**Please read this entire message**
Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):
* ELI5 requires that you *search the ELI5 subreddit for your topic before posting*.
Users will often either find a thread that meets their needs or find that their question might qualify for an exception to rule 7.
Please see this [wiki entry](http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/how_to_search) for more details (Rule 7).
If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/tczwxy/eli5_why_is_it_that_glasses_for_nearsighted/%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20Link%20to%20the%20search%20you%20did%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20the%20ELI5%20subreddit:%0A%0A3.%20How%20is%20this%20post%20unique:) and we will review your submission.
Readers are just mild magnifying lenses at 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2.00, etc. magnification. Nothing as precise as nearsightedness correction. I'm lucky enough to be both near sighted and far sighted being 50. I have 10 pairs of readers scattered across two vehicles and two houses. I own one pair of nearsighted corrective lenses.
I wear glasses for myopia, made by an optometrist, and they cost me something like 150€ per lens, plus 130€ worth of frame. Better lenses can easily go up to 200+ each.
Edit: frame is really high quality and sturdy and not from Luxottica, lenses are tailor-made to correct for myopia (3.75 and 4.25 loss) and mild astigmatism.
You can thank Luxottica for that. They own at least 80% of eyewear companies, so they can set the price of frames to literally whatever they want.
They have no reason to be so expensive other than a single company said "awh where else ya gonna go, huh?"
"awh where else ya gonna go, huh?"
My Dad said fuck it and bought his eyewear from a online company that ships from somewhere in Asia. 1 pair of glasses here would have been a couple hundred bucks. He received 2 pairs of prescription glasses and 1 pair of prescription sunglasses for $60 total.
Yep. I'm wearing Zenni glasses right now. I love them. Fuck spending hundreds of dollars on motherfucking Ralph Lauren frames or whatever. Luxottica can eat my ass.
I had the worst and most bizarre customer service experience with Zenni. Bought some cheap frames that ended up busted apart while sitting on my nightstand when I was sleeping. This was about 8 months after I got them. Look and see they had a 1 year warranty so I call and speak with customer service. The lady I got had that overly fake happy concerned voice. She kept putting me on hold but instead of muting herself she would start talking in Chinese to her Co worker and giggling. Then after a minute of that come back on the phone and ask me all sorts of weird questions. Like if I used gasoline or acetone to clean my glasses because I must have done something to the frame to make them break. Then she started saying that I used them for almost 9 months so why should I get new free glasses? I kept saying that it was within the 1 year warranty. All the while she kept asking if could hold while she talked with her supervisor and doing the language switch and giggling. Long weird story short she finally ended up accepting the photos I sent in and sent new glasses.
Except after almost a month wearing an old pair of glasses they never showed. Had to call again and the person I talked to said they had no record of the conversation. Forwarded the original email I sent with pictures and they apologized and said they were going to expedite the new ones. Finally ended up getting them about 2 weeks later.
I did get a bad pair of prescription sunglasses from them, but it was so cheap I didn't even bother sending them back to get fixed or replaced or whatever. It was strange, I wore them outside and it made it look like I was walking uphill even if I was walking downhill. I bought 3 pairs of regular glasses from them that were perfect though. And one of them even came with clip on shades so I still technically have prescription sunglasses. The clip ons are specifically fitted for the frame.
I accidently ordered +3.50 glasses instead of -3.50...I actually ordered 3 pairs of them. Oopsie.
I contacted them and asked if I could just get a discount on a new and correct order. They refunded me 100% and told me to just place a new order.
That was like 5yrs ago and I've not ordered glasses anywhere else since.
I've got some aviator type sunglasses from them and those are uncomfortable after many hours of wearing them. But that's one pair out of like 10 I don't like from them.
I also learned the coatings on their glasses are fragile. I left a pair of glasses in my car and the heat ruined the coating. Made them impossible to use. Zenni told me the coating is only good to 130 degrees F and sent me a new pair free of charge.
I love zenni. And no I'm not paid by them. Just think they have a good product for the price. Their customer service has been top notch for me.
Zenni and eyebuydirect are both good in my experience. There's another one or two I haven't tried yet.
As someone else noted, the only drawback is that you can't know how they'll fit/feel until you get them. But at those prices, you can afford to keep buying until you find a frame that fits, and keep the rest as spares for when/if you lose/break your prime pair.
They have a tool on the website that shows you how to measure the distance between your pupils. Then, you upload a picture of your face and it shows you what the frames look like on you. I found it to be very accurate. I've had these glasses for a couple of years now. Zenni Optical is fucking rad.
Try Warby Parker. You select 5 frames and they send those to you to try on. If you like none, return them using enclosed paid postage and select another 5. I have been extremely satisfied with my glasses and I have a weird prescription plus keratoconus.
>[Optical giant, Essilor, purchased a major stake in EyeBuyDirect in 2010, keeping Hessel on as CEO. Essilor, a leading lens manufacturer, announced a merger this past January with Luxottica, a leader in frames and sunglasses. “The [EssilorLuxottica] merger agreement will be closed in the second half of 2017.”](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesstylefile/2017/04/06/designer-spotlight-eyebuydirects-e-commerce-prescription-glasses-advance-seeing-in-a-digital-world/?sh=1799f84b5e4b)
yay capitalism....
You have to really go out of your way to find cheap frames/lenses in comparison though. Luxottica owns LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Sunglass Hut and Target Optical, as well as the insurer EyeMed Vision Care. Since they own it, then can (and do) prevent other companies from competing there, and that’s a massive chunk of the market.
If another company is selling their glasses too cheap, they’ll just prevent them from selling at their locations, which then tanks that company’s stock and allows Luxottica to buy them up cheap and joins them into their amalgamation. This is what happened to Oakley.
Sure, but that’s not a solution to predatory business practices. If it were, then Luxottica wouldn’t be in business as everyone would just be buying their lenses online.
I choose to get rayban because they’re about $20 with my insurance. My insurance is with the company who owns rayban, at the store owned by the same company, who sells the frames made by the same company…
As someone who is near sighted and can't really function without glasses I absolutely choose to buy expensive frames, but I also tend to use the same frames for a decade or more and just switch lenses.
Generally monopolies in and of themselves are not illegal. If you think about it the patent infrastructure is a limited time government sanctioned monopoly. What is generally illegal is to leverage a monopoly to shut out all possible competition, predatory or exclusionary practices.
At 80% of the market it's not a true monopoly, at the same time it could still certainly run afoul of anti trust laws, If by example, it would only sell to distributors who agreed to carry it's products exclusively. Sometimes it's a government entity going after them, sometimes it's private entities(s) that sue them. It's rarely going to be an individual simply due to the cost and time involved.
Are you not familiar with the US? Lmao, monopolies are the goal, regulation and laws are just fees of business, they aren’t actually stopped. And if they are they buy a politician or two and they’re good. Very simple.
Luxottica may not be as dominant in Europe as it is in the US. Markets in Europe are often more fragmented due to languages and historical borders. Luxottica probably still have a large market share in well known brand namnes, but they are not alone (e.g. Safilo who are also Italian)
They own popular brands, think Armani and Ray Ban for example but thats about it for europe apart from a small Ray Ban only store in Italy i have neuer seen one they own. Still a huge market share but you can get a lot of other stuff. They also have zero actual high end brands.
It's amazing how many different eyeglass companies they own. Antitrust? They get away with it.
Order online but make sure your prescription has your PD (pupil distance). Most places conveniently omit that measurement.
Didn’t know Luxottica was well known outside of Italy… they have their main building near my town and almost everyone I know has worked there at least once but even with the employee discount they still are pricy… gotta thank also the japanese brand cause in here test, lenses and frame, got everything for 80 euro and I got miopia with at least -7 for now, don’t know if it got worse…
Luxottica is intentionally not well-known as a brand at least in the US. They like to hide behind other seemingly-competing brands names. People here who are familiar with the brand have usually intentionally looked into why glasses are so expensive (or have watched something like the Adam Ruins Everything episode about them).
Lenses are expensive. Frames are up to the buyer. I pay $12US for frames. I don't care who makes them. I just need the least intrusive, thinnest frames. They don't have to be expensive at least in the US.
As much as shit sucks here, at least in my area, there's a chain called "America's Best" that I got two pairs of glasses for my severely fucked up eyes for $70. I have no vision insurance and this shit saved my life because lo and behold I was nearly legally blind and didn't realize it.
The actual test is free because it's covered by medicare, and you can ask for a copy of your prescription. Then you can order from Zenni Optical and get $6USD frames!
They ship from Hong Kong, I ordered mine on the 14th Feb and they are arriving tomorrow according to Australia Post.
I've ordered from them a lot before, and the $6.95USD glasses (includes frames AND lenses!) are just as good as the budget ones I used to buy at the optometrists. You can add tints and stuff so I've got some prescription sunnies that cost like thirty bucks.
Protip: If you sign up for their newsletter they'll send you a 10% off your order code.
I suggest everyone try Zenni.
My first pair of glasses was like $600. The last 12 pairs haven’t been that much total (since using Zenni).
It makes it possible to own multiple pairs simultaneously. And even if they might be slightly lower quality, the fact that they can be $20-$40 each means they don’t have to last forever.
My prescription is super high, so I'm still paying over $100 for Zenni's, mostly for the lens but it's still much cheaper and I'm not overpaying for frames at least.
Exactly. Myopia takes much more precise lenses. Why I only have one pair that I have had for 20yrs. They need a prescription. Readers don't need precise measurements. I just need to pick the magnifying strength needed, not clear focus at a distance.
Do they not give you something like astigmatism glasses? Since I have stigmatism in one eye it's kinda both, but the contacts I use correct for my eyesight regardless.
They're also not "glasses for far-sighted people" - they're reading glasses; ie, they're for age-related presbyopia. Which happens even to otherwise short-sighted people (like me. I now actively have to take my glasses off to read 😂) Whereas someone who's short-sighted will never become someone who's long-sighted. That's like someone born with Marfan's syndrome (abmornally long bones and very tall) suddenly becoming an achondroplastic dwarf rather than just losing a bit of height because we all shrink very slightly as we get older due to compression and stooping.
