I need new glasses. The only insurance-approved place I can shop online will cost $250 with my needs. I went to a "cheap" glasses website that doesn't accept insurance: $250. Yay, America.
The optometrist recommended seamless bifocals. I have a very painful nerve condition in my face (atypical trigeminal neuralgia), so this is what I need with glasses: the lightest weight frames possible- known as ultra light- with the lightest weight lenses possible and automatically darkening lenses so I don't need the weight of sunglasses. The cheapest frames brought the total to $250 on the site the insurance worked with.
The frames are $20 on the cheap site. Everything else in the cost is the lenses.
As for why I have to buy them online- I don't want anyone touching my face unless it's absolutely necessary. The exam was painful enough.
American for-profit healthcare is fucking awesome.
I'm an ABOA advanced optician, I've helped with lens designs, I've made my own line of frames, worked with every insurance company, and know the technical details of virtually every product on the market.
If it's going to cost the same either way, do not get the online glasses. The 250 in store is discounted from probably 1200$, and the difference is immediately noticable.
The online glasses will not be measured to fit you properly, the focal point will be a best guess, which makes progressives have a ton of distortion, the frame won't be adjusted and have no standards of material and shitty spring hinges, the transitions will be an old off brand composited lens that will delaminate after some time, the antireflective will be the cheapest, smudging crap possible, and the lenses will be thicker and heavier.
Go to a local optical, not any chain you've ever heard of. No corporate execs to pay means actual paid professionals helping you see better, as opposed to collision salesman trying to rip you off.
Online glasses are for single vision rx's for children, not anybody who really needs glasses.
I'm honestly not sure which frustrates me more. That teeth and eyes are not considered important enough aspects of health to be covered under normal health insurance. Or the shit insurance that's available even when you pay for additional policies to cover them.
Okay, I'm going to go against the grain here and say "Don't go with the really cheap online glasses".
I used eyebuydirect, Zenni, and a couple of others for many years, and was pretty happy with them, especially for the price. However, one thing I'd always noticed is that they'd wind up being pretty beat up with some large scratches in the coatings, or they'd just fail and start flaking off by around the 1 year mark (I'm pretty hard on my glasses, tbf) and I absolutely had to get new ones. I just kind of accepted that I was very hard on my glasses, and that's what happens.
However, I started going to Costco just because my insurance wouldn't cover any of the online places, and the quality of the lenses and coatings are absolutely night and day. I've had 10 pairs now (sunglasses and normal lenses), and only had one with a single scratch in the lenses, after having them go flying across a cement floor due to me doing something quite stupid.
I don't think you need a membership for their optical center either, but I'm not 100% sure.
If you have Costco membership, their optical department is pretty affordable. Frames are $50-80. Lenses another $80 or so, but depends on complexity and of you get transitions and whatnot.
$250 for glasses like that is very cheap. I also have bifocals, not the thinnest lenses either, IIRC they were one step up from the standard ones. A light frame but nothing special, the frame was like €100, the entire set of glasses was around €650. The lenses only have a cylinder in them; no prisms or anything like that. If you need more complicated or stronger/thin lenses they can easily go over €1000.
Even if you have the optional insurance for it, that doesn’t really help you. The amount they cover is basically the same amount you pay for the additional coverage. You’re better off putting the money in a savings account earmarked for your next set of glasses.
Also, if you need anything but the most basic single focus lenses without any cylinders or prisms, get them at a real optician. The online store can’t properly measure where to place the lenses in the frame (they need to be properly centered in front of your pupils).
Comedian Kyle Ayers has Trigeminal Neuralgia as well. He's about to do the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with his show (Hard to say) all about how he's been dealing with it. I know that doesn't help you with your glasses, but maybe his comedy can help alleviate some of the pain and worry.
eyebuydirect. I got my first pair from them for $11, shipped, just to test if they could get my weird prescription right. if you want all the bells and whistles, you can get one up to about 150, but I basically got a dozen pairs for what Target wanted for a single pair.
I understand your frustration. This sucks major league. I know a fairly cheep German glasses company who ship worldwide (production for most glasses worldwide is Thailand, that's where the company gets their products as well). They've got a very generous refund policy as well. If you want to, I can pm you their website.
I tried bifocals, and they are just not for me. I work on a computer all day, and having to jog my head around in order to have appropriate focus sucks.
So ... when I go to get an eye exam, I have them give me two prescriptions. One for distance (driving, movies, whatever), and another for about six inches past arm's length - how far away my main monitor is. Then I get two pair of glasses online for ~$40 each, and a pair of distance sunglasses for $50.
I like the distance sunglasses better than transitions lenses, because they're darker than the transitions would ever get. Adding other fancy coatings will certainly increase the price of the lenses, but I think I only did scratch resistant on my regular distance pair, since I'm not doing somersaults while on the computer.
I bought glasses out of insurance from a company that I don't think sells out of insurance glasses anymore. But it cost like $120 (getting glasses the normal way would've probably been a 4 digit number, so I consider $120 cheap for glassss), all I had to do was find my old prescription numbers then increase them by like 1 increment. Saved tons of money. Your eye doctor will refuse to tell you your prescription numbers if it's been more than 1 year since your last appointment but there are ways to measure the lens curvature using light and shadows. You can't get them any cheaper without becoming a glass blowing expert and doing it yourself, and you'd have to diy a lot of other far fetched stuff while you're at it, so good luck with that
I think Costco glasses are a good deal, even if you have to buy a one-year membership to get them. Don't know if they're available online, but don't you want to try glasses on in person to make sure they fit and are comfortable?
Fucking Stanton and Warby Parker advertised $45 for 2 pairs... But you can only actually get that price if you don't actually need lenses. These two (and probably all others advertising similar prices) are just fucking scams.
I buy from glassesshop, I think the cheapest pair is $50 for frame and lenses. I went all in on the thinnest lenses and transitions, I think it was $150.
Target optical does vision tests for $75 IIRC, and I go there to get a prescription that I give to glassesshop and pick up a cheap pair and a nicer pair. Still not free.99, but much cheaper than other routes without insurance.
I recently went for glasses and eye exam. Near sighted with astigmatism, and now I need bifocals on top of it. Bifocals with line aren’t common now so doctor suggested progressives. I’m fine with that.
I’m also a special kid who can’t wear polycarbonate lenses because I’m hypersensitive to chromatic aberration. So need Trivex lenses as well. Throw in an anti-glare coating and my cost (with insurance) is like $460.
The sad part is given my needs and how few carry Trivex in my area, I consider it a decent deal.
Goggles4u.com is where I used to buy glasses. I got corrective surgery, but usually bought my hlasses for $30 an out. They have a range of prices for frames and then tack on a charge for lenses and coatings.
I didn’t have progressive lenses, but they offer them.
This is a preview of America in early November. Everyone seems to have forgotten that all the swing states now have Trump loyalist election officials who campaigned on refusing to allow a Democrat to win.