have to pay for thinning
the service was so poor in specsavers I went to ace and Tate (stores in most cities) and thanks to their summer offer got 2 pairs for £450
sidenote- I collected them Saturday, couldn’t see, dud a test their, specsavers had made errors on the prescription for varifocals so got to get them redone 🙄

My specialist lenses cost £700 alone. Specsavers and co cant do them. They,ve tried numerous times in various different shops...hopeless. Im dreading going back.

Nothing compared to Europe, let me tell you! My mother and I both have terrible eyesight - we must have spent thousands on glasses over the years - and that was with the health insurance discount of €300 each every two years! Coming to the UK and getting 2 pairs for £350 (at my last appointment in December) was a pleasant surprise!

I'm desperate for new glasses. Only last time I bought them it was over £400 and that was peak COVID times. I dread to think what it'll be this time round but I'm not sure I can put it off much longer.

Is "Bankers" a cross between "bonkers" and "wankers" or just a comment on their bank balance.

I am minus 10 and need varifocals too now so my last pair including the test was £700.

My new varifocal lenses were £600 last month and that was reusing my existing frames. I don't have a difficult prescription either, just reading and computer distance along with a tiny distance correction that I don't really need but it's just easier than putting glasses on and off every 5 minutes.

There is no way that they can justify the price.

I got similar from Asda this year for £120. 2 pairs of varifocals (one sunglasses) . Very pleased . They’d have been £400 at Vision express

Once you get to a certain level of short sightedness, you can't buy glasses online - I think the strongest they go is about -8

I don't think most people recommending online services realise this.

Looking on the bright side, I've not had to pay for eyesight tests since one of my eyes fell below the -10 mark!

YANBU but hearing aids are even worse. Can pay £5000 for a decent pair. And please don't suggest NHS aids. I have a pair. They sit in my drawer unused.

The problem with places like Iolla is that their idea of 'super thin lenses' is actually nowhere near the level you actually need when you have a more extreme prescription. Im -8 in both eyes which is bad enough but not at the level of a lot of people. I was convinced by Iolla a year or so ago that their lenses would be fine for me - nope! When I went to collect them, even 'thinned' they were still so thick, all i could see was the edges as I wore them and they were so heavy. Thankfully they did agree to refund me but it was disappointing.
Asda are similar if not quite as bad, their top level thinning is a bit better than Iolla but still not as good as other high street/independent opticians where you have to pay extra. And the last time i went there i had to argue with the shop assistant because she said she couldnt authorise the top level thinning for my prescription, only the middle one (which would be nowhere near thin enough) and I only got them in the end after I got the manager involved to authorise them 'as an exception this time' 🙄

You've just reminded me that I bought two $400 pairs, one for reading and one for driving and I have no idea where either pair are! I also suspect I have 3 $40 readers on my head right now....

I had a half price voucher for prescription sunglasses. Paid £130 …still feel I’ve been scammed. They’re supposed to be designer but look and feel like I bought them on a beach in Tenerife

Sight test yesterday, DSE voucher through work and mother had glaucoma so free test with Specsavers, paid £5 for a thorough test on the machines!
Prescription received told SS assistant their cheapest was still expensive at £120.
Came home glasses direct £40. Job jobbed.

Yep, all these responses saying “oh, just go online!” are so frustrating - I have severe astigmatism and am -9 in both eyes - getting glasses online just isn’t an option and it’s the same for many others.

I’m very lucky that my parents pay for my glasses as I couldn’t function without them.

Why on earth are you all paying these prices?! I was quoted £280 for my varifocals at my last test and I just walked out with the prescription and got two pairs of varifocals on Firmoo delivered, with transitions for £180. Ironically my glasses turned up before the predicted delivery date in specsavers. Also got two pairs on another foreign site for £120 delivered. You can get standard glasses for £10-30!!! It’s insane that People are paying all this money when you get perfectly decent glasses that do exactly the same job for a fraction of the price and the chances are, nobody will have the same frames as you.

Only £5 now for the OCT scan! I had it done yesterday.

Because if you have a complex prescription then buying online isn’t an option, as has been explained on here multiple times already 🫣

Can anyone else here with a high prescription not get them thinned as they get fishbowl effect? I had lenses thinned once and it was horrible. I felt sick walking around as everything was curved at the edges 🤮

Prices are going up and its tough to keep independent opticians going. Rent rates etc etc.
We own an opticians and I am an optometrist.
We use top of the range lenses. But have cheaper lens options too. We stock quality frames and do second pairs half price. We are really busy tg. People go online alot and that's a further pressure on stand alone shops and to SS .There are differences in lens quality and coatings and varifocals. Someone getting used to varis and not is often down to when they actually got them was it the appropriate time to get them / were they needed or were they dispensed for the big sale!!
Quality frames last.
Had a woman in yesterday wanting to reglaze a ten yr old juicy couture sun glass. Surely will break on glazing. She was happy when I explained plastic gets brittle with age and if you love them don't do it!
Glasses are expensive and getting more so due to cost of living ie So less people changing glasses every 2 years and pressures on stand alone shops to stay open. Like every other high street business .

Not all lenses are the same and esp coatings and coating quality.