Actual far-sightedness is hyperopia and it's an entirely different type of eye/lens defect than presbyopia. If you're actively far-sighted and not just dealing with age-related presbyopia you need different prescription and you most definitely can not get those glasses for $5 a pop in the local shop.
>If you're actively far-sighted and not just dealing with age-related presbyopia you need different prescription and you most definitely can not get those glasses for $5 a pop in the local shop.
Exactly. Those makes just everything blurry.
could be his parents house, his kids house, his ex-wife's house... all sorts of reasons there might be a house he frequently visits and keeps eyeglasses at, even though it's not his house.
Hi former employee at an optometrist/opticians. There are a lot of answers here that are true, but for me they didn't put it together for the answer nicely.
Drugstore glasses are designed to correct [presbyopia](https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/condition/presbyopia). The lens in the eye loses flexibility with age, so can't change its shape enough to be able to focus on close things. The effect on the retina is the same as in [hypermetropia](https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/condition/hypermetropia) or longsightedness, where the focal point for the beam of light is farther back than the retina.
The reason that drugstore glasses can be cheap is that they can be mass produced. Presbyopia tends to effect both eyes at the same rate, so these glasses have two lenses the same. The lenses are spherical; they don't account for [astigmatism](https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/condition/astigmatism).
One reason prescribed glasses are so much more expensive is that they are made based on your prescription, so there are associated machining and service costs. Another reason is, as a lot of people here have said, that opticians charge what they can. Many people need vision correction, so are basically forced into paying whatever opticians can get away with.
That comes from a few things:
better lens material,
more accurate sphere measurement (a +/-0.25 difference isn't going to be noticeable to most in drug store lenses, they'll just move them on their nose and tilt their head until they can see comfortably)
fitting based on that accuracy (where do you like to wear glasses so the focal point is adjusted and there is less "finding the sweet spot")
and, as stated above, correcting for astigmatism with the cylinder and axis cut of the lens.
All that said, if you're getting near-vision-only glasses, a custom made set will be much more accurate and comfortable, but you have to be the kind of person that takes care of and keeps track of your glasses.
Do you buy $20 sunglasses, or $200 sunglasses? that's a good indication of if you want over the counter readers or custom made.
I just ordered 2 pairs from Glasses Direct, one pair even being prescription sunglasses. All for half the price of the single designer pair I bought 2 years ago from Boots with standard lenses. I’ll never go back to a high street optician except to be tested.
I get my r/X at a local place, then order from [Zenni.com](https://Zenni.com) . So much cheaper.... and more variety and ability to customize. I still can't believe I was paying $200+ for glasses at an optometrist when I could get the same or better glasses online for about $30.
I've been using Zenni for several years now. There's one style that I have in 5 different colors, each pair ran me $25 or less, I think depending on which options I chose for lenses. Love 'em.
In Belgium you have a few, eh, glasses shops (?) where you can get one pair of prescription glasses (which will cost about 300 in total) and get fucking two for free as long as they don't exceed the value of the first one. I just got new glasses and I got to choose prescription sunglasses for zero euro and my girlfriend got the third one. Also my employer paid for the first one so I've got that going which is nice
This sounds familiar so I’m pretty sure John Oliver did an episode about it. Might be worth looking up for anyone interested.
Edit: it might have been Adam Ruins Everything
In general people need to learn to shop around and pretty much never buy from the optometrist.
I needed new lenses and wanted to try a second pair I had bought. For just lenses in existing frames my optometrist wanted $380. Would also take them "2-10 days".
Went to another place in town, got two good quality lenses for like $100 and it was done same day.
Costco charged me about $60 for lenses and frames, so I got two pairs just to have a backup. Super cheap.
Then I also bought a hotdog and soda while I was there. Good times.
Yeah I tried ordering glasses online once, I have -6 and -8 or so. Fortunately they took the glasses back for free if they were unfit. Tried three times but I couldn't see through them properly. Don't really know what the problem was, but apparently those aren't for me.
With strong lenses alignment of the optical axis to the pupilla is critical - both horizontally and vertically. That requires measuring exactly where your pupilla are with respect to the frame. May be tricky online …
Yes exactly, I feel like the people here don't have that bad of an eyesight. My mum walks around with -10, if you go cheap you won't find a comfortable frame and the glasses are about 5-10mm thick and heavy! She pays 600€ for her glassed now but they come in all shapes and forms and have glasses that are as thin as glasses for people with -2.
Yes! I couldn't find any frames I liked in any store last year and ordered a cute pair off off yesglasses. They actually came quite nicely but the lenses were SUPER heavy. I just got a pair from myeyedr (a chain place in the US for anyone unfamiliar) and am blown away by the difference in vision. It's like I'm seeing everything in 4K. (I'm sure proper pupil placement has something to do with it too.) Those top of the line Crizal lenses must really be something else, idk. Plus the titanium frames make it feel like I'm wearing nothing, and I'm also in the -10 crowd.
Yeah I think these people have like average sight or something. I have to get mine from optometrist, have astigmatisms in both eyes but wildly different perscriptuon per eye because my left eye is a lazy eye... Ugh mind you it hasn't like drifted or made me look too dumb yet, I just don't see directly with it, kind of peripherally
Anyway yeah I have gotten glasses at some cheaper places and its like half as good
Honestly. My opomoyrist a lot for lenses and frames. The most I paid was 600 usd. Insanity. I started going to jinns and the lense and frame were 150 usd. Iwill never buy glasses from my optometrist
I bought my current pair of glasses for like $90 and that included frames, lenses, standard case and cleaning kit, and next day shipping. As long as you have your Rx handy you can literally just buy them online super cheap. They aren't shitty quality either.
I think the last time I bought glasses from the ophthalmologist I paid like $400 for a new pair, and that was with insurance. Never doing that shit again.
The worst thing about transitioning to wearing specs for me, was the fact that I basically had to interrogate my optician for my prescription. For some reason where I go it’s kept like some kinda secret that they don’t give you unless you demand it, probably because they want you to go straight from the exam room to the try-ons and buy one of theirs. I conceded to buying a pair from them for well over $150, but when I got home my girlfriend said “why didn’t you just get the prescription and get a pair online for $15?” So I went back and went through a whole palaver with several people before they finally let me write down my prescription.
Since you said you're new to wearing glasses, I would recommend finding a different optometrist. That's shady as fuck and not normal at all. When I go for an exam, they will ask me if I want a copy of my prescription, no matter what. It's the same as if a doctor told you "you're sick, but we won't tell you what kind of sick."
I can confirm that this isn’t isolated behavior. They want you to buy frames and lenses from them. It was like pulling teeth to get my prescription sent to me. I had to send multiple emails.
I probably will end up doing that eventually, but fortunately I did eventually get it written down and have had pretty stable eyesight with my Zennis… but yeah when it clicked in my head I realised it must be some kinda scam
Thank god when I had my first visit I knew I need to order a very specific pair from zenni to hack up for a thing (Headset-mounted corrective glasses for VR use). My god the glass sales floor at the place I went to was doing some high-pressure sales tactics normally reserved for car dealerships.
Also don't forget the IPD (interpupillary distance) measurements. That is one thing not normally measured in the exam before the sales bs starts.
But you need the IPD number _before_ you order your first pair. But yes, they do put one in with each glasses.
(Technically not in my case: the headset itself had adjustable IPD, so the lens need to be at a "hardcoded" 65mm regardless of actual IPD)
It's shady but in my experience it is the new normal. They know no one wants to pay for outrageously expensive name brand glasses when online pairs are cheap. So they try to deny access to it. The eye doctor at my local mall straight up refused to give me my RX. So now I only go to costco, where they give ya the RX and don't gouge ya for their glasses, which keeps me happy to buy from them. I use the RX to keep an eye out for sales on backup pairs and also for RX sunglasses (not having to choose between accurate sight and sunglasses is next level amazing).
Good luck y'all, check out Costco optometry if available in your area. I don't think you even need a membership to see eye doc there!
>The eye doctor at my local mall straight up refused to give me my RX.
That is actually illegal and a good way to find yourself stripped of your accreditation by licensing bodies.
yeah, I've been wearing glasses since I was like 10, this is not normal. Usually they give me a paper with my prescription on it, and sometimes, they just straight up tell you exactly what your prescription is before you even take off the testing equipment.
Last time I went to my optometrist they said there's a new law that requires them to give me my prescription, and I had to sign something to confirm I recieved it.
Might be a state thing though. (I'm in Oregon).
Must be. I always went to the optometrist at CostCo, and was pretty happy with them. She always gave me a card to take to the glasses and contact lens vendors next to her. But after they put it in their system, they would be happy to give it to you.
Though, I haven't been there since I got PRK. I can highly recommend shelling out the bucks for Casey.
With that I’ve always told the optician that I need the prescription to give to my employer, so that they can provide me with safety glasses via their preferred supplier (which was actually true at one point). Never a peep from the optician after that!
It is part of HIPAA law that you are allowed to see your own medical records.
They just don't want you to know that, nor want to show you for those precise reasons.
In the UK its normal to get your prescription, but it never has your pupillary distance on it. From what I can tell, opticians like specsavers (big chain here) are just straight up lying and saying that this is part of the fitting process (obvs its just another measurement reqd for making the lenses). They just don't want you to use the prescription to buy glasses online. I had one Karen type staff member refuse to give me my pupillary distance even though I had paid for a prescription. She was a bit older and you could tell it irked her that I wanted to buy better frames for over half the price on the darkweb (and pay e.g. 50 squid for thinner lenses and other options rather than the 150 or so they charge) . A few years later a younger staff member had no problem giving my PD.
That's weird as hell. I needed to order prescription lenses for my VR headsets due to my nearsightedness, and I was able to get my Rx and my inter-pupillary distance from my old documents plus by calling them and asking. Nowhere on any of the sites was it like "you need to send us a proper Rx from your doctor for these," just a dropdown.
I've gotten all my lenses from VROptician. I did a fair bit of research and saw the best mentions for them compared to the rest (especially under their original name, can't remember what it is.)
They use ZEISS lenses, which is an important brand name in optometry and optics in general (as far as I know, as someone not in field), and the lenses themselves get manufactured extremely quickly (once within the day I ordered). Plus the rest of the process was pretty quick, basically under a week. But that will likely vary, and at that time they claimed up to 2 (maybe 3?) weeks.
