How much for varifocals??

[Spaghettio]

Just been to the optician and been told I need varifocals.

Picked out the frames £270! Bloody hell.

Then the varifocals. The guy went through the different options and I went for Varilux Physio varifocals - which are on the higher end of the prices, but not the most expensive.

Total cost £500!!!

That seems insanely expensive, but I know varifocals can be much more expensive than normal lenses.

This was a Boots Optician, so will get quotes from Specsavers and other high street opticians, but is that the sort of price I should be looking at?

(On the upside, that's a lot of Boots points..... )

(And this is my third time of getting them from SS - they have always been fine.

@RampantIvy See, my sister says the same, and some other friends. Hence why I was prepared to given it another go. And I really tried as I am very sick of constantly swapping glasses (including the prescription sunglasses as I need those the moment any kind of sun or glare is out). But back to that again. They just don't work for me for some reason. Wish they did.

Try buying frames for a bargain in somewhere like TK max and then get the lenses fitted. Go for a wide field of Vision

My varifocals prescription is great, except for working on a computer so now I have two different varifocals prescriptions

I've tried varifocal contacts but didn't get on,i need to retry as I hate wearing glasses.

ive recently got new varifocals. I was told theyd give me vertigo and distort things at first but tbh, ive found them fine, despite usually being quite sensitive to stuff like that.
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Yet another vote for Asda - I have a very complicated prescription - two pairs of variafocals, thinned lenses - £120...

@BlueCarPinkShoes

You get what you pay for with varifocal lenses. The more expensive, the wider the field of view. However, I don't see the need to start with a top of the range lens unless you're doing huge amounts of screen time/reading with them. How high is your prescription? Physio lenses are fantastic but you're unlikely to be able to tolerate a poorer quality lens in future if you start with those. Boots and specsavers both do ranges of varifocals. There are cheaper ones available. It just depends how long you're willing to try and adjust to them for. The better (more expensive) the lens to begin with the easier they are to get used too. I wouldn't buy varifocals online first time round.

It's not a very high prescription and they're my first varifocals. But I'm so wary of them not working as I know so many people who struggled to adjust to them (like many people here too!).

I went for ones that have a wider field of view, as I already hate it when I can't see properly, so I figured it'd make it easier to adjust to them.

@Lowlifeinhighplaces

Oh and may add the last quote I had from a local optician, for high index varifocals with a non designer fame hit almost £1,000.....

Er no thanks....off to Asda

Yikes! £1,000!!!! £500 isn't looking so bad!

@Gerwurtztraminer

Have you had varifocals before? I have just today returned my pair to Specsavers after 3 weeks of trying and gone back to 2 separate pairs of distance and reading glasses.

Cost was going to be £329 with the 2 for 1 offer (as I also wanted tinted sunglasses version for outside) with frames £129 each. It's now costing a bit less £294 as normal glasses are cheaper.

These were the most expensive option with the widest reading viewing field possible. I just could not get on with them (for 2nd time, tried unsuccessfully many years ago but was persuaded they'd improved the technology). Everything was blurry at the edges when reading or looking at the laptop, so I had to keep turning my head from side to side like a tennis match. I think this is called peripheral distortion. Also had to tip my head back slightly to look down through the reading part.

Long distance only worked if I kept my head at one particular angle straight ahead and didn't move too much. OK for watching TV, anything else was useless. They also gave me a massive migraine after wearing them too long.

I have NO IDEA how other people manage with varifocals

THIS is exactly what I'm worried about. What if I can't get on with them? Boots and Specsavers have periods where you can return them if you don't get on with them, but I'm still hesitant.

Also, its so much money for them not to work!

Looks like I need to find my nearest ASDA opticians!

Not sure where everyone was going to be so expensive. I went to spec savers. Got Varifocals two pairs of reading glasses and some sunglasses for under £500. Only a few weeks ago!

Please do not buy varifocals online. Getting the fit right is crucial and, IMO, can only be done by someone who has been properly trained to do so

It can't be that hard to fit, my friend only buys them on line and had the local optician check the fit when she had her eyes tested and they were perfect. She's bought on line for years and with a money back guarantee its something I'll consider in the future.

