Eyeglasses are freakin' expensive!

[elfs]

This afternoon I went looking for a new pair of eyeglasses, and was shocked at just how much they cost. A pair of frames averaged $250, and my insurance covered barely half of that. The lenses weren't fully covered. Even with insurance, I was looking at an outlay of maybe $230 in cash. Grief!

I'm going to shop around, but I don't know if I can't afford them even with the insurance.

Comments

You don't know me...

[bunnybutt.livejournal.com]

But I read you regularly off Yohannon's friends list. Try 39dollarglasses.com. My gf got her first pair of bifocals there this year, and they totally rock. They'll be more than $39 once you add all the options, but still way less than 1/3 of what you'll find IRL. They were faster than many labs, too.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

Do you have an older pair with frames you can salvage? I've done that more than once, to bring the cost of glasses to where I could actually afford it.

[whipartist.livejournal.com]

Do you have a Costco membership?

[mo-hair.livejournal.com]

i agree. the ones from the warehouse stores don't suck at all. they don't offer stellar style selections, but if you're looking for something relatively simple it's worth a look.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, costco has some very reasonable prices, if you can wait a while to get them.

[tehrasha.livejournal.com]

Ouch! Is it just your location, or have they gone up that much in one year? Just last year I got titanium frames for $190 (before insurance).

[fallenpegasus]

In Boston there was a store called "4Eyes" that specialized in cheap glasses that would be fully covered by insurance. I'm sure there is something similar here.

[hedgemage.livejournal.com]

I've mail-ordered from For Eyes before. I don't know if they have a catalog of frames available, though. I was just boring and had them give me the same frames I'd bought in their store the year before.

[hlmt.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I -don't- have insurance, and recently forked over $530 or so for eye exam, lenses, and frames. It hurts.

[bldrnrpdx.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine got her frames from LensCrafters for not too terribly much. I helped her go through them to find the one she wanted, and she found some she really liked and we both thought she looked good in. I don't remember how much they were, but I do remember it was under $200. Might be worth a look.

[gromm.livejournal.com]

That's nothing. A couple of years ago my wife had to get new glasses, and her prescription is so strong that in order to get the lenses thin enough, they had to be sent off to the Zeiss factory in Germany, at a cost of about $800 CDN.

I got my last pair of glasses for only about $200 though. I managed to find a nice pair of frames for only $100, and that helped a lot.

[lconover.livejournal.com]

I've had good luck with www.Optical4Less.com - but you need to get your PD (pupillary distance I think?) number added to your prescription to order from them.

[shunra.livejournal.com]

Faced with the same issue, my darling husband chose to buy sunglasses frames and have the lenses put into them. It was considerably less expensive, and the glasses ended up fitting better and feeling more "covered" than regular glasses.

And there's always Vancouver as an option... glasses were considerably less expensive there when we last looked (a couple of years back).

[patsyterrell.livejournal.com]

I always get the best deals at my eye doctor's office for some reason. Don't know what the deal is there, but they're always cheaper than anywhere else.

[(Anonymous)]

Get a real job and maybe you'll be able to afford them.

Loser!

Needed: better insults.

[(Anonymous)]

Get a real writing skill and maybe you'll be able to write better insults. :-)