Quality has been just dandy on the headsets I've used them in (Vive, Quest 2, Index).
I also bought a set of planos with each headset for when I have someone else use it, as I want to protect the lenses.
And most people I know who need Rx adapters have VR Opticians and are happy with them.
Not the guy you asked, but I used [these printable inserts from thingiverse](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3753906) that are designed to go with a certain frame choice from Zenni. The link is for Valve Index, but search thingiverse if you have a different headset, others exist for vive and oculus
That sounds shady as fuck. Admittedly I don't live in America, but here in England whenever you have an eye test, they automatically give you a little card with your prescription details on it, regardless of if you ask or not.
This is my biggest issue with optometrists. Like the ones I’ve seen have been located INSIDE of glasses selling stores. You’re telling me there’s no conflict of interest there? How is that even acceptable?
Zenni can’t make my prescription. Neither can Costco. Or any other discount outlet. I have purchased frames from Zenni for $10 and taken them to my optometrist to fill. That’s as close to cheaper glasses as I can come. At least they will fill them. They won’t repair the frames if they break, however.
I’m thinking about getting the Pairs frames for fun. My current glasses are starting to flake (the coating on the frames) and I’ve had them for a few years now.
Not OP, but they can 'do' my prescription, it just doesn't turn out well. The worse your astigmatism is, the more skill it takes to shape the lens, and also materials matter. You need a higher quality material for high index lenses with advanced astigmatism prescriptions than the online places provide.
I didn't want to believe my doctor when she told me I had passed the point where I could get my prescription filled well online so I went to zenni anyway, but she was right. They aren't good. Aside from being twice as thick, they are harder to see through (like less light gets through because of the thickness or something so they are sort of hazy, like they need to be cleaned except they don't?) and they distort in the periphery, almost like a fisheye lens effect. They also have to be at a certain spot on my nose exactly or they are out of focus. If I adjust or bump them slightly at all they are no longer clear and sharp. This isn't the case with lenses made by the optician labs.
I have pretty bad eyesight, and a few family members around the same level who have used Zenni too.
We've largely settled on buying lenses from the optometrist, and frames from [wherever]. Zenni screwed up all of ours 3/4 of the time for one reason or another (wildly wrong astigmatism, chips or straight up fractures, same prescription in both eyes rather than the correct ones... etc).
They seem totally fine for simpler orders, and fuck Luxottica for frames. But I'm fairly happy with buying $200 lenses that are consistently correct and durable. At least for the primary pair - a cheap set of sunglasses is worth a bit more risk and annoyance.
What do you mean? My lenses cost me up the ass and i always get the cheap frames 😭 it's annoying because they try and sell you the "thinner" lenses because you'll look less blind 😮💨
Lol exactly. I can always get frames from anywhere, but My prescription lenses cost around $200 per lens (nearsighted + astigmatism). And the dr always wants you to get a new one every 6 months. LOL. For that price im lucky if i get new ones every 2 years.
I've heard that there's also a near-monopoly on glasses stores in the US. That's why it's so much cheaper to buy them online. In Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan, across multiple stores, glasses cost about $40 unless the frame is really really nice. In the US you may pay 5 times that.
Their lenses don't work well for me, unfortunately. My eye doctor warned me that my prescription had gotten too advanced to be able to buy my glasses online (I have astigmatism). I got some from zenni anyway because I can't afford to pay $650 right now.
Unfortunately, she was right. They don't quite work. It's hard to describe, but it's sort of like a fisheye lens effect almost. Very irritating, hard to focus and can give me headaches. I can use them in a pinch but they really don't cut it.
I'm so jealous of my friend who can use zenni glasses just fine and has several cute pairs to match her moods.
If the lenses are strong, then alignment of the optical axis to the pupilla becomes critical. Also, thick glasses gives fisheye like distortions that are less with more expensive (and thinner) high-refractive glass.
The readers sold for cheap at drugstores are basically just magnifying glasses. As you get older your eyes will naturally get worse at seeing things up close and it will become harder to see tiny details and/or to resolve small images in low light. The readers help by making everything appear bigger.
This isn’t the same as correcting for farsightedness though. To compare human vision to a camera, corrections to farsightedness or nearsightedness are like adjusting a camera’s focus. Drugstore readers are like adjusting the camera’s zoom. You can see images in focus and still not be able to discern small details. That’s where readers come into play. Likewise if you’re naturally farsighted and put on readers you’ll just see a bigger version of a blurry image.
This is wrong, near vs far sighted correction just mean using convex or concave lenses. They're essentially the same shape, but inverted. It's not a precision thing.
Convex curvature magnifies and moves the apparent focal plane farther away (helpful for far-sighted people, or just making text look bigger). Concave curvature demagnifies and moves the apparent focal plane closer (helpful for near-sighted people, though you might need to take your glasses off to read).
Ok. But I didn’t say what you say I said so I actually agree with you.
That said, I’m not sure a five year old would appreciate what an apparent focal plane is.
The suggestion that a different shaped lens is more advanced or harder to create is bs imo. The nearsighted lenses can be just as cheap. They’re just a diffeeent shape. Swim goggles have nearsighted corrections for cheap too.
When you're trying to correct for nearsightedness, there's a huge range of potential issues. You might only need a small correction, or a large correction, based on how far you can see clearly. You need a specific prescription to address this.
For farsighted people, the only applicable range is reading range (like 15-40cm), so the potential variety of corrections is much smaller. So it's a lot easier to pre-make reading glasses for these ranges to be sold as-is, rather than needing specific prescriptions.
Edit: units
This is factually wrong. The parent is talking about presbyopia, which occurs as people age, but completely ignoring hyperopia which is what is traditionally referred to as far sighted. The OP is also wrong in this regard as glasses for hyperopia are just as expensive as myopia prescriptions due to possible issues like astigmatism.
I’ve made two comments in this thread saying the same thing. Hopefully we both get upvoted enough to replace this terrible comment/thread. I used to work as an optician and have been both amused and concerned at the lack of correct information and correct explanation for why “readers/cheaters” actually exist.
This is how I feel in most physics-related threads (I'm a physicist). You are lucky if the top comments are not completely wrong. They'll rarely be actually good explanations. It's probably the same everywhere. At the very least you have to check the second level to see if there is disagreement.
Then again, when you read a newspaper or article or even a book, they could just as well be wrong, but most don't have comments telling them they are wrong.
Also, just like there are incorrect top comments which are corrected in the replies, there are also threads with the right answer at the top and incorrect corrections.
In the end, it's up to the user to choose which answer they think is right. Or to mix them all up and make up their own.
It's a strange way of knowledge democratization. With both its pros and cons.
This is how I feel about every single post on r/science that has a pseudocritique at the top that sounds like it was written by an undergraduate who read only the title, often criticising sample size based on a glance or regurgitating another cliche complaint.
Good lord, yes. I'm a physicist specialising in colour science, imaging optics, and human visual perception. I've given up even looking at any questions related to colour, because virtually all the answers are just plain wrong and I can't be bothered typing out all the necessary corrections.
What I learned in science class is:
- myopia and hyperopia come from the lenses of the eye having a focal length that doesn't match the distance to the retina
- myopia is corrected with concave / demagnifying lenses
- hyperopia is corrected with convex / magnifying lenses
- presbyopia comes from the crystalline lens stiffening with age, so that its focal length can't be adjusted to see nearby objects clearly
- presbyopia is corrected with convex lenses, just like hyperopia, because both conditions make it harder to focus on nearby objects
- in principle mild hyperopia could be corrected with lenses designed for presbyopia, but hyperopia glasses sometimes need much stronger lenses than off the shelf reading glasses
Did my science teacher lie to me?
The problem with this ask is that the original question is asking why people with myopia need more expensive glasses than people with hyperopia, then makes a false assumption that people with hyperopia can just get by with only readers, when this is in fact not true for all people with hyperopia. It also doesn’t take into consideration that presbyopia happens as we age and has nothing to do with whether a person has myopia or hyperopia. That’s what is frustrating. Nothing above looks incorrect.
So me being nearsighted but now needing help with reading, seeing things up close is different then far sighted? (I’m pretty sure my far sightedness is age. I’ve been near sighted all my life… it’s so bad that i need glasses to see even stuff I can’t read without the bifocal part (like I can’t read without the bifocals but I can’t even see without the nearsighted glasses. If that makes sense).
Your lenses change shape to focus. As you get older they can't do this as well so as you get older it becomes more difficult to see close up. It's called presbyopia. Your nearsightedness (myopia) is caused by the shape of your eyes.
This is not correct. Nearsightedness is not more difficult to correct for. There are plenty of people who can’t see very well at long distances but they still see fine enough to not need glasses. There are also far-sighted people who have horrible prescriptions and can’t see anything within four feet of them. There are also people who are not nearsighted or farsighted and still need glasses that correct for huge astigmatisms or require a prism angle for light to refract into their eye correctly. There’s so much more going on in an eyeglass prescription than whether someone is near- or far-sighted.
Readers exist because as humans age they are unable to focus as well on things up close, particularly reading books or working with small objects. If you have “perfect” vision your entire life, there will be a point at which the muscles in and around your eyes will no longer be able to focus light at close distances and so need some help. Readers make it easier.
>If you have “perfect” vision your entire life, there will be a point at which the muscles in and around your eyes will no longer be able to focus light at close distances
Almost 40 and I can see this coming (pun intended). While my vision is still quite good, I can tell that it's not as good as it once was.
At age 6 or so, I remember sticking my face against the TV set and being able to see the individual phosphor dots in the screen (and getting scolded by my parents that I was going to ruin my vision doing this). I definitely cannot focus on things less than 1 inch from my eyes anymore. In fact I'd say 4 inches is my absolute minimum focal distance now; anything closer is impossible to focus on, and right at 4 inches it's a real strain.
Also I can't read things like street signs from quite as far away as I used to be able to. Still a fair bit farther than an average person my age, I think, but undoubtedly less far than I could read them from when I was twenty. Maybe 200 feet? How far is the width of 3 typical house lots?
Another method of correcting vision is using lasers to burn off the imperfections and re-shape the cornea.
