Glasses prescription changing every few months (£££ + concern)

[Otins]

I'm 48. I started wearing glasses in 2020 (during the first lockdown) for reading. In 2022 I needed a prescription for distance so got varifocals and wear them 90% of the time. This was May 2022. By October 2022 my vision didn't seem as clear, so I had another test and my prescription had got worse so I got a new prescription (varifocals). They gave me a 30% as I hadn't had the other prescription long.

It's now January 2023 and I've noticed it has happened again. I won't have time to get to an eye test for a few weeks but I'm almost certain my prescription has got worse again.

I can't afford best part of £300 every few months for a new prescription. Are there any cheaper (but still safe) ways to get varifocals?

And, is this normal to have eyesight getting noticeably worse every few months at my age, or should I be worried? ( I will mention it to the optician when I go but this won't be for a few weeks). Thank you

Asda opticians do flat rate regardless of what kind of lenses you need including varifocals.

opticians.asda.com/Prescription-Glasses

I think it’s fairly normal to have an age related decline in your forties and then it stabilises. I’d ask the optician to be sure. There is no safe way other than an optician. If you think your current optician is rubbish, get a second opinion.

Can you point out where it says that? I just looked as my eyes are horrendous and it only seems to have the price of the frames, not the lenses?

@Onnabugeisha if you click on the frames to view more details there's a green box bit with the detail on the right.

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime
Thank you, it says “certain lens brand excluded” in small print on the left.
Well, it’s worth a call to them. My glasses always cost an arm and a leg.

I don't have varifocals but do have a strong prescription, astigmatism and a dozen other weird and wonderful things wrong with my eyes and I've never had a problem.

I prefer plastic black frames so don't need the super thinned lenses but they have always thinned them down enough that they fit well in the frame and not charged extra.

I presume that your optician has done a full eye check up when doing the eye test? Not casting aspersions but some large chain high street opticians do seem more keen on selling you products rather than investigating issues do you see an experienced ophthalmic optician each time you go. I’m slightly different in that I had truly awful eyesight all my life but when I went through a stage of rapid eyesight deterioration it was because I was developing cataracts.

Thank you, again this could save me alot of money.

I got my last ones from asda. I have varifocals and i got the two pairs for £120. One pair were varifocals and the other was prescription sunglasses.
Its such good value as thats with thinned down lenses too. Normally i pay a fortune as i have quite strong prescription

Hi OP, optometrist here
Frequent changes in your vision are common in your 40’s and 50s as your eye muscles are able to do gradually less so the glasses need to do gradually more. However this frequency of change is more than we would usually expect to see. Some reasons could be early cataract formation as mentioned by PP or sometimes undiagnosed diabetes can do this too. The optometrist will be able to give you and idea from the type of change what the cause might be as age tends to cause a prescription to become more + and cataracts/diabetes more - (broadly speaking) My advice would be to get a test as soon as you’re able and see that they say.
Re getting varis, Id steer clear of buying online as so many measurements are needed to give you the optimum vision that just can’t be done accurately at home by someone not trained

Asda I've found v good for better value specs.

However, no I don't think this level of decline is right. Have you had imaging done? My eye sight is deteriorating because I have a hole developing in my macular, this was picked up by Specsavers on a 3D scan thing that I paid £10 extra for. I was referred by the NHS, though for a different reason. I now have 6m reviews.

It's worth having every test they can put you through I think. If you're worried, speak to your GP who can refer you to the eye triage who will then refer you on.

I had a friend who had a similar experience and it turned out that he was diabetic. Just a thought.

I get my varifocals from asda in the 80 or 2 for 120 (inc sunglasses) while my prescription is still changing, which it will do for a few years once age-related long-sightedness creeps in. Much preferable to paying £300+ for lenses plus £180 for frames as I was doing from my local opticians. The asda frameless ones seem a little more flimsy but are good enough for the price.

I think it depends how much of a decline too? Is it 0.25 or 2.5?
I agree get every eye health test they can do.

I think reglaze my specs do varifocals. You get your eyes tested, then send them the prescription with your old frames (or 2nd hand frames which are very cheap on eBay). It works out a lot cheaper.

Thanks everyone. I had the extra imaging done in May 2022 and they said my eyes were very healthy. I didn’t have it done in October 2022 as I had ‘only just’ had it done. They checked back to the May images in October and said they were healthy (in May, obviously)

The worsening is slight. I can still see to read etc / see the tv etc but not with a nice crisp outline that I love and strive for! It’s all a little blurry/needs more concentration.

