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Original poster

DH, high prescription and new glasses that are too thick

132 replies

Rollergirl11 · 28/11/2020 12:05

DH has very bad eyesight, his prescription is -9.5 in both eyes. For one reason or another he has not owned a pair of glasses for the entire time I’ve known him. So 20+ years. He wears daily disposable lenses but recently had a burst blood vessel in his eye that made wearing contacts uncomfortable and has prompted him to finally get some glasses. He picked them up yesterday and he absolutely hates them as the lenses are sooo thick. He says that they said they are the thinnest he could have them. I wasn’t with him so I’m not sure what amount of “thinning” that he went for. But my daughter has -6.5 prescription and we paid to have her glasses thinned as much as we could and they look absolutely fine. DH’s have that coke bottle effect and the lenses are so thick that from the side they protrude very far out from the frames.

The upshot is that DH says that he won’t wear them other than at home as he hates how they distort his face. This totally defeats the purpose of getting them as he as planning to wear them instead of contacts some days. They were £500+ and I think I that’s a ridiculous amount for him to pay and not be happy with them. Is there anything we can do at this point? Can we ask the optician to return the glasses and make the lenses thinner? Is this even possible or is it because his prescription is so high?

OP posts:

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Sostenueto · 03/12/2020 09:23

Dgd has special digital lens in her glasses she wears at weekends. She has contacts rest of time. She has a 6.0 deficit between eyes so she would look odd and feel sick if it was not for digital lens. Expensive but worth it.

goldenharvest · 03/12/2020 09:45

Mine were +7.5 and even with thinned lenses were very thick. I have had lens replacement surgery 12 years ago (around £6K I'd guess now?) and it's the best money I ever spend. Eyesight is near perfect. I uses some cheap glasses for reading comfort, but I can read without them.

You can pay with a credit agreement.

VanGoghsDog · 03/12/2020 10:04

Many people are simply not suitable candidates for laser surgery, I'm sure many of us have considered it as an option.

You need two years of stable prescriptions, I've never had that and have worn glasses 45 years. I also have astigmatism which surgery doesn't correct, and now I am both long and short sighted.

Last year I had a torn retina and a haemorrhage in my right eye, so I'm really wary of anything odd now and I don't even wear the contact lenses I got a year or so ago (I was never 100% happy with them anyway, they did one eye for short and one for long sight but I couldn't get used to it at all).

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movingonup20 · 03/12/2020 10:05

Dp's are 9 in each eye and cost £600 a few years back (before I met him) I dragged him to my optician specsavers who have quoted £300 for a new pair including ultra thin lenses (I have regular lenses and cost £89 for 2 pairs )

VanGoghsDog · 03/12/2020 10:08

@Ironingontheceiling

Honestly - Asda are great. I have varifocals and my glasses (which I love and are the ones I picked not just the cheapest) were £45.

I travel an hour coz it saves me a fortune.

People always say this.

With my prescription there is no way any glasses would ever be £45. The lenses are about £300 on their own and it's pretty rare to see any frames for less than £50 (I also need petite frames because I have a narrow face). I need the 1.9 thinning.

What was the lens and frame cost for a £45 pair of specs, what level of thinning was required and what is the script?

VanGoghsDog · 03/12/2020 10:09

@movingonup20

Yes, that's more the cost of mine. Costs are coming down actually. I find Specsavers are good value.

Ironingontheceiling · 03/12/2020 11:00

Asda include all lenses and thinning in their standard cost.

They’re the only optician to do this.

I paid £500 for varifocals years ago before I knew about them.

Im a 7 in one eye and a 6.5 in the other with a +2.5 add.

opticians.asda.com/info/our-complete-price-on-glasses

Ironingontheceiling · 03/12/2020 11:01

I don’t know what level of thinning was required but I don’t have a particularly thick edge at the frame.

VanGoghsDog · 03/12/2020 11:35

[quote Ironingontheceiling]Asda include all lenses and thinning in their standard cost.

They’re the only optician to do this.

I paid £500 for varifocals years ago before I knew about them.

Im a 7 in one eye and a 6.5 in the other with a +2.5 add.

opticians.asda.com/info/our-complete-price-on-glasses[/quote]
"certain lens options are subject to prescription" - there you go. Not everything is included.