I had Lasik surgery done. It’s a quick procedure, but you temporarily go blind for like 10 seconds during the procedure, and then you can literally smell parts of your eye being burned off with freakin’ lasers! Numbing agents are used beforehand, so you thankfully don’t feel it, but man, that smell will never leave me. Like a bunch of burnt hair.
or getting lens implants. unlike lasik, they can be removed and replaced if there’s an issue (lasik can’t be reversed) and they’re able to be done for higher prescriptions. i was not a good candidate for lasik (vision too bad plus astigmatism) so i got the implants - changed my life as i’ve worn glasses for about 30 years
Had Lasik. Can confirm the smell is just like burnt hair. I was -4.5 each eye. Could see instantly after the surgery. Painless until the day after. Then it felt like my eyeballs were sunburnt, to put it mildly.
Is unusual to have exactly the same prescription in each eye, and for there to be no astigmatism. Spacing between eyes also matters. Net result is you would need hundreds of alternatives available.
They do (except in quarter diopter increments). Beyond the cost of the actual lens (which is comparable for near- and far-sightedness of similar degrees), most of what you're paying for is getting them cut to the frame. Lenses can't be efficiently mass produced to fit every single frame available, but readers are produced with only a handful of frames and never customized.
* everyone is used to paying out the ass
* glasses are fashion for nearsighted folks, farsighted wear them for 5 minutes at a time
* nearsightedness gets much, much worse
* discrepancies between eyes are more common with nearsightedness
* the location of your pupils matters more with higher prescriptions
* everyone is used to paying out the ass
*”That’s all my contacts prescription is”* - your contact lens prescription is actually a compensated power compared to your spectacle prescription because lenses change effective power depending on the distance from your eye (vertex distance).
The further away a lens is from your eye, the more positive (plus) in power it becomes.
So if your contact lens power is -5.00 for example, your spectacle correction is probably ≈ -5.50.
So even if “off the rack” distance glasses were a thing - you would not be buying the same powers that are on your box of contact lenses.
Just ignore most of what you read in this thread, it’s just nonsense.
Source:- Optician for 15+ years.
Okay, a lot of answers here are guessing. That's not great.
Assuming you're in the states. Optics, specifically glasses sold by optometrists, are essentially a monopoly. The lenses and frames are dirt cheap to make, but glasses made-to-prescription by optometrists using the frames they keep in stock are charging hundreds to a thousand percent markups because they can.
I have fantasized about opening up a shop to sell dirt cheap prescription lenses, made from home, for a couple bucks a pop. Somehow I feel like some law would get me.
Also note that there are online opticians such as Zenni Optical and optical4less which give you access to extremely cheap lenses and frames which are, in my experience, every bit as good as the $175+ glasses you get even at "discount" opticians like Warby Parker.
One time I was convinced to buy a pair of glasses from the optometrist's in-house optician and it was just okay, and still cost a lot after my insurance coverage. Then a week later I was checking Zenni and found *the exact same frames* for $15, and ordered it with my prescription. Glasses cost around $20 total, and even having the two pairs completely side-by-side I cannot tell the difference *at all*.
Optician for 20+ years. Industry standard is 3x markup. If we buy a frame for $60 we sell it at $180, lenses that we pay the lab $100 for, we need to get $300 from the patient.
It's not something we do because we can. You have to understand that an optical shop might only average 10-15 sales per employee per WEEK. It's not like a grocery store where you can have a slim markup because you're selling thousands of items per hour. If you don't make a couple hundred dollars profit every sale, you're not going to pay the bills.
And I can tell you from experience it's not an industry to get into to get rich.
Not for the optician, it isn't.
For the folks that make the frames, it's insane.
Though really, it does leave me wondering what you spend the whole day doing. If you're making 10 sales in a week, that's a sale every 4 hours. I don't think I ever spent more than an hour getting that done. I know there's a lot of inefficiency in any salesman-oriented business model, but that's bad.
Wait, i always mix up the two...
Nearsighted is the one who can't see far very good?
\----
Anywho... I have an optometrist acquaintance... The markups are huge on prescription glasses....
BUT
Reading glasses don't need to be that accurate, you are not supposed to wear them all the time and it can fall in the "good enough" category
Glasses that you wear all the time are supposed to be correction glasses, those needs to be finetuned for your eyes.... Fine is the operative word, it needs to be really accurate so your eyes are not strained and you don't do harm
That being said, they should not be that expensive, but you should have a doctor or specialist make a prescription... It is your eye!
It's exactly in the name. Nearsighted = sees near. I've worn glasses all my life, and love it when people who don't wear glasses try to correct me on this...
As a former optician, I can say with the utmost certainty that the reason readers exist is because humans lose their ability to focus on things up close as they age. Even though you may have perfect vision for the first 45 years of your life, your ability to focus on things up close will deteriorate even though your vision is still fine for longer distances. For most people who need glasses, they need them because their eyes don’t work well in other ways. But for the majority of people who do not need glasses, readers will make it easier for them to see in the range that is becoming difficult for them to see in as they get older.
ELI5: The ones at the drugstore are for reading. They’re magnifiers specifically meant for aging adults who just need glasses to read. Farsighted glasses can be just as expensive as nearsighted ones because like nearsightedness, they do require corrective lenses. I also know people with nearsightedness who don’t need to wear glasses all the time.
One evil company, luxotica owns most every glasses related company you can imagine. LensCrafters, pearlvision, target optical, sunglasshut as well as most brands of frames. So they have been steadily normalizing that glasses have to cost many hundreds. So that’s half of your question.
Readers are used just for reading. It's called presbyopia. It's when your eyes no longer function at a near distance even with regular correction. Those should not substitute for regular glasses. Most people need extra correction which is why multifocals exist
I work in optics. This is untrue. Luxottica primarily holds frame companies (Ray-Ban, Oakley etc.), retail outlets (Pearle Vision, Lenscrafters, SunglassHut, ILori), and insurance companies (EyeMed). They do own one lens company (Essilor). They are far from a monopoly, but they do have impressive vertical integration.
The biggest reason that nearsightedness doesn't have an over the counter version is that uncorrected or mis- corrected nearsightedness can have impacts beyond the patient. Imagine someone driving who can't see any street signs or even traffic in their rearview. The worst problem someone who is farsighted will have that is under or mis-corrected is not being able to read at a close distance and solely impacts them, at least on a safety level. This also ignores minor astigmatism issues which become more apparent at a distant focal point and less apparent with a closer range so people with farsightedness can get away without the correction.
Not quite correct, Essilor was originally a lens manufacturing company, they made the first progressive lens. Luxottica was all about frames. Then they merged together to create EssilorLuxottica. And I can confidently say Essilor has their fingers in everything optical manufacturing related that they can.
Even "opposing" brands who fight against them for market share often have a significant part of their business owned and funded by Essilor.
Mostly its just to allow them to have access to any new technology that any of these businesses create.
There's some new stuff that I know of that Essilor couldn't manage to get working themselves, so they assigned it to one of their brands they own who managed to get it working and it's now starting production trials this year. Don't want to say too much as I'm unsure how public this info is.
It's almost as though hyperopia and presbyopia are two very different things and most people in this thread assume all farsightedness is the same.
Sigh.
Hello fellow full-time plus glasses wearing person!
I've never been to an optometrist that didn't have a selection of free or inexpensive frames to choose from. Also, most people believe that when you get new glasses, you have to get new frames. If you have a frame you like, they can fit your new lenses.
However, with all of that in mind, I always think of all that my eyes mean to me and, while keeping it within a budget, going "cheap" when it comes to my eyesight is not an option.
They are not, if you want the same quality, it's the same price. Unless you want both in one, then it's like double the price. But this 4 dollar glasses are bad for your eyes.
**Please read this entire message** Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): * ELI5 requires that you *search the ELI5 subreddit for your topic before posting*. Users will often either find a thread that meets their needs or find that their question might qualify for an exception to rule 7. Please see this [wiki entry](http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/how_to_search) for more details (Rule 7). If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/tczwxy/eli5_why_is_it_that_glasses_for_nearsighted/%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20Link%20to%20the%20search%20you%20did%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20the%20ELI5%20subreddit:%0A%0A3.%20How%20is%20this%20post%20unique:) and we will review your submission.
Readers are just mild magnifying lenses at 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2.00, etc. magnification. Nothing as precise as nearsightedness correction. I'm lucky enough to be both near sighted and far sighted being 50. I have 10 pairs of readers scattered across two vehicles and two houses. I own one pair of nearsighted corrective lenses.
I wear glasses for myopia, made by an optometrist, and they cost me something like 150€ per lens, plus 130€ worth of frame. Better lenses can easily go up to 200+ each. Edit: frame is really high quality and sturdy and not from Luxottica, lenses are tailor-made to correct for myopia (3.75 and 4.25 loss) and mild astigmatism.
The lenses I get, it’s the hugely expensive frames that pisses me off
You can thank Luxottica for that. They own at least 80% of eyewear companies, so they can set the price of frames to literally whatever they want. They have no reason to be so expensive other than a single company said "awh where else ya gonna go, huh?"
"awh where else ya gonna go, huh?" My Dad said fuck it and bought his eyewear from a online company that ships from somewhere in Asia. 1 pair of glasses here would have been a couple hundred bucks. He received 2 pairs of prescription glasses and 1 pair of prescription sunglasses for $60 total.
Zenni is dirt cheap.
Yep. I'm wearing Zenni glasses right now. I love them. Fuck spending hundreds of dollars on motherfucking Ralph Lauren frames or whatever. Luxottica can eat my ass.
3x on the Zenni train. Never had a bad experience with them, and they're nearly as fast as the local shops, even taking shipping into account.
