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?

It will depend a lot of his prescription and the quality of the lenses.

I spend more than that. BUT I need varifocals, I have astigmatism and my prescription is bad (-9.5 and -8.5 - to give you an idea, the NHS gives free glasses to adults from -10) which means I need lenses that have been thinned a lot.

On the other side, dc1 has a very light correction and his glasses were around £99 for 2.

Quality of the lenses and fitting is also a big part if my choice. I’m using an independent optician because if that vs high street cheap glasses for dc…

I'm not highly paid. But my glasses are essential so I budget for them. I pay for them not my partner. So no discussion is necessary nor should it be.

Full time glasses wearers with high prescriptions would often spend that if they have nice frames and thinned lenses from an independent.

Thats an interesting comment for me because I’ve always spent more money on frames when I was using high street companies (vision express and the likes) than what I spend with my independent optician. Frames isn’t where I’ve seen the difference in price at all.
Lenses though….

But then I now have glasses/lenses that are fitting (aka I see well with them) whereas the ones from the big chains always left me with issues - more likely from the fitting than from the lenses themselves i suspect).

Depends on how you are handling finances in your relationship though…

aka totally separate vs all the same pot vs sharing only common expenses etc….

I agree that £500 is an expense I’ll talk about with dh before buying even though I fully expect him to be on board (because I have little choice tbh)

The cost of my frames is insignificant compared to the cost of lenses.

I get help towards the cost and don't pay for my eye test but I still have to pay for all the extras - thinning, anti scratch and anti glare coating doesn't come cheap, and as I work outdoors and wear my glasses everyday, I need them to be safe and sturdy and comfortable.

Paying for the cheaper options may seem better at first but I'd end up replacing my glasses much more often if that was the case.

@CountryShepherd we have never had a joint account. I might mention how much my new specs were but in a "crikey, my glasses were" kind of way.

We don't hide but do not seek each other's agreement for personal purchases. If it's my money I don't expect to consult and neither does DH with his. Why would we? Our bills are accounted for and we have no debt.

Usually my specs last about three years, just under £1 a day to see. Notwithstanding that, bearing in mind my prescription is complex, I work off three screens so my eyesight is essential for my living, I do wonder how those with complex prescriptions and very limited funds cope because the main cost isn't the frames but the prescription. I suppose they have two pairs of specs and milk bottle bottom lenses (although one doesn't see them nowadays).

Another thing to remember when pontificating about why mugs like me spend a fortune on glasses, when we could be getting a couple of 2 for £20 quid jobs off the internet with the optical centres in the wrong place, the wrong pantoscopic tilt, the frame unfitted, etc. etc., is that for some prescriptions, your frame choice is extremely limited.

I don't trip joyfully around the shop picking frames from here and there at my whim, selecting a rimless frame here, a stylish flared frame there, a budget-conscious but perfectly fine frame here, a slightly more dressy pair there.

No — through a long and tedious set of interactions with the DO, I eventually just get told, "Here — these three randomly-priced frames are the only ones we have which will fit your lenses without looking utterly ridiculous, weighing half a kilo, wasting all the money you spent upgrading to higher-index lenses to get thinner edges, and/or being actually technically impossible".

Well, I say random. They're never the £29 frames.

Very bloody expensive for simple prescription.
Mine cost 89 quid, and I got a second pair free.
But I refuse to spend money on designer names frames.
Mine look identical to friends that are Ted Baker and cost 4x mine

I mean the whole package in total.

I have a medium strength prescription, generally use Specsavers and it is the lens and lens thinning that Jack's up the cost. I usually go for under £100 frames to keep the total costs down.
I think it's totally reasonable to use independents and spend more though. I guess it's just budgeting for it.

Ha, it's the same for me @TheCoffeeNebula

I can't have rimless glasses, I can't have wire framed glasses, I can't have glasses where the lenses are too narrow...

Basically all I can wear is reasonably large, plastic frames in a certain shape, and the frames ideally need to be black or dark coloured...

It's a choice of 3-4 options and they're never, ever cheap. I used to be able to get the two for £69 option at Specsavers but sadly those days are long gone

It's notable that dd who is no more than 1.75 diopters was asked if she wanted the lenses thinned at a high street chain. I was with her and intervened. That would have been daylight robbery.