Also, it says "thinning" but does not specify which type. I always have the highest thinning available. It costs more.

But I will try them next time and see how I get on

NotMeNoNo · 03/12/2020 17:38

Asda are all inclusive but I didn't find their varifocals as good as my independent optician ones. I do rate lensology for re-glazing though, I asked for the exact same Essilor lenses but a different prescription and they were perfect for £200.

ExpensivelyDecorated · 03/12/2020 17:50

Last time I needed new glasses I went to look in Asda but it was 45mins drive away and when I got there it was so busy I couldn't get near the racks of glasses to look at them, I guess that will have changed now with Covid but I ended up walking out again. Might try again next time.

JamieFrasersSwingingKilt · 03/12/2020 23:21

@ExpensivelyDecorated

I made an appointment so no hanging around necessary.

MirandaWest · 03/12/2020 23:28

What was the lens and frame cost for a £45 pair of specs, what level of thinning was required and what is the script?

My glasses from Asda were either £45 or £50 for lenses and frames. My prescription is about -11.5 in both eyes so fairly short sighted. The thinning is I think 1.74 but as I wear contact lenses day to day and have small frames with quite chunky arms you can’t see too much of the lens thickness.

DH did find that his varifocals weren’t as good but for me with (currently) just single vision lenses Asda has been fine.

ExpensivelyDecorated · 04/12/2020 06:32

I never thought of making an appointment just to look at frames, I had been round about ten other opticians with my prescription and all of them had been virtually empty and easy to browse with a dispensing optometrist on hand to answer questions.

JamieFrasersSwingingKilt · 04/12/2020 07:33

@ExpensivelyDecorated

In these COVID times they're trying to manage footfall. No browsing allowed. At least not in the store I went to.

Mountygirl · 04/12/2020 07:40

My DH has a high varfocal prescription and is wearing curved clear oakleys so it can be done. Optician had to get the lens from a specialist manufacturers. Even though, they were still only ~£500 So it can be done.

ExpensivelyDecorated · 04/12/2020 07:48

Well obviously I would make an appointment now but this was a couple of years ago when just wandering in was totally normal.

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 04/12/2020 07:55

That does look quite thick. My prescription is -12.5 for comparison purposes. Plastic lenses, thinned, from Specsavers.

DH, high prescription and new glasses that are too thick

MinnieJackson · 04/12/2020 08:16

We used to write to the lab on prescriptions 'knife edge thinned', never seen any that thick that have been thinned

FamilyOfAliens · 04/12/2020 08:30

I’m -9 in one eye and -8.5 in the other and get mine from Leightons.

My last pair went back three times because the edges looked white when I wore them and completely disrupted my field of vision.

Initially the dispensing optician said she was happy with them and it was the best finish they could have done. In the end she agreed with me that until the final pair, they were unwearable.

Stick to your guns, OP. They won’t be losing money, the lab will.

JamieFrasersSwingingKilt · 04/12/2020 09:15

@ExpensivelyDecorated

Well obviously I would make an appointment now but this was a couple of years ago when just wandering in was totally normal.

Just trying to help a fellow glasses-wearer out...

Iamaslummymummy · 04/12/2020 09:30

@VanGoghsDog

I have -15 &15.5 with astigmatism. I go to asda, I get two pairs for £80 minus the complex voucher. I get 1.9 glass lenses and I've always done so. I actually get UC now so I only end up paying £40 for two pairs whereas boots are over £600 for the lenses for just one pair.

LaurieSchafferIsAllBitterNow · 04/12/2020 09:32

@MinnieJackson

We used to write to the lab on prescriptions 'knife edge thinned', never seen any that thick that have been thinned

that's not relevant here for minus lenses. ...and if you were writing it on minus prescriptions the lab would have been rolling their eyes at you!

Dowermouse · 04/12/2020 09:44

If he's used to contacts, he may never be happy with the vision he gets from glasses, and the more thinning, the worse the distortion will be. Anti glare coating will add colours to this distortion.
I need to see extremely accurately for my job and can't do most of my work in glasses and I need to judge if lines are straight or not. I wear contact lenses. Few opticians I've been to will admit this is a "thing", some activity tell me I'm wrong!

VanGoghsDog · 04/12/2020 09:46

I get two pairs for £80 minus the complex voucher.

What does "minus the complex voucher" mean?

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