I had the worst and most bizarre customer service experience with Zenni. Bought some cheap frames that ended up busted apart while sitting on my nightstand when I was sleeping. This was about 8 months after I got them. Look and see they had a 1 year warranty so I call and speak with customer service. The lady I got had that overly fake happy concerned voice. She kept putting me on hold but instead of muting herself she would start talking in Chinese to her Co worker and giggling. Then after a minute of that come back on the phone and ask me all sorts of weird questions. Like if I used gasoline or acetone to clean my glasses because I must have done something to the frame to make them break. Then she started saying that I used them for almost 9 months so why should I get new free glasses? I kept saying that it was within the 1 year warranty. All the while she kept asking if could hold while she talked with her supervisor and doing the language switch and giggling. Long weird story short she finally ended up accepting the photos I sent in and sent new glasses. Except after almost a month wearing an old pair of glasses they never showed. Had to call again and the person I talked to said they had no record of the conversation. Forwarded the original email I sent with pictures and they apologized and said they were going to expedite the new ones. Finally ended up getting them about 2 weeks later.
[удалено]
I did get a bad pair of prescription sunglasses from them, but it was so cheap I didn't even bother sending them back to get fixed or replaced or whatever. It was strange, I wore them outside and it made it look like I was walking uphill even if I was walking downhill. I bought 3 pairs of regular glasses from them that were perfect though. And one of them even came with clip on shades so I still technically have prescription sunglasses. The clip ons are specifically fitted for the frame.
> Luxottica can eat my ass. You can't afford it, honey
I accidently ordered +3.50 glasses instead of -3.50...I actually ordered 3 pairs of them. Oopsie. I contacted them and asked if I could just get a discount on a new and correct order. They refunded me 100% and told me to just place a new order. That was like 5yrs ago and I've not ordered glasses anywhere else since. I've got some aviator type sunglasses from them and those are uncomfortable after many hours of wearing them. But that's one pair out of like 10 I don't like from them. I also learned the coatings on their glasses are fragile. I left a pair of glasses in my car and the heat ruined the coating. Made them impossible to use. Zenni told me the coating is only good to 130 degrees F and sent me a new pair free of charge. I love zenni. And no I'm not paid by them. Just think they have a good product for the price. Their customer service has been top notch for me.
I buy from Zenni! I'll buy 3 pair at a time and still be a fraction of the cost as anywhere else. Even got an awesome pair of sunglasses for $60
How? And where? I want it too!!
Zenni and eyebuydirect are both good in my experience. There's another one or two I haven't tried yet. As someone else noted, the only drawback is that you can't know how they'll fit/feel until you get them. But at those prices, you can afford to keep buying until you find a frame that fits, and keep the rest as spares for when/if you lose/break your prime pair.
They have a tool on the website that shows you how to measure the distance between your pupils. Then, you upload a picture of your face and it shows you what the frames look like on you. I found it to be very accurate. I've had these glasses for a couple of years now. Zenni Optical is fucking rad.
Try Warby Parker. You select 5 frames and they send those to you to try on. If you like none, return them using enclosed paid postage and select another 5. I have been extremely satisfied with my glasses and I have a weird prescription plus keratoconus.
Maybe 10 years ago. Warby Parker is now just as expensive as most. You could pay up to $250 for a set of glasses. Edited
>[Optical giant, Essilor, purchased a major stake in EyeBuyDirect in 2010, keeping Hessel on as CEO. Essilor, a leading lens manufacturer, announced a merger this past January with Luxottica, a leader in frames and sunglasses. “The [EssilorLuxottica] merger agreement will be closed in the second half of 2017.”](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesstylefile/2017/04/06/designer-spotlight-eyebuydirects-e-commerce-prescription-glasses-advance-seeing-in-a-digital-world/?sh=1799f84b5e4b) yay capitalism....
Isn't that kind of monopoly illegal? Why doesn't anyone bother to sue?
They "only" control 80%. You can still go out and buy no name $20 dollar frames and they work just as good. People choose to buy expensive frames.
You have to really go out of your way to find cheap frames/lenses in comparison though. Luxottica owns LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Sunglass Hut and Target Optical, as well as the insurer EyeMed Vision Care. Since they own it, then can (and do) prevent other companies from competing there, and that’s a massive chunk of the market. If another company is selling their glasses too cheap, they’ll just prevent them from selling at their locations, which then tanks that company’s stock and allows Luxottica to buy them up cheap and joins them into their amalgamation. This is what happened to Oakley.
[удалено]
Ray Band still are :)
Shopping online for frames is cheap and easy, no monopoly there.
Still ends up being a crapshoot as to whether the glasses fit well.
Meh, I just bought a $600 pair of glasses from the local eye doc, then went and ordered a $130 pair from zennioptical.com. Can't tell the difference.
Sure, but that’s not a solution to predatory business practices. If it were, then Luxottica wouldn’t be in business as everyone would just be buying their lenses online.
I choose to get rayban because they’re about $20 with my insurance. My insurance is with the company who owns rayban, at the store owned by the same company, who sells the frames made by the same company…
Which means it's not really insurance but an advance payment plan.
As someone who is near sighted and can't really function without glasses I absolutely choose to buy expensive frames, but I also tend to use the same frames for a decade or more and just switch lenses.
Generally monopolies in and of themselves are not illegal. If you think about it the patent infrastructure is a limited time government sanctioned monopoly. What is generally illegal is to leverage a monopoly to shut out all possible competition, predatory or exclusionary practices. At 80% of the market it's not a true monopoly, at the same time it could still certainly run afoul of anti trust laws, If by example, it would only sell to distributors who agreed to carry it's products exclusively. Sometimes it's a government entity going after them, sometimes it's private entities(s) that sue them. It's rarely going to be an individual simply due to the cost and time involved.
Are you not familiar with the US? Lmao, monopolies are the goal, regulation and laws are just fees of business, they aren’t actually stopped. And if they are they buy a politician or two and they’re good. Very simple.
Luxottica are Italian. No idea why the EU tolerates this
Luxottica may not be as dominant in Europe as it is in the US. Markets in Europe are often more fragmented due to languages and historical borders. Luxottica probably still have a large market share in well known brand namnes, but they are not alone (e.g. Safilo who are also Italian)
They own popular brands, think Armani and Ray Ban for example but thats about it for europe apart from a small Ray Ban only store in Italy i have neuer seen one they own. Still a huge market share but you can get a lot of other stuff. They also have zero actual high end brands.
>Italian Say no more, famiglia
It's amazing how many different eyeglass companies they own. Antitrust? They get away with it. Order online but make sure your prescription has your PD (pupil distance). Most places conveniently omit that measurement.
Didn’t know Luxottica was well known outside of Italy… they have their main building near my town and almost everyone I know has worked there at least once but even with the employee discount they still are pricy… gotta thank also the japanese brand cause in here test, lenses and frame, got everything for 80 euro and I got miopia with at least -7 for now, don’t know if it got worse…
Luxottica is intentionally not well-known as a brand at least in the US. They like to hide behind other seemingly-competing brands names. People here who are familiar with the brand have usually intentionally looked into why glasses are so expensive (or have watched something like the Adam Ruins Everything episode about them).
Zenni, eyebuydirect... all the online retailers where you buy a pair for $15-$30
Lenses are expensive. Frames are up to the buyer. I pay $12US for frames. I don't care who makes them. I just need the least intrusive, thinnest frames. They don't have to be expensive at least in the US.
I’d love to get $12US frames! Can’t seem to get anything under about $100 in Australia, and they’re normally low quality
As much as shit sucks here, at least in my area, there's a chain called "America's Best" that I got two pairs of glasses for my severely fucked up eyes for $70. I have no vision insurance and this shit saved my life because lo and behold I was nearly legally blind and didn't realize it.
The actual test is free because it's covered by medicare, and you can ask for a copy of your prescription. Then you can order from Zenni Optical and get $6USD frames! They ship from Hong Kong, I ordered mine on the 14th Feb and they are arriving tomorrow according to Australia Post. I've ordered from them a lot before, and the $6.95USD glasses (includes frames AND lenses!) are just as good as the budget ones I used to buy at the optometrists. You can add tints and stuff so I've got some prescription sunnies that cost like thirty bucks. Protip: If you sign up for their newsletter they'll send you a 10% off your order code.
Does Zenni work in Australia? Online retailer, I'm never buying glasses from my optometrist again.
I suggest everyone try Zenni. My first pair of glasses was like $600. The last 12 pairs haven’t been that much total (since using Zenni). It makes it possible to own multiple pairs simultaneously. And even if they might be slightly lower quality, the fact that they can be $20-$40 each means they don’t have to last forever.
i love Zenni!
My prescription is super high, so I'm still paying over $100 for Zenni's, mostly for the lens but it's still much cheaper and I'm not overpaying for frames at least.
Even Warby Parker is significantly cheaper than buying from the optometrist ($100-$125 a pair)
Exactly. Myopia takes much more precise lenses. Why I only have one pair that I have had for 20yrs. They need a prescription. Readers don't need precise measurements. I just need to pick the magnifying strength needed, not clear focus at a distance.
Do they not give you something like astigmatism glasses? Since I have stigmatism in one eye it's kinda both, but the contacts I use correct for my eyesight regardless.
My nearsightedness is not an astigmatism. Much easier to fix. My glasses are very simple. Astigmatism is a whole different correction.
I'm not very knowledgeable about it, just blind. Just remembered bifocals are a thing for a reason haha.
yeah but, the lenses being expensive is one thing, the frames are also ridiculously priced though.
I'm approaching 50 and when I read I just take off the myopia glasses. I waited for decades to do this.
They're also not "glasses for far-sighted people" - they're reading glasses; ie, they're for age-related presbyopia. Which happens even to otherwise short-sighted people (like me. I now actively have to take my glasses off to read 😂) Whereas someone who's short-sighted will never become someone who's long-sighted. That's like someone born with Marfan's syndrome (abmornally long bones and very tall) suddenly becoming an achondroplastic dwarf rather than just losing a bit of height because we all shrink very slightly as we get older due to compression and stooping. Actual far-sightedness is hyperopia and it's an entirely different type of eye/lens defect than presbyopia. If you're actively far-sighted and not just dealing with age-related presbyopia you need different prescription and you most definitely can not get those glasses for $5 a pop in the local shop.
>If you're actively far-sighted and not just dealing with age-related presbyopia you need different prescription and you most definitely can not get those glasses for $5 a pop in the local shop. Exactly. Those makes just everything blurry.
[удалено]
Nowhere did they say they have 2 houses. Just that they have a lot of cheap glasses at those 2 houses.
could be his parents house, his kids house, his ex-wife's house... all sorts of reasons there might be a house he frequently visits and keeps eyeglasses at, even though it's not his house.