It's also notable that whilst DH only wears simple readers, usually buy one get one free from the same high Street chain, because he doesn't wear them all the time, he loses a pair so regularly, he probably spends more than me! The time we spend looking for his glasses is laughable.

My husband's are that, but he has really bad (and deterioriating) eyesight. The majority of the cost is the lenses. He tries to get the cost down as much as possible by buying cheaper frames and having new lenses put into old frames.

Mine are more like £60 per pair as I am only a bit shortsighted.

I usually go for under £100 frames to keep the total costs down.

Unfortunately the more complex and strong your prescription, the less choice you have over your frames.

The cheap frames aren't an option for me because they're not made to fit prescriptions like mine.

I wish I could pay £20 for frames but unfortunately they tend to be more like £120!

2 pairs of boss glasses for about £150 at specsavers. It might cost that at somewhere like Vision Express

It's absolutely not 'normal'! It's not impossible, but certainly not normal 🙄

That's poor practice. Quite apart from the unnecessary extra profit cost, higher-index materials tend to be optically inferior. While it's unlikely at that prescription, it runs a risk of introducing unnecessary aberrations and distortions for the sake of an infinitesimally, unnoticeably thinner lens. Plus, the coatings high index lenses require to minimise internal reflections are just another thing to go wrong, and pick up smears like nobody's business.

I think you need to change your mindset from 'wanted' to 'needed'.

He had an eye condition that is under hospital care. That's no small thing.

Just paid just over £400 for a pair of varifocals. The opticians' economy range were £99 for frames and standard lens.

You can get very swept along in the opticians and it's never IME been clear until the very end when they ask for the credit card how much each individual element is

The NHS absolutely doesn't give free glasses to most people with -10 prescriptions - unless you are on benefits etc, then the rest of us get the £14 contribution (£38 for varifocals).

I go to an independent optician and get fantastic service and my varifocals have always been perfect from the moment I step out.

Once I tried a high Street chain, not Specsavers or Vision Express. The specs were actually slightly more expensive and the prescription was wrong. It turned into a dreadful fag.

I now travel back to my old optician. She'll likely retire in a few years and I'll have to find a local independent. Never will I use a chain again.

That mirrors my experience too.

I use an independent and she is fantastic. Incredibly thorough but I've never walked out with glasses that don't fit or lenses that make me dizzy, which happened multiple times with Specsavers.

There's something to be said about paying extra for something that actually works, especially when you rely on them for normal, everyday life.

@tigger1001 @Growlybear83 My conversation with DH is pretty much what @RosesAndHellebores posted below. I need to spend this much on glasses to be able to see to work with screens, to drive and basically get on with day to day life. My comment was more about people who would struggle to find £500 without a struggle.

I might mention how much my new specs were but in a "crikey, my glasses were" kind of way.

We don't hide but do not seek each other's agreement for personal purchases.

Same here.

Yes that is. I usually didn't about £100-120 though recently bought online for a lot less. I'd say over £150 is the higher end in a high street, though of course one can pay significantly more for some brands.
Of course if there are special issues etc that all adds up.
Is it that it's unaffordable for you? If my husband spent that much I'd think fair enough it's his money, but I don't think he ever would have (he did spend that on his suits though).

But would you discuss a car repair when you can't use the car otherwise?

For me that's the same with glasses. I need them, full stop. I can't see, drive, read, work, cook, clean, go shopping, hey, I can't even walk down the stairs safely.

I can't wear contacts and I can't change the fact that my eyes are so bad that I have to pay a small fortune for glasses.

So, no I don't discuss it. I know when I need new ones and budget accordingly.

If I can't afford a branded expensive frame I may go and choose a less expensive one and save maybe £50-100. But the lenses aren't negotiable at all.

Two things I notice about this site (might be the same on others, not sure)

People seem to get something for very very much less cost than I have found/seen/know of, yet when questioned they cant seem to set out exactly what elements of the item is included, its all vague and unattainable. Its like people that get dirt cheap flights bragging about that, then you find out that the flight is from some obscure airport, with no baggage included, sitting on the wing or something
Similarly with travel times, a journey that mostly is plagued with traffic, speed restrictions etc, people post that 'oh it only took 2 hours' when really it usually takes around 4.

As an aside, I realised that I dont know, and neither do I care how much OH glasses cost.

signed - an expensive glasses wearer