to question how I am meant to get my child glasses?

[SometimesIquestionmyownsanity]

My ds has poor eyesight. His prescription is so strong that he HAS to have the lenses thinned.

Today I have contacted 3 opticians to ask if they can supply any glasses (specsavers, vision express and an independent) for his prescription that don't require me to pay anymore. All 3 have said no and I have to pay for the lenses to be thinned on top of the NHS voucher.

This has ranged in price from £60-£120.

My ds is currently wearing an old pair of glasses, as until next payday I cannot buy these for him.

Not benefit bashing, genuine question, what do/or should people do who are on benefits or very low incomes do? Do their child not get the glasses?

All 3 opticians have said they are unable to make the prescription up, as they would not fit into any frames they have without me paying for them to be thinned.

AIBU to think this is shocking?

Vision express quote £30 for the thinner lenses for kids. there are also some others that do an online service. If I where you I would have a look at some online places, I just googled 'children's thin lenses uk'

• 6 isn't so thick that it'd make normal lenses unusable. Yes. it'd be nicer for them to be thinner but not at all necessary.

I also have a son with very poor eyesight, i went specsavers and paid £60 for them to be thinned and they still were very thick.
I now go to ASDA as they are free for thinning down

What about contact lenses? I suppose that would push the cost up though.

I totally understand why you want the lens thinned. It is clearly not just for cosmetic reasons. Good luck. YANBU.

I went into store, I just walked along the high street with his prescription.

I will be going into Asda tomorrow.

I've been told that he won't be able to have contacts until he's about 13 and only if the prescription stablises which they have warned he's likely to deteriorate by then and be unsuitable for contacts.

Goolash he's +8.25

Have read the thread but I'm a bit confused - has the optician stated on the prescription that the lenses need to be thinned? If they have, the opticians should be honouring that surely. And if not, why not?

I used to have a stronger prescription than that in the days before high index lenses. I had very thick lenses so I'm not sure why your DS can't.

Opticians don't state that thinning is required, they just give the values for the lenses. Some places charge for thinning and some don't

I got my last glasses from www.glassesdirect.co.uk/

Not sure they take the vouchers though

Oops, sorry SometimesIquestionmyownsanity, I read the wrong reply for the prescription. That's slightly similar prescription to one of my children. I'm around + 6 and clearly need stronger

When he started wearing glasses it was higher but we've never had the thin lenses ticked on the voucher. It wasn't bad when he was small but as they get older they get more conscious about it. The hospital recommended an independent optician to us who thinned children's glasses for free.

How old is ds as if he's very young and therefore has tiny frames then the thinned lenses won't be much different. I'm -8 and -9 and only got the thinned lenses 2 years ago when I hit -8 as my eyelashes hit the lenses WITH mascara on, however didn't make a difference without mascara.

I don't know the difference between + and - lenses though in whether the shape's different ot not

Specsavers have always thinned my DDs glasses for free.

Sorry I should have explained what higher index meant. Glass and plastic thickness is measured in indexes. The standard plastic lenses on the high street for an nhs voucher are typically 1.5 index. Thinner are 1.6 and so on up to 1.8 being the thinnest and lightest. Thinner lenses just look nicer, they don't make any difference to the prescription, but they are more expensive due to the manufacturing costs.

It's impossible for an optician to 'thin a lens' - they have to bought in. I used to be lab technician for a high street chain. All opticians make a ridiculous profit on lenses and frames. Regular lenses cost pence and higher index (thinner) lenses no more than £40 per pair.

Also, you cannot purchase spex for children online. They must be fitted by a registered optician.

I work in an opticians although I am not a dispensing optician, hopefully one might wander onto the thread later on. I am just learning....

There are two ways of reducing the thickness of your DSs lenses
a) by 'surfacing' them, where the surface of the lens is ground back to make it as thin as possible. This may well be quite thick as it depends on the relationship between the elements of his prescription.

b) by using a more dense plastic know as 'high index lenses', 1.6, 1.67 etc. As the lens material is more dense it bends the light more so the lens thickness can be reduced.

My opticians do surfacing for children for free. There would be an additional charge for 1.6 index lenses.

+ve lenses bulge outwards, -ve lenses are concave, scooped out.

Have you got a buy specs direct near you?

They are the same people the opticians use, much cheaper to go direct to them (I used to work in this industry).

My prescription is less than that and I haven my lenses thinned twice. Costs a fortune but without my glasses are so heavy and uncomfortable it's a misery to wear them.

God knows how some of,you think the wee lamb will be fine with them as they come. Miserable gits each and every one who said that.

I am a lab technician. Go to a opticians with their own surfacing lab (on site, if poss). You don't necessarily need to be high index lenses. Ask for the lowest base possible, with that rx (prescription, sorry rx, is what we call it in the trade), lowest base I would recommend would be 8 base. Then get them to lower the edge thickness to .6 (point 6) Any decent optician should do this free of charge.

My son has worn glasses with a +7 prescription in both eyes since he was 10 months old. I've never paid to get the lenses thinned. I've always gone to boots and never once have they said they needed thinned.

He's 6.

It's not cosmetic, they are saying the frames that fit his head, are unsuitable for the thick lenses.

The only pair that any of them could recommend was Vision express said a pair of ted bakers (with flowers on the arms) would take the lenses without being thinned. But they were £70 on top of the voucher price!!

Great, I'm going to print that off hippysair so I can look knowledgable.

And try Boots as well as Asdas.

Agree it's not just cosmetic. Heavy, thick lenses make glasses very uncomfy. I always had sore marks on the side of my nose due to heavy glasses until I got my lenses thinned.

The sad fact is that many children with special needs are discovered to have sight problems. Their parents never took them to the opticians.