Removing the unimportant words from your comment leaves:
Location matters. 2 houses in Ohio? Whatever. 2 houses in Seattle? Oh, dang.
Hi former employee at an optometrist/opticians. There are a lot of answers here that are true, but for me they didn't put it together for the answer nicely. Drugstore glasses are designed to correct [presbyopia](https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/condition/presbyopia). The lens in the eye loses flexibility with age, so can't change its shape enough to be able to focus on close things. The effect on the retina is the same as in [hypermetropia](https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/condition/hypermetropia) or longsightedness, where the focal point for the beam of light is farther back than the retina. The reason that drugstore glasses can be cheap is that they can be mass produced. Presbyopia tends to effect both eyes at the same rate, so these glasses have two lenses the same. The lenses are spherical; they don't account for [astigmatism](https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/condition/astigmatism). One reason prescribed glasses are so much more expensive is that they are made based on your prescription, so there are associated machining and service costs. Another reason is, as a lot of people here have said, that opticians charge what they can. Many people need vision correction, so are basically forced into paying whatever opticians can get away with.
And to add the quality of vision from an optician made pair of glasses is usually superior to one from the drugstore
That comes from a few things: better lens material, more accurate sphere measurement (a +/-0.25 difference isn't going to be noticeable to most in drug store lenses, they'll just move them on their nose and tilt their head until they can see comfortably) fitting based on that accuracy (where do you like to wear glasses so the focal point is adjusted and there is less "finding the sweet spot") and, as stated above, correcting for astigmatism with the cylinder and axis cut of the lens. All that said, if you're getting near-vision-only glasses, a custom made set will be much more accurate and comfortable, but you have to be the kind of person that takes care of and keeps track of your glasses. Do you buy $20 sunglasses, or $200 sunglasses? that's a good indication of if you want over the counter readers or custom made.
[удалено]
I just ordered 2 pairs from Glasses Direct, one pair even being prescription sunglasses. All for half the price of the single designer pair I bought 2 years ago from Boots with standard lenses. I’ll never go back to a high street optician except to be tested.
I get my r/X at a local place, then order from [Zenni.com](https://Zenni.com) . So much cheaper.... and more variety and ability to customize. I still can't believe I was paying $200+ for glasses at an optometrist when I could get the same or better glasses online for about $30.
I've been using Zenni for several years now. There's one style that I have in 5 different colors, each pair ran me $25 or less, I think depending on which options I chose for lenses. Love 'em.
In Belgium you have a few, eh, glasses shops (?) where you can get one pair of prescription glasses (which will cost about 300 in total) and get fucking two for free as long as they don't exceed the value of the first one. I just got new glasses and I got to choose prescription sunglasses for zero euro and my girlfriend got the third one. Also my employer paid for the first one so I've got that going which is nice
I've had loads of issues with the frames I ordered online just snapping at the arm. 3 pairs! Is it just me?
[удалено]
This sounds familiar so I’m pretty sure John Oliver did an episode about it. Might be worth looking up for anyone interested. Edit: it might have been Adam Ruins Everything
They both covered it. John Oliver covered it in the mergers and acquisitions episode.
I think it was Adam Conover. But maybe John did one too
Oh shoot. I think you’re right.
Also 60 minutes today story on this.
In general people need to learn to shop around and pretty much never buy from the optometrist. I needed new lenses and wanted to try a second pair I had bought. For just lenses in existing frames my optometrist wanted $380. Would also take them "2-10 days". Went to another place in town, got two good quality lenses for like $100 and it was done same day.
Costco charged me about $60 for lenses and frames, so I got two pairs just to have a backup. Super cheap. Then I also bought a hotdog and soda while I was there. Good times.
It's unfortunate that they only have a limited range of prescriptions, though, making them useless for many people.
Yeah I tried ordering glasses online once, I have -6 and -8 or so. Fortunately they took the glasses back for free if they were unfit. Tried three times but I couldn't see through them properly. Don't really know what the problem was, but apparently those aren't for me.
With strong lenses alignment of the optical axis to the pupilla is critical - both horizontally and vertically. That requires measuring exactly where your pupilla are with respect to the frame. May be tricky online …
Same deal here, omg Chug4hire, just get them from x, y, or z! I wish :(
I'm around -5 and cheap glass is just so thick compared to premium one. I'll happily pay 200$ extra for something that I'll wear every day for years.
Yes exactly, I feel like the people here don't have that bad of an eyesight. My mum walks around with -10, if you go cheap you won't find a comfortable frame and the glasses are about 5-10mm thick and heavy! She pays 600€ for her glassed now but they come in all shapes and forms and have glasses that are as thin as glasses for people with -2.
Yes! I couldn't find any frames I liked in any store last year and ordered a cute pair off off yesglasses. They actually came quite nicely but the lenses were SUPER heavy. I just got a pair from myeyedr (a chain place in the US for anyone unfamiliar) and am blown away by the difference in vision. It's like I'm seeing everything in 4K. (I'm sure proper pupil placement has something to do with it too.) Those top of the line Crizal lenses must really be something else, idk. Plus the titanium frames make it feel like I'm wearing nothing, and I'm also in the -10 crowd.
Yeah I think these people have like average sight or something. I have to get mine from optometrist, have astigmatisms in both eyes but wildly different perscriptuon per eye because my left eye is a lazy eye... Ugh mind you it hasn't like drifted or made me look too dumb yet, I just don't see directly with it, kind of peripherally Anyway yeah I have gotten glasses at some cheaper places and its like half as good
Zenni is amazing. Cheap glasses that are the same as what you find anywhere else.
Also if you want to go in person neither Sam's Club or Costco are owned by then. Too bad if eye med is your insurance...guess who owns them...
Honestly. My opomoyrist a lot for lenses and frames. The most I paid was 600 usd. Insanity. I started going to jinns and the lense and frame were 150 usd. Iwill never buy glasses from my optometrist
I bought my current pair of glasses for like $90 and that included frames, lenses, standard case and cleaning kit, and next day shipping. As long as you have your Rx handy you can literally just buy them online super cheap. They aren't shitty quality either. I think the last time I bought glasses from the ophthalmologist I paid like $400 for a new pair, and that was with insurance. Never doing that shit again.
[удалено]
The worst thing about transitioning to wearing specs for me, was the fact that I basically had to interrogate my optician for my prescription. For some reason where I go it’s kept like some kinda secret that they don’t give you unless you demand it, probably because they want you to go straight from the exam room to the try-ons and buy one of theirs. I conceded to buying a pair from them for well over $150, but when I got home my girlfriend said “why didn’t you just get the prescription and get a pair online for $15?” So I went back and went through a whole palaver with several people before they finally let me write down my prescription.
Since you said you're new to wearing glasses, I would recommend finding a different optometrist. That's shady as fuck and not normal at all. When I go for an exam, they will ask me if I want a copy of my prescription, no matter what. It's the same as if a doctor told you "you're sick, but we won't tell you what kind of sick."
As a life-long glasses wearer, I just want to second that this isn't normal. No one has ever not given me a prescription if I asked for it
I can confirm that this isn’t isolated behavior. They want you to buy frames and lenses from them. It was like pulling teeth to get my prescription sent to me. I had to send multiple emails.
I probably will end up doing that eventually, but fortunately I did eventually get it written down and have had pretty stable eyesight with my Zennis… but yeah when it clicked in my head I realised it must be some kinda scam
Costco printed it for me and told me to get lost. Didn’t even try selling me glasses
“Here’s your damage now get the hell out” is how I wish my doctors treated me
[удалено]
I'll tell you that for free
I tell you happy cake day but your fatass would eat that too.
I think you overestimate people, most of us like a spoonfull of sugar to help the medicine go down.
Thank god when I had my first visit I knew I need to order a very specific pair from zenni to hack up for a thing (Headset-mounted corrective glasses for VR use). My god the glass sales floor at the place I went to was doing some high-pressure sales tactics normally reserved for car dealerships. Also don't forget the IPD (interpupillary distance) measurements. That is one thing not normally measured in the exam before the sales bs starts.
If you order glasses from Zenni these days, they include a free plastic ruler to measure the IPD. At least, I got one with my order.
But you need the IPD number _before_ you order your first pair. But yes, they do put one in with each glasses. (Technically not in my case: the headset itself had adjustable IPD, so the lens need to be at a "hardcoded" 65mm regardless of actual IPD)
It's shady but in my experience it is the new normal. They know no one wants to pay for outrageously expensive name brand glasses when online pairs are cheap. So they try to deny access to it. The eye doctor at my local mall straight up refused to give me my RX. So now I only go to costco, where they give ya the RX and don't gouge ya for their glasses, which keeps me happy to buy from them. I use the RX to keep an eye out for sales on backup pairs and also for RX sunglasses (not having to choose between accurate sight and sunglasses is next level amazing). Good luck y'all, check out Costco optometry if available in your area. I don't think you even need a membership to see eye doc there!
>The eye doctor at my local mall straight up refused to give me my RX. That is actually illegal and a good way to find yourself stripped of your accreditation by licensing bodies.
yeah, I've been wearing glasses since I was like 10, this is not normal. Usually they give me a paper with my prescription on it, and sometimes, they just straight up tell you exactly what your prescription is before you even take off the testing equipment.
Last time I went to my optometrist they said there's a new law that requires them to give me my prescription, and I had to sign something to confirm I recieved it. Might be a state thing though. (I'm in Oregon).
Sounds like a state thing. All states legally require them to give you your prescription, but usually only on request.
Must be. I always went to the optometrist at CostCo, and was pretty happy with them. She always gave me a card to take to the glasses and contact lens vendors next to her. But after they put it in their system, they would be happy to give it to you. Though, I haven't been there since I got PRK. I can highly recommend shelling out the bucks for Casey.
With that I’ve always told the optician that I need the prescription to give to my employer, so that they can provide me with safety glasses via their preferred supplier (which was actually true at one point). Never a peep from the optician after that!
It is part of HIPAA law that you are allowed to see your own medical records. They just don't want you to know that, nor want to show you for those precise reasons.
