How much for glasses? £500?

[DustyLee123]

I don’t wear glasses, so no idea how much they cost, but DH came home last week and said that he’d spent over £500 on a new pair. It seems extortionate to me, or is it normal?

Yes, that's what I get - it's the only support for short-sighted people that I've ever been told about.

I know that for people on benefits or children or elderly or whatever, there are fully-funded pairs, but just for ordinary adults not on any benefits, I've never come across anything else. my prescription still gets a bit worse every few years, and of course I'm starting with multifocals now too, which are also needing frequent updating. I have oblique astigmatism so have ended up - after lots of experimenting - with the most expensive of the varifocals.

Mine usually cost £60-£150, from places like Glasses Direct, Ace & Tate, Cubitts etc. £500 seems crazy-expensive.

Specsavers start at 2 for 1 for £69. That's what I get. No way would I spend £500 on glasses.

It depends on how bad his vision is. My late DHs glasses cost £900 but he was close to blind (10cm vision without them) and needed huge amounts of thinning and extra stuff to function - and they still looked like bottle glass.

Mine are £25 as I have a very simple script.

My last pair was £700. I have a complex prescription (prisms) so the lenses are expensive and will only fit in a particular size frame. I have two different prescriptions depending on purpose so when I need a full reglaze of all pairs as prescription changes the cost is thousands. I haven’t bought new frames for around 10 years as that would be unaffordable. I’m almost at the point where private surgery (I need two operations) would be cheaper.

Go spend a week in -12 CR-39s and say that again.

So ignorant.

You clearly don't have my prescription 🤣

Me too. I'm restricted to the basic teenager frames but have to have the thinning and varifocals so they come out about £600. I'm fearful I'm getting priced out of glasses, combing contact lenses and poundland reading glasses will be my best option.

Fully funded is only possible for people on certain benefits. Unfortunately having a complex prescription would not qualify you for fully funded unless you were on benefits that qualified you for free glasses anyway. The complex voucher (£14 or so) is related to prescription and not benefits. So anyone with a complex prescription gets it (as well as an NHS funded eye test), but you don’t get fully funded glasses unless you’re on certain means-tested benefits.

Mine cost £400 - I have astigmatism, a strong prescription and I need the lenses thinning as well as anti-scratch coating.

If you have a complex prescription the costs add up incredibly quickly.

Not unusual if we are talking slimline strong lenses, invisible varifocals, or some other complex prescription. I think last time I bought new lenses they were nearly £400 alone.

Frames do tend to be massively over-priced from independent opticians (as that's where they make a lot of their margin) so it is worth shopping around or even buying online.

Great!

Now try again when your prescription is -9 in both eyes and you have astigmatism too.

You would if you had my prescription. You would have no choice.
Maybe you should educate yourself on eyesight issues.

I had no idea they could cost that much!!

My frames are Boots own £60 ones but the thinned, anti-glare, screen-friendly lenses (which I need!) bring the whole thing in at well over £500. It's the main reason I get my contact lenses for the gym from Boots - you get 50% off glasses.

I'm not sure, really. I dont know much about the difference between complex and straightforward.

I go to an independent optician because I like them a lot but then I take my prescription to Specsavers for the actual glasses. One time I felt guilty and thought I'd try the ones at my normal optician to show some loyalty, even if it cost a bit more. But the price difference was so staggering that I really didn't feel I could justify it.

I would say the prescription I need is relatively strong and I also have an astigmatism but no other issues. I wear them all the time so I do place some value on vanity for the sake of my confidence. I also go for thin lenses. But my last pair was just over £200 I think, and I went for what I wanted...its not that there were £500 pairs that I would have preferred.

I'm -6 with astigmatism and keep the lenses thick. Thinning them gives me a fishbowl effect which makes me feel dizzy 🙃

Sounds about right once you go through the whole anti-glare and anti scratch coatings. I have a few older pairs floating about so I have back up as if you break them and need to wait for payday it's not something you can just replace without thinking.

Even the cheapest pair of varifocals online are £70. Cheap varifocals from an optician will cost about £145.

I can’t afford to pay £500 but I would if I could. They’ll have all the coatings, etc, and will be much better than my cheap ones.

But they don't actually end up costing that, that's just for the cheapest frame? Or have I been mis-sold?

I spend £500 every other year. I have designer frames, but I have very bad eyesight, I’m also under the local eye hospital like your DH. I pay for the best lenses and pay to have them thinned down.

It’s quite normal.

I spent about that last time I got new glasses and I don't have a complex prescription. If you have a comfortable income then I think glasses are something that you can easily justify the cost of, you wear them every day and they are very visible. Most people wear the same pair of glasses for several years. So cost per wear is pennies.

Try working out how much you will spend on haircuts/colour/make up over the same time period he'll wear these glasses and decide then if it's a reasonable spend. Because it's not a frivolous purchase at all.

I'm -6 with astigmatism and keep the lenses thick. Thinning them gives me a fishbowl effect which makes me feel dizzy

Mine is -9 with astigmatism and if I don't thin the lenses as much as possible, I can't wear my glasses as they give me such a bad headache from the weight of them.

I'd be glad you can cope without getting them thinned as it costs an absolute fortune

They absolutely do if you just have single vision basic lenses with a weak prescription and no add-ons.