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 agree, it really irritates me. I don't WANt new glasses, I just need a new prescription. I did go online last time and still expensive but half the price of Vision Express reglazing.

I agree, it really irritates me. I don't WANt new glasses, I just need a new prescription. I did go online last time and still expensive but half the price of Vision Express reglazing.

The fact that they're 'only 50p a day' isn't much help when they can break anytime and you then have to stump up £500+ for a replacement.

If my glasses break, I can't work. I can't drive. I'm fucked.

Luckily my parents pay for mine. Yes, I'm 37 and my parents still pay for my glasses.

I just bought some glasses which set me back almost £400. I agree with you!

I get mine online. I wear varifocals so mine can run expensive even in Specsavers. My most recent ones cost me £65 at Glasses Direct.

Unfortunately those websites are only useful for people who have fairly simple prescriptions.

If you are close to an Iolla I really recommend. You need to already have an eye test then go in choose any frame and the cost is always £85 for single lens glasses including all lens coatings and thinning as required. It’s a really refreshing pricing strategy and the frames are designed and made by them in house not by one of the major operators. They are the first pair of glasses I’ve had that I think really suit me and that I feel look good.

I nearly put you abu because if you think that’s expensive, wait until varifocals!

The lenses alone are over £300

I’ve just had an eye test, been wearing glasses since I was 10.( now in late 50’s)
I’d left it for around 3 1/2 years since my last test, had changed jobs and couldn't justify the cost
Its cost £870 for the test and new glasses
I nearly fainted! Think the frame was nearly £300?! But wearing glasses i feel comfortable in is important to me , I have a hang up from wearing those hideous nhs frames when i was a teenager, pink or blue
It has been around £600 for my glasses in years gone by…
All our Dc’s wear glasses too, our eldest pays for his own as he’s working
our middle DS is still studying so we bought his last year—£600
Our DD has been having the special lenses that slow down the rate of short sightedness,
been paying for those at around £35 per month? With a sizeable amount up front
Think i’ll be wearing the new glasses forever now-crazy prices

My last pair were £700 - the lens were £500!!! I wear them all the time, I can't see anything without them. I can't lose them as I don't take them off except to sleep.

Firmoo is the way forward.

Two pairs of glasses for £45.

Eye test for £25 and it was paid for by my work because I work with screens.

My daughters lenses cost me £180 6 months ago. They tried to change me £220 this time. Shes bloody 6. NHS voucher was £45.

Should have gone to Specsavers.....
I have been extremely myopic since childhood and have slight astigmatism. I am therefore very experienced in having eye tests and glasses, as I'm now 73.

Specsavers are just as good and thorough as any opticians I have ever been to, and much more reasonable.

Again, not possible if you have a complex prescription.

This! I went to my local optician to get the prescription for readers then plugged it into GD, picked the cheapest lenses and glasses were £24.

Had varifocal lenses stitched in 7 years ago best £5000 ever spent - no specs ever again!

I always worry about getting varifocals online. They do so many measurements in the opticians to fit them that surely you can’t get with an online glasses provider?
my standard is specsavers top version, how would I be able to compare the lens quality with that before ordering?

I do buy single lens glasses and sunglasses online but never yet varifocals.

£600 for me! And that was with a cheap £130 frame.
Unfortunately when you have a more complex prescription or bad astigmatism, cheaper online retailers are no good and so you are at their mercy.

Varifocals, over -10 both eyes, over £600 😭

Firmoo are great - I see a lot of previous posters are saying they’re no good for complex prescriptions but mine is fairly complex and I’ve had several pairs now, all have been great

I'm so pleased my DS who has SEN has stopped breaking people's glasses, it was getting very expensive!

How do they fit the pupil distance, and the height for varifocals?
What happens if you need the arms adjusting?