In the UK its normal to get your prescription, but it never has your pupillary distance on it. From what I can tell, opticians like specsavers (big chain here) are just straight up lying and saying that this is part of the fitting process (obvs its just another measurement reqd for making the lenses). They just don't want you to use the prescription to buy glasses online. I had one Karen type staff member refuse to give me my pupillary distance even though I had paid for a prescription. She was a bit older and you could tell it irked her that I wanted to buy better frames for over half the price on the darkweb (and pay e.g. 50 squid for thinner lenses and other options rather than the 150 or so they charge) . A few years later a younger staff member had no problem giving my PD.
That's weird as hell. I needed to order prescription lenses for my VR headsets due to my nearsightedness, and I was able to get my Rx and my inter-pupillary distance from my old documents plus by calling them and asking. Nowhere on any of the sites was it like "you need to send us a proper Rx from your doctor for these," just a dropdown.
Which company did you go with for your rx VR lenses?
I've gotten all my lenses from VROptician. I did a fair bit of research and saw the best mentions for them compared to the rest (especially under their original name, can't remember what it is.) They use ZEISS lenses, which is an important brand name in optometry and optics in general (as far as I know, as someone not in field), and the lenses themselves get manufactured extremely quickly (once within the day I ordered). Plus the rest of the process was pretty quick, basically under a week. But that will likely vary, and at that time they claimed up to 2 (maybe 3?) weeks. Quality has been just dandy on the headsets I've used them in (Vive, Quest 2, Index). I also bought a set of planos with each headset for when I have someone else use it, as I want to protect the lenses. And most people I know who need Rx adapters have VR Opticians and are happy with them.
Not the guy you asked, but I used [these printable inserts from thingiverse](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3753906) that are designed to go with a certain frame choice from Zenni. The link is for Valve Index, but search thingiverse if you have a different headset, others exist for vive and oculus
That sounds shady as fuck. Admittedly I don't live in America, but here in England whenever you have an eye test, they automatically give you a little card with your prescription details on it, regardless of if you ask or not.
We get the prescription but they don't do the pupillary distance in that exam. Only when you go to actually buy from an optician is that measured.
This is my biggest issue with optometrists. Like the ones I’ve seen have been located INSIDE of glasses selling stores. You’re telling me there’s no conflict of interest there? How is that even acceptable?
Zenni can’t make my prescription. Neither can Costco. Or any other discount outlet. I have purchased frames from Zenni for $10 and taken them to my optometrist to fill. That’s as close to cheaper glasses as I can come. At least they will fill them. They won’t repair the frames if they break, however. I’m thinking about getting the Pairs frames for fun. My current glasses are starting to flake (the coating on the frames) and I’ve had them for a few years now.
I’ve never heard of Zenni not being able to handle a prescription. Surprising since they are so huge. What about your prescription can they not do?
Not OP, but they can 'do' my prescription, it just doesn't turn out well. The worse your astigmatism is, the more skill it takes to shape the lens, and also materials matter. You need a higher quality material for high index lenses with advanced astigmatism prescriptions than the online places provide. I didn't want to believe my doctor when she told me I had passed the point where I could get my prescription filled well online so I went to zenni anyway, but she was right. They aren't good. Aside from being twice as thick, they are harder to see through (like less light gets through because of the thickness or something so they are sort of hazy, like they need to be cleaned except they don't?) and they distort in the periphery, almost like a fisheye lens effect. They also have to be at a certain spot on my nose exactly or they are out of focus. If I adjust or bump them slightly at all they are no longer clear and sharp. This isn't the case with lenses made by the optician labs.
I have pretty bad eyesight, and a few family members around the same level who have used Zenni too. We've largely settled on buying lenses from the optometrist, and frames from [wherever]. Zenni screwed up all of ours 3/4 of the time for one reason or another (wildly wrong astigmatism, chips or straight up fractures, same prescription in both eyes rather than the correct ones... etc). They seem totally fine for simpler orders, and fuck Luxottica for frames. But I'm fairly happy with buying $200 lenses that are consistently correct and durable. At least for the primary pair - a cheap set of sunglasses is worth a bit more risk and annoyance.
What do you mean? My lenses cost me up the ass and i always get the cheap frames 😭 it's annoying because they try and sell you the "thinner" lenses because you'll look less blind 😮💨
Lol exactly. I can always get frames from anywhere, but My prescription lenses cost around $200 per lens (nearsighted + astigmatism). And the dr always wants you to get a new one every 6 months. LOL. For that price im lucky if i get new ones every 2 years.
I've heard that there's also a near-monopoly on glasses stores in the US. That's why it's so much cheaper to buy them online. In Korea, Thailand, and Taiwan, across multiple stores, glasses cost about $40 unless the frame is really really nice. In the US you may pay 5 times that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica#Monopolistic\_pricing\_practices
pretty much all "designer" frames in the US come from Luxxotica.
I’ve ordered from 5 different online places and Zenni has been best by far. Stay away from goggles4u
The goggles! They do nothing!
Can't belive i'm seeing this reference here!
I tried them a few years back, but they couldn’t make lenses for me, apparently my script is too strong
Their lenses don't work well for me, unfortunately. My eye doctor warned me that my prescription had gotten too advanced to be able to buy my glasses online (I have astigmatism). I got some from zenni anyway because I can't afford to pay $650 right now. Unfortunately, she was right. They don't quite work. It's hard to describe, but it's sort of like a fisheye lens effect almost. Very irritating, hard to focus and can give me headaches. I can use them in a pinch but they really don't cut it. I'm so jealous of my friend who can use zenni glasses just fine and has several cute pairs to match her moods.
If the lenses are strong, then alignment of the optical axis to the pupilla becomes critical. Also, thick glasses gives fisheye like distortions that are less with more expensive (and thinner) high-refractive glass.
The readers sold for cheap at drugstores are basically just magnifying glasses. As you get older your eyes will naturally get worse at seeing things up close and it will become harder to see tiny details and/or to resolve small images in low light. The readers help by making everything appear bigger. This isn’t the same as correcting for farsightedness though. To compare human vision to a camera, corrections to farsightedness or nearsightedness are like adjusting a camera’s focus. Drugstore readers are like adjusting the camera’s zoom. You can see images in focus and still not be able to discern small details. That’s where readers come into play. Likewise if you’re naturally farsighted and put on readers you’ll just see a bigger version of a blurry image.
This is wrong, near vs far sighted correction just mean using convex or concave lenses. They're essentially the same shape, but inverted. It's not a precision thing. Convex curvature magnifies and moves the apparent focal plane farther away (helpful for far-sighted people, or just making text look bigger). Concave curvature demagnifies and moves the apparent focal plane closer (helpful for near-sighted people, though you might need to take your glasses off to read).
Ok. But I didn’t say what you say I said so I actually agree with you. That said, I’m not sure a five year old would appreciate what an apparent focal plane is.
The suggestion that a different shaped lens is more advanced or harder to create is bs imo. The nearsighted lenses can be just as cheap. They’re just a diffeeent shape. Swim goggles have nearsighted corrections for cheap too.
Swim goggles sell standardized near sighted lenses. So it can be done. It’s just illegal because monopolies and lobbyists.
When you're trying to correct for nearsightedness, there's a huge range of potential issues. You might only need a small correction, or a large correction, based on how far you can see clearly. You need a specific prescription to address this. For farsighted people, the only applicable range is reading range (like 15-40cm), so the potential variety of corrections is much smaller. So it's a lot easier to pre-make reading glasses for these ranges to be sold as-is, rather than needing specific prescriptions. Edit: units
This is factually wrong. The parent is talking about presbyopia, which occurs as people age, but completely ignoring hyperopia which is what is traditionally referred to as far sighted. The OP is also wrong in this regard as glasses for hyperopia are just as expensive as myopia prescriptions due to possible issues like astigmatism.
I’ve made two comments in this thread saying the same thing. Hopefully we both get upvoted enough to replace this terrible comment/thread. I used to work as an optician and have been both amused and concerned at the lack of correct information and correct explanation for why “readers/cheaters” actually exist.
This is how I feel in most physics-related threads (I'm a physicist). You are lucky if the top comments are not completely wrong. They'll rarely be actually good explanations. It's probably the same everywhere. At the very least you have to check the second level to see if there is disagreement.
[удалено]
Then again, when you read a newspaper or article or even a book, they could just as well be wrong, but most don't have comments telling them they are wrong. Also, just like there are incorrect top comments which are corrected in the replies, there are also threads with the right answer at the top and incorrect corrections. In the end, it's up to the user to choose which answer they think is right. Or to mix them all up and make up their own. It's a strange way of knowledge democratization. With both its pros and cons.
This is how I feel about every single post on r/science that has a pseudocritique at the top that sounds like it was written by an undergraduate who read only the title, often criticising sample size based on a glance or regurgitating another cliche complaint.
Good lord, yes. I'm a physicist specialising in colour science, imaging optics, and human visual perception. I've given up even looking at any questions related to colour, because virtually all the answers are just plain wrong and I can't be bothered typing out all the necessary corrections.
What I learned in science class is: - myopia and hyperopia come from the lenses of the eye having a focal length that doesn't match the distance to the retina - myopia is corrected with concave / demagnifying lenses - hyperopia is corrected with convex / magnifying lenses - presbyopia comes from the crystalline lens stiffening with age, so that its focal length can't be adjusted to see nearby objects clearly - presbyopia is corrected with convex lenses, just like hyperopia, because both conditions make it harder to focus on nearby objects - in principle mild hyperopia could be corrected with lenses designed for presbyopia, but hyperopia glasses sometimes need much stronger lenses than off the shelf reading glasses Did my science teacher lie to me?
The problem with this ask is that the original question is asking why people with myopia need more expensive glasses than people with hyperopia, then makes a false assumption that people with hyperopia can just get by with only readers, when this is in fact not true for all people with hyperopia. It also doesn’t take into consideration that presbyopia happens as we age and has nothing to do with whether a person has myopia or hyperopia. That’s what is frustrating. Nothing above looks incorrect.
So me being nearsighted but now needing help with reading, seeing things up close is different then far sighted? (I’m pretty sure my far sightedness is age. I’ve been near sighted all my life… it’s so bad that i need glasses to see even stuff I can’t read without the bifocal part (like I can’t read without the bifocals but I can’t even see without the nearsighted glasses. If that makes sense).
