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

Get a prescription and then uses glasses direct - much cheaper

It’s easy to circumvent high street opticians prices.
Get the eye test, ask for the prescription, find an online opticians and buy your glasses from them. I used to pay about £30-£40 for my glasses, and if you already have a couple of pairs you like you can send a pair off and have just new lenses fitted quite cheaply.

I tried this but ended up with headaches so now stick to the high street but avoid all the extras they offer.

Glasses Direct - I spend about £20 a pair

Yes @LarryForPrimeMinister , my DH is the same, he has really tricky, awkward, rather fragile eyesight, and he can't just send for some glasses off the internet for £12 as people often suggest. His prescription is rather intricate. He also has to have the lens thinning, as his prescription is strong, and he would look like he was wearing milk bottle bottoms otherwise.

Last time we went to Specsavers - only optician in our little town - he took up the buy one-get-one-free offer, but of course that only includes the frames and lens, and not the lens thinning, and the extra coating to prevent scratches, and the 'polarising,' and UV protection, and tints, and all that jazz.

Cost him £615 for 2 pairs of glasses this summer.... One distance pair and one reading pair. (Because all the bells and whistles that he needed were on both pairs...) In fact it costs a similar sum every time, and the amount goes up and up each time too! Sad thing is, this prescription/the glasses will be no good within 1.5 to 2 years, so we have to fork out a similar sum in every 1.5 to 2 years.

We do factor it into our finances, but it makes me quite cross that we are having to pay so much when he has no choice but to have them. It's not an option for him to just have one pair, as he needs reading glasses and distance glasses. Varifocals (1 pair) is an option, but they don't work out much cheaper with his prescription. and everything he needs. Plus, he has tried these and they make him nauseous.

Fortunately, I only need reading glasses and have very good eyesight apart from close up reading, so I can get a £69 pair, and another one free, and need nothing fancy doing, so I just pay the £69. (For 2 pairs.)

Yes I know other countries probably have it worse, and I should be grateful we have an NHS. I am still entitled to be pissed off with the price we have to pay for my husband's glasses.

.

Most people don't need private hearing aids either, Specsavers do NHS ones free. For big hearing problems the NHS does them free.

As the optician technicians spend an age adjusting the arms. If I did this myself, I would break the frames

I have one ear nearly half an inch higher than the other. I've watched them do this many times. All they do is warm them up and bend them. They often take them to a back room so nobody can see how basic the procedure is.

Sorry, but you went in and selected every extra going, of course it's going to cost a bomb.

I'm -11 in one eye and -12 in another, astigmatism is both. I don't go for any thinning or scratch resistance or extra tests because we simply can't afford it, so my lenses are heavy and look like jam jars. It is what it is. Normally get everything for under £100.

I didn’t realise you had to pay for all that in other parts of the UK. All those tests are free in Scotland. I just pay for my glasses.

As multiple posters have said now, not everyone can do that. Some of us have complex prescriptions and can’t access any of the online services.

@ved It is difficult, You have my sympathies. I have a complex prescription for high myopia etc and am still vain enough to want to wear my contacts although I am in my 60's and that is another cost. My prescription is still changing year on year .
@namechangetheworld
I wonder if you have an Asda optician near you where you could have a chat? The reason I ask is that they do my transition varifocals with thinner lenses for about £140. My prescription is just over -15 in both eyes with astigmatism.
You may qualify for a complex prescription voucher worth £40 as your prescription is more than over -10 too.
You do need to ask for this as I have never been offered it and only found this out recently.
Good luck as it is no fun wearing thicker lenses as they are heavier and then your specs can slip down needing constant adjustment, I feel for you.

Same here! I just buy reading glasses from Poundland now. They’re not the best quality but they do the trick.

my brother has glaucoma so for the past 10 years or so I’ve had free eye tests on the NHS. I was 60 a few weeks back so I think I now get free eye tests for being an oldie.

Using a dentist, as no NHS around here, really takes my breath away.

The cost of glasses seems small fry. 🙄

My last pair of varifocals were £750. I admit I chose Lindbergh’s, frameless glasses, which I know are expensive.

I was absolutely shocked this time, when they quoted me £1,400 for clear frames, not Lindbergh’s and thinned varifocals. I refused them, saying the price was too big a jump for me!

I’d be grateful to pay £300! After DH’s experience in a large chain, when he couldn’t see through the glasses, they had had made for him (complex prescription with thinned lenses), it’s put me off the high street chains! They also refused him the two pairs for the price of one offer!

Yep sure - but just because it’s not suitable for everyone doesn’t mean it’s not a helpful post does it? Do you think no-one should mention any options just because they don’t work for every single case?
just trying to help!

I think people don't need to keep repeating the same suggestions over and over again.

That's kind of a feature of MN.
Nobody RTFT 🤷🏼

I think it's quite charming that everyone wants to be helpful and hey, kudos to specs direct for getting several recommendations👍🏼

I have a VERY complex prescription and bought two pairs online from Vooglam and I’m very happy with the results. About £160 for two pairs

Laser eye treatment that cost £2500 20 years ago and I still don’t need glasses sounds like I’ve more than had my money’s worth with these costs

Thanks for that I haven't come across them before, looks like there is one not to far from me. I'm going to book an options appointment and then go along and see what they can offer.

I would have loved to have tried something like that at some point but my prescription has never been stable enough.

There is no way I could cope with wearing thick or heavy lenses though. I get regular migraines and the extra weight is actually painful 😒. Same reason I gave up wearing contact lenses as you need to take them out to sleep and I can't cope with trying to take them out with a migraine. I just get them to often.

No, it's not.

It's easy if you have a piddly little -5 prescription.

I'm -13.5 with astigmatism. Not easy to circumvent high street prices, in fact it's not possible.

Hi - honestly I am -14 with astigmatism, used my local opticians prescription online with Vooglam for £80 a pair, I was very pleasantly surprised