To think nowadays you need a mortgage if you need glasses?

[LarryForPrimeMinister]

Today I went for my usual eye check up. £40.
Asked if I wanted photos taking of behind my eyes to check my eye health additional £20.
My prescription has gone up to - 5 in both eyes.
So needed a pair of frames, £100. Wasn't even the expensive pairs.

And then I was told they have 3 different price ranges for thinning the lenses. If I don't have them thinned they stick out like a eyesore.
£80 to have them slightly thinned, £140 for medium thinned o £200 for super thinned.

Walked out £300 lighter!
Now I wear glasses all the time I am blind as a bat without them but jesus christ I nearly died at the expense.
Two years ago it cost me £200 for the same thing now £100 increase! Aibu to think opticians are taking the piss and becoming like dentists?

I paid £450 for a pair of glasses last summer and now I've lost them.

Specsavers charge £25 for an eye test and £10 for the more advanced scan.

Oh god thats my worse nightmare. 😂 I seem to be unlucky and keep having my glasses break at the arm which annoys me even more when your paying a large amount of money for something and they break so easily.

I’m really pleased that cataract surgery last year means I now only need glasses for reading. I always ended up spending a fortune and being offered a very limited choice.

My DH used to get his at Asda - one pair of glasses, bifocal, extra thin lens plus prescription sunglasses £130 for the 2.

That was 3 years ago.

Totally agree with you OP.
After a life time of shortsightedness and spending a fortune over the years on glasses and contact lenses I had my cataracts done this January. I thought that's great. No more contact lenses and I only need reading glasses.
I took a couple of pairs of my old glasses into my opticians to have my reading prescription put in to them. . Thought it would be cheap. But no. It still cost me around £300. Partly my own fault because I had transition lenses put in one pair. I think I'll stick to the over the counter reading glasses in future.

You’re right. It’s crazy prices just now. I don’t think it’s fair you have to pay for thinning. It’s not our fault our prescription is so bad! Have a look at Asda opticians. I think they offer thinning as standard included in the price and I think they have the anti glare coating as well as standard. That’s where’s I’m looking next time anyway.

I now have appointments at home and the hard-sell is really bad. I only need reading glasses and they make up every reason why I shouldn’t have the cheapest - and even that’s £50. If I wasn’t made of stern stuff, I’d be down £300+ every 12 months!

Wait till you find out how much they pay for them on the continent!

(but yes, as a similarly shortsighted person, unless you’re going for the soecsavers own brand glasses, you’re easily up to £250/300 for the cost of thinning).

Totally agree. I'm -8.5 roughly in both eyes. I have to have them thinned the max level otherwise I find the lenses too heavy, especially as most frames now have bigger lenses. I had a basic non-designer pair with the max thinning and standard eye test and it was around £300. I thought about getting more expensive designer glasses as these are two for one with some of them starting at a price not much over the standard pair I bought so seemed good value at first but I'd have to thin both pairs and then the cost becomes astronomical and not worth it to then replace in two years time.

Do they? I will keep that in mind when I next need glasses. Its ridiculous to have to pay for thinning when it literally costs them nothing!

Agree it's a real expense when you need thinning. I am about to try out varifocals and with the high thinning am fully expecting over £300 even with a cheap frame.

My particular bugbear is the charge for getting an old pair reglazed over and above the cost of the actual lens - this seems to be a new thing and I just don't understand it. I have about 4 old pairs that could easily have new lenses put in but the reglazing charge makes it cheaper to get new ones.

I do the contact lense scheme so all eye tests and the extras are free of charge essentially. Plus heavy discount on glasses when I need new pairs.

I lost mine and it was £130 to replace them. Not even a complicated prescription and no extras such as thinning, anti glare etc. I got my prescription and bought them at glasses4U. 2 Pairs for £47 I paid!

It's not really the opticians (at least not the indies) - it's the labs and the frame manufacturers. My best mate is an optician and I get my glasses at cost, and they are still expensive. She said that all designer frames are made by two manufacturers, and you are just paying for the name. She recommends Wolf as a good, reasonable, British brand.

Agree. I chose cheaper frames this time and it was still over £200. I do try to think of it as cost per wear so they're definitely my most value for money item!

I find Specsavers very good and reasonable as well.My friend worked at another opticians ,and couldnt believe that even with staff discount hers were more expensive!

I got quoted £650 at a high street optician for reading glasses and distance glasses and was stunned - it didn't include lens thinning or anything special either and the frames weren't designer! Finally figured out how to get reading glasses online - £64 - but you need to know your prescription and PD. It'll probably be another £80 for distance glasses for driving but that's a still a lot better than £650. Anyway, worth considering online options.

I agree, I ended up getting migraines because I put off my appointment as I was so pissed off that I needed to spend money on something that was completely out of my control…. Still angry now 😡

I still get mine at Asda! They have gone up a bit but you can still get TWO pairs for around £160 and that price includes varifocals, prisms, extra thin lenses ( if needed for the prescription), anti-reflective coatings on both - and the second pair can be sunglasses if you prefer, with the tint added at no extra cost......

Glasses Direct is your answer!

Loads online places are much cheaper than that. Glasses Direct etc. You just stick your prescription into the website. Some will send you frames to try that you post back. Or choose frames in the opticians but buy them online.

It’s annoying, my eyes aren’t even that bad so no thinning but I wear varifocals. I paid £340 for 2 pairs of varifocals with the better quality lens plus test and scan from specsavers this year. I do need sunglasses at some point so might give Asda a try

I used goggles4u
I found an amazing pair for £3.95 (obviously lense coating and thinning is extra) I got no coating and basic lenses. I'm a bit short sighted with astigmatism in both eyes. I loved them so much I got 3 pairs the same because they keep selling out

Specsavers or Asda all the way.