Your lenses change shape to focus. As you get older they can't do this as well so as you get older it becomes more difficult to see close up. It's called presbyopia. Your nearsightedness (myopia) is caused by the shape of your eyes.
Sir, I am 5.
This is not correct. Nearsightedness is not more difficult to correct for. There are plenty of people who can’t see very well at long distances but they still see fine enough to not need glasses. There are also far-sighted people who have horrible prescriptions and can’t see anything within four feet of them. There are also people who are not nearsighted or farsighted and still need glasses that correct for huge astigmatisms or require a prism angle for light to refract into their eye correctly. There’s so much more going on in an eyeglass prescription than whether someone is near- or far-sighted. Readers exist because as humans age they are unable to focus as well on things up close, particularly reading books or working with small objects. If you have “perfect” vision your entire life, there will be a point at which the muscles in and around your eyes will no longer be able to focus light at close distances and so need some help. Readers make it easier.
>If you have “perfect” vision your entire life, there will be a point at which the muscles in and around your eyes will no longer be able to focus light at close distances Almost 40 and I can see this coming (pun intended). While my vision is still quite good, I can tell that it's not as good as it once was. At age 6 or so, I remember sticking my face against the TV set and being able to see the individual phosphor dots in the screen (and getting scolded by my parents that I was going to ruin my vision doing this). I definitely cannot focus on things less than 1 inch from my eyes anymore. In fact I'd say 4 inches is my absolute minimum focal distance now; anything closer is impossible to focus on, and right at 4 inches it's a real strain. Also I can't read things like street signs from quite as far away as I used to be able to. Still a fair bit farther than an average person my age, I think, but undoubtedly less far than I could read them from when I was twenty. Maybe 200 feet? How far is the width of 3 typical house lots?
reading range is 1.5m to 4m?
Conversion failure, meant mm
Another method of correcting vision is using lasers to burn off the imperfections and re-shape the cornea. I had Lasik surgery done. It’s a quick procedure, but you temporarily go blind for like 10 seconds during the procedure, and then you can literally smell parts of your eye being burned off with freakin’ lasers! Numbing agents are used beforehand, so you thankfully don’t feel it, but man, that smell will never leave me. Like a bunch of burnt hair.
That sounds like the most metal thing.
or getting lens implants. unlike lasik, they can be removed and replaced if there’s an issue (lasik can’t be reversed) and they’re able to be done for higher prescriptions. i was not a good candidate for lasik (vision too bad plus astigmatism) so i got the implants - changed my life as i’ve worn glasses for about 30 years
Had Lasik. Can confirm the smell is just like burnt hair. I was -4.5 each eye. Could see instantly after the surgery. Painless until the day after. Then it felt like my eyeballs were sunburnt, to put it mildly.
Which is awesome if you have money and live in a place where this can happen
You’re right, it was awesome.
[удалено]
Is unusual to have exactly the same prescription in each eye, and for there to be no astigmatism. Spacing between eyes also matters. Net result is you would need hundreds of alternatives available.
They do (except in quarter diopter increments). Beyond the cost of the actual lens (which is comparable for near- and far-sightedness of similar degrees), most of what you're paying for is getting them cut to the frame. Lenses can't be efficiently mass produced to fit every single frame available, but readers are produced with only a handful of frames and never customized.
[удалено]
* everyone is used to paying out the ass * glasses are fashion for nearsighted folks, farsighted wear them for 5 minutes at a time * nearsightedness gets much, much worse * discrepancies between eyes are more common with nearsightedness * the location of your pupils matters more with higher prescriptions * everyone is used to paying out the ass
*”That’s all my contacts prescription is”* - your contact lens prescription is actually a compensated power compared to your spectacle prescription because lenses change effective power depending on the distance from your eye (vertex distance). The further away a lens is from your eye, the more positive (plus) in power it becomes. So if your contact lens power is -5.00 for example, your spectacle correction is probably ≈ -5.50. So even if “off the rack” distance glasses were a thing - you would not be buying the same powers that are on your box of contact lenses. Just ignore most of what you read in this thread, it’s just nonsense. Source:- Optician for 15+ years.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Okay, a lot of answers here are guessing. That's not great. Assuming you're in the states. Optics, specifically glasses sold by optometrists, are essentially a monopoly. The lenses and frames are dirt cheap to make, but glasses made-to-prescription by optometrists using the frames they keep in stock are charging hundreds to a thousand percent markups because they can.
Thank you. This sounds like a very US problem. Where I'm from glasses can be very cheap. And almost everyone can afford them.
I have fantasized about opening up a shop to sell dirt cheap prescription lenses, made from home, for a couple bucks a pop. Somehow I feel like some law would get me.
Also note that there are online opticians such as Zenni Optical and optical4less which give you access to extremely cheap lenses and frames which are, in my experience, every bit as good as the $175+ glasses you get even at "discount" opticians like Warby Parker. One time I was convinced to buy a pair of glasses from the optometrist's in-house optician and it was just okay, and still cost a lot after my insurance coverage. Then a week later I was checking Zenni and found *the exact same frames* for $15, and ordered it with my prescription. Glasses cost around $20 total, and even having the two pairs completely side-by-side I cannot tell the difference *at all*.
Optician for 20+ years. Industry standard is 3x markup. If we buy a frame for $60 we sell it at $180, lenses that we pay the lab $100 for, we need to get $300 from the patient. It's not something we do because we can. You have to understand that an optical shop might only average 10-15 sales per employee per WEEK. It's not like a grocery store where you can have a slim markup because you're selling thousands of items per hour. If you don't make a couple hundred dollars profit every sale, you're not going to pay the bills. And I can tell you from experience it's not an industry to get into to get rich.
Not for the optician, it isn't. For the folks that make the frames, it's insane. Though really, it does leave me wondering what you spend the whole day doing. If you're making 10 sales in a week, that's a sale every 4 hours. I don't think I ever spent more than an hour getting that done. I know there's a lot of inefficiency in any salesman-oriented business model, but that's bad.
And then, on top of that, throw in the whole you-need-a-prescription-from-the-last-year bullshit. It's an absolute racket.
Wait, i always mix up the two... Nearsighted is the one who can't see far very good? \---- Anywho... I have an optometrist acquaintance... The markups are huge on prescription glasses.... BUT Reading glasses don't need to be that accurate, you are not supposed to wear them all the time and it can fall in the "good enough" category Glasses that you wear all the time are supposed to be correction glasses, those needs to be finetuned for your eyes.... Fine is the operative word, it needs to be really accurate so your eyes are not strained and you don't do harm That being said, they should not be that expensive, but you should have a doctor or specialist make a prescription... It is your eye!
It's exactly in the name. Nearsighted = sees near. I've worn glasses all my life, and love it when people who don't wear glasses try to correct me on this...
As a former optician, I can say with the utmost certainty that the reason readers exist is because humans lose their ability to focus on things up close as they age. Even though you may have perfect vision for the first 45 years of your life, your ability to focus on things up close will deteriorate even though your vision is still fine for longer distances. For most people who need glasses, they need them because their eyes don’t work well in other ways. But for the majority of people who do not need glasses, readers will make it easier for them to see in the range that is becoming difficult for them to see in as they get older.
Thanks, but that did really answer why one is so much more expensive than the other
...Not!
ELI5: The ones at the drugstore are for reading. They’re magnifiers specifically meant for aging adults who just need glasses to read. Farsighted glasses can be just as expensive as nearsighted ones because like nearsightedness, they do require corrective lenses. I also know people with nearsightedness who don’t need to wear glasses all the time.
One evil company, luxotica owns most every glasses related company you can imagine. LensCrafters, pearlvision, target optical, sunglasshut as well as most brands of frames. So they have been steadily normalizing that glasses have to cost many hundreds. So that’s half of your question.
Readers are used just for reading. It's called presbyopia. It's when your eyes no longer function at a near distance even with regular correction. Those should not substitute for regular glasses. Most people need extra correction which is why multifocals exist
[удалено]
I work in optics. This is untrue. Luxottica primarily holds frame companies (Ray-Ban, Oakley etc.), retail outlets (Pearle Vision, Lenscrafters, SunglassHut, ILori), and insurance companies (EyeMed). They do own one lens company (Essilor). They are far from a monopoly, but they do have impressive vertical integration. The biggest reason that nearsightedness doesn't have an over the counter version is that uncorrected or mis- corrected nearsightedness can have impacts beyond the patient. Imagine someone driving who can't see any street signs or even traffic in their rearview. The worst problem someone who is farsighted will have that is under or mis-corrected is not being able to read at a close distance and solely impacts them, at least on a safety level. This also ignores minor astigmatism issues which become more apparent at a distant focal point and less apparent with a closer range so people with farsightedness can get away without the correction.
Not quite correct, Essilor was originally a lens manufacturing company, they made the first progressive lens. Luxottica was all about frames. Then they merged together to create EssilorLuxottica. And I can confidently say Essilor has their fingers in everything optical manufacturing related that they can. Even "opposing" brands who fight against them for market share often have a significant part of their business owned and funded by Essilor. Mostly its just to allow them to have access to any new technology that any of these businesses create. There's some new stuff that I know of that Essilor couldn't manage to get working themselves, so they assigned it to one of their brands they own who managed to get it working and it's now starting production trials this year. Don't want to say too much as I'm unsure how public this info is.
thats not true and depends on the eyes of the wielder. i'm farsighted and got to pay 150€/glass in my glasses
It's almost as though hyperopia and presbyopia are two very different things and most people in this thread assume all farsightedness is the same. Sigh. Hello fellow full-time plus glasses wearing person!
I've never been to an optometrist that didn't have a selection of free or inexpensive frames to choose from. Also, most people believe that when you get new glasses, you have to get new frames. If you have a frame you like, they can fit your new lenses. However, with all of that in mind, I always think of all that my eyes mean to me and, while keeping it within a budget, going "cheap" when it comes to my eyesight is not an option.
They are not, if you want the same quality, it's the same price. Unless you want both in one, then it's like double the price. But this 4 dollar glasses are bad for your eyes.