My last varifocals were around the £500 mark. Then I had cataract surgery and just have cheap reading glasses now. Looking around the shelves of frames last time I had an eye test, there were frames that were north of £900. Probably about £1500 when you add on the lenses, coating, thinning etc. That was an independent.

DH has been pleased with Boots, but his glasses were about £400. Expensive if you need to change the prescription each year.

£59 at vision express last year. No tints or coatings and the basic option

Select specs.com

Both mum and DH got varifocals from there. Mum has a very complex prescription and can barely see without glasses. DH is mild. Both perfectly happy with their orders

(As I am with my £6 glasses - not varifocal)

I've had my last few pairs from Specsavers but never find the second pair is as good as the main one and don't know why? (Same frames for both). With reasonably priced frames, the cost is normally around £400.

I'll be going to an independent optician next time, I always feel rushed in Specsavers as it's so busy.

Shop around and take your prescription with you. My friend (optician) left Boots as they were really pushing on her doing the hard sell, and set up her own practice. Some independents are really expensive as they specialise in designer frames, but some of the suburban ones are a lot cheaper. Also, if you ever go to Cyprus get glasses! They mainly do their ophthalmic degrees here and the frames are (or were) a lot cheaper over there - they can generally turn around an order really quickly.

I use an independent optician and have their top of the range lenses, which blend pretty seamlessly between the different fields of vision. They use a picture showing what you will typically see with each price option. I did not get expensive frames but they still cost well over £500. I took to them straight away, which seemed to surprise them. Varifocal contact lenses are rubbish, though. I just use normal ones.

Just had a tweak to my script and bought new varifocals with frames from SpecSavers for £189 with anti glare coating as I am on mumsnet laptop all day.

@Spaghettio If the prescription isn't very high then a low priced varifocal would probably be fine but a mid priced one would be better - it wouldn't have to be top of the range ie physio. What you can find with some of the older (cheaper) varifocal lenses is they work fine whilst the reading add is relatively low. As it increases (which it will do until you get to 60ish) with the older varifocal designs the reading area gets smaller with each increase so you may find in 5 years you want a better design to do the same job. Or you may be someone who can literally wear anything and not have any problems at all! The thing is you don't know until you try. For some people the fit of the varifocal is very important and unless it's precise they can't cope with it. Others are just not bothered.

[quote BlueCarPinkShoes]@Spaghettio If the prescription isn't very high then a low priced varifocal would probably be fine but a mid priced one would be better - it wouldn't have to be top of the range ie physio. What you can find with some of the older (cheaper) varifocal lenses is they work fine whilst the reading add is relatively low. As it increases (which it will do until you get to 60ish) with the older varifocal designs the reading area gets smaller with each increase so you may find in 5 years you want a better design to do the same job. Or you may be someone who can literally wear anything and not have any problems at all! The thing is you don't know until you try. For some people the fit of the varifocal is very important and unless it's precise they can't cope with it. Others are just not bothered.[/quote]
@BlueCarPinkShoes That's really interesting. I might look at a lower priced option for the lense then. As you say, I fully expect my eyes to get worse as I age so that allows a bit of leeway to improve the lens over time.

If I take to the lower priced varifocals then its just a bonus that they work and I've saved money!

Paid £170 for two pairs a year ago at spec savers

I get my lenses changed using glasses direct because at the moment my prescription is declining rapidly 😭 still £300 a time though

I have to separate VDU glasses to my varifocals but O sit at a desk all day with two screens working on excel and database tables.

I just paid something like £100 for two pairs of the basic quality lens ones at Specsavers. It's my first varifocal prescription, wasn't sure how well I'd get on with them so didn't want to spend a fortune on up-sold lenses and the like... and they've been absolutely fine. I got two for one frames and they made up one set while keeping the other frame back until I was confident I was OK with the varifocals. I know the quality of specsavers can vary across branches but I was really impressed with ours - only went there since Vision Express took over the Tesco opticians and the prices went stratospheric.

I have contact lenses as well - topic lenses but I just have them made up for my distance prescription and then have some very very el cheapo prescription specs to go on over the top for reading prescription if I need them.