Opticians - am I out of touch ?

[Babyroobs]

Just looking for opinions/ advice. I had an eye test today as I've been getting a lot of headaches. Admittedly I haven't had an eye test for some years but I swear the last time I went ( maybe 4 years ago ? ) it was about £20.
Anyway, I was fully expecting to be told I would need glasses and was expecting to pay around £200 plus maybe £35 for an eye test.
Had the check and optician confirms I need glasses , something like £260 for the lens. The optician assistant then showed me a few frames , there wasn't a lot of choice, she didn't want me trying many on as she had to clean them down afterwards, so I felt awkward and rushed. She then sat me down and said altogether that will be £490.
At this point I was a bit flummoxed as the amount was way over what I thought and I asked her if people can normally just come in and pay this amount straight up, they wanted it there and then.
I was mortified really and left without actually ordering anything. £500 is half my monthly salary ! I don't have the money.
What I'm asking is what are my options - can I ask for the prescription and go elsewhere ? What do others do ? I can't pay £500.

Yes you can ask for the prescription and buy elsewhere.

Do you have a complicated prescription?

I am very short-sighted so get a small contribution to mine and a further discount as I'm on the contact lens scheme and usually pay £200-£250 for mine, taking into account mid-range frames and maximum lens thinning.

Asda is much cheaper. Look online to see if there’s an asda opticians near you. You can use the prescription you’ve got from this opticians.

I have a very complex prescription (-9.50 both eyes and strong astigmatism) and my glasses do cost about £450-500 from specsavers but what I do is get their monthly contact lenses which are £13 a month and this scheme entitles you to half price or free glasses (depending on what you choose and the lenses) every two years.

It’s one of my bug bears. Even the NHS complex prescription voucher is nothing compared to the cost of the lenses now etc.

I just have to use my credit card and pay it back.

@MintyCedric

Yes you can ask for the prescription and buy elsewhere.

Do you have a complicated prescription?

I am very short-sighted so get a small contribution to mine and a further discount as I'm on the contact lens scheme and usually pay £200-£250 for mine, taking into account mid-range frames and maximum lens thinning.

Thanks - this has reassured me that i can get them cheaper. I'm not sure whether the prescription is complicated - he said I need varifocals.

Varifocals make them much more expensive. I have them too. You can make it cheaper by getting a cheap pair of reading glasses on the high street and wearing contacts for distance! That’s what I do.

(I mean reading glasses off the peg from superdrug etc).

I’m -6/7 ish in both eyes, have astigmatism, and need varifocals - last glasses were £45 from Asda, thinner lenses included.

Varifocals are expensive op - it's the lenses that are like magic, and the 'wider' you want to see in focus, the more expensive they are. But there should be a range of options (and prices), if not try elsewhere.

I had an eye test at specsavers this week. £25 for a standard test or £35 for one with retinal photography.
I chose a pair of frames at £129 and opted for thinner lenses instead of a free second pair.
(Single vision lenses but v strong prescription so I can't buy from online glasses retailers as they usually stop at about +/-6 )

Varifocals will cost you that much (ime). And if you've not had them before you may find them hard to get used to / find you don't get on with them.

You could always buy an ordinary pair and buy another cheap pair from Superdrug (or whereever) for reading.

Yes, you can take your prescription elsewhere.

If you go to any optician with a big range of frames on display, you can usually identify the cheaper ranges, so that’s one immediate way of cutting the cost. Don’t try any on from the more expensive and designer ranges.

With the lenses, the less fancy extras you have, the cheaper they’ll be (ultra lightweight or thin, reactive to sunlight, varifocal etc).

Supermarkets and chains like SpecSavers usually have some sort of deal on.

Yes you can ask for your prescription from the optician.
You can shop around on the high street and on the internet. Internet is slightly more difficult as you can’t really try them on, and it’s harder to get things changed if they are wrong. But for standard reading or distance glasses they are very cheap. I’ve had varifocals from glasses direct on line, which were better and cheap than spec savers for instance.

I have varifocals from Specsavers, they were around £260 but I did go for swanky frames that were about £100.

Interesting to see that Asda are cheap for varifocals, I'll bear that in mind as I need a new pair for new script!

Seriously, go to Asda. I'm wearing my £45 thinned varifocals and they are great.

I paid about 370 for varifocals (2 pairs) including lens thinning, from Specsavers. The frames were £99 and the rest was on the lenses - I went for the 'elite' varifocals.

You can get cheaper varifocal lenses but you compromise more on the visual field; or if you have the money you can get tailor made ones.

I'm happy with mine - they were my first pair - I barely noticed the difference in my distance vision and my near vision was much clearer.

My sister works in optical dispensing and her advice is to get the best quality varifocals you can afford - obviously you can still shop around though!

Thanks so much for all the replies. We have large Asda nearby so will try them.