Will book an appt at a non chain opticians to get them checked thoroughly. I have been to Soecsavers so far for convenience.
Thank you

Specsavers is where the NHS sent me, they are perfectly fine and have all the up to date machines. I don't think independents are better. Probably the opposite because the machinery is a big investment.

Just to pick up on the Asda thing… if you have a complex prescription their lenses are awful. The field of vision you get with the varifocals are really poor and if you’ve been used to a better grade of lens before (which at £300 I’m guessing you have) you’ll feel like you’re looking through a goldfish bowl. I am a -9.50 in both eyes with astigmatism and a +1.5 varifocal and I actually got a refund from Asda because the glasses were just awful. Such a shame as I really wanted to find a cheaper way of updating my glasses as mine cost £500 from my independent opticians. I don’t like Specsavers either, I’ve had their highest quality lenses which are better than Asda but they have tiny little dots and varifocal markers on the lenses and as my eyes are so short sighted I can see them and it bothers me. My more expensive lenses don’t have these - Specsavers tried to tell me all lenses have them!

Oh no. I feel a bit deflated now, my eyes are -20.5 with astigmatism. Sounds like ASDA may not be a good idea after all. 😕
But thank you for sharing what your experience was, it is very helpful.
I might still give them a shot. My eye exams are free due to glaucoma risk.

I can only speak from personal experience but for myself and members of my family ( who all have very complex eye issues) I am evangelical about sticking with an independent optician who has been in business for a long time. They know the family history and know when something is just not right eg very recently they told one of my siblings at an emergency appointment not to go home but to go straight to the hospital ( the optician phoned the hospital first) as they had a detaching retina and my sibling underwent a procedure the next day. My optician has all the machines that you could want because they have patients referred to them and do a lot of the care that the hospital Opthamology Dept used to do. They provided all my pre and after care for my cataract surgery and I could call them whenever I had a concern. In my experience the likes of Specsavers is fine if your eyesight problems are minor and straightforward ( which most people’s are to be fair)

I mean if you’ve got £50 ish to gamble with it’s worth a try - so many people think they’re great, it’s just for me I really noticed the difference. I’m sorry you have such complex eyes as well. I also have lattice degeneration and white without pressure eye issues. Really wish I had better eyes!

My eyes are similar to yours. I've had several varifocals.

I've had zero issue with my Asda ones. No "field of vision" problem, I definitely do not feel like I'm in a goldfish bowl. I've had them 18m and they're totally fine.

And, yes, I paid upwards of £500 a pair for specs in the past, due to my complex prescription.

And every lens I've ever had has had those dots on. Maybe some are more visible than others, I have never been able to see them when wearing them but I can sometimes see them if I look carefully after taking them of. Though I've only ever had one pair of glasses from Specsavers so can't really comment if theirs are darker or anything.

In my experience the likes of Specsavers is fine if your eyesight problems are minor and straightforward ( which most people’s are to be fair)

Specsavers diagnosed my torn retina and referred straight to Moorfields, and last year they diagnosed my macular hole which they are monitoring.

I'm not a Specsavers customer generally. I just went when I had some floaters as I could get an appointment, and then again when I was referred by the NHS.

It does seem odd that you say you and all your family always go to the one same independent optician and yet you know exactly what other opticians would do.

I don't live near any family, nor have a family, so no optician would have any family history for me.

@VanGoghsDog I assume that you think I have some sort of agenda and am against high street chain opticians. I’m very glad that you received excellent service at Specsavers. At the risk of high jacking the OP’s thread ( and to answer your question) when I said all my family it was a shortcut for saying both my parents, 2 of my aunts on my mothers side, me and my siblings and 1 of my adult children all go to the same independent optician. Yes we all live in the same city and it’s a family firm that I have been going to for 40 + years. My other child who has not inherited the bad family eyesight to the same extent and both of his children happily go to a high street chain optician so yes I know what happens in other opticians as a child my son was both sporty and clumsy so visiting the chain optician was a very regular occurrence for me. My DH for many years also didn’t attend the same independent optician as I do but when he got given glasses which he couldn’t adjust to and was told there was nothing wrong with them, he came to “my” optician to get them checked and was told that the lenses had indeed been made up wrong he switched to using my optician.