My 93 year old mom lost her glasses.

[MineralMan]

She only uses them for reading, but they're prescription glasses. So my dad, who is also 93, called her eye doctor, who told him she'd have to have a complete physical before he'd check her eyes and give her a new prescription.

He told me that, and I said, "Nonsense!" She just had a physical a month ago. So, I sent them to America's Best in the next town. For $69, she got an eye exam and two pairs of reading glasses. My dad was amazed. He wondered why they wouldn't be ready for ten days, though.

China, I told him. They make the glasses in China. He thought that was bad, until I told him that almost all lenses and frames are now made there, including the ones he would have gotten from her eye doctor, except that he'd charge five times as much.

He got it.

[ellie]

1. I just went to

America's Best yesterday! I have vision insurance so I only had to pay a $10 copay and got contacts. But I am going to go back and get glasses. I really like the place.

[MineralMan]

4. It is what it is.

Their cheap frames are, well, cheap, but the whole thing is affordable. Now, we need something like that for hearing aids. Those are made in China, too. The markup is horrendous. It's coming. Someone is going to figure it out and make a fortune.

[Archae]

16. Oh yeah, I just got hearing aids...

$3500 APIECE.

[elleng]

2. Interesting. I've gotten mine @ Lenscrafters,

appointments needed for exam but easy to get, and glasses made on premises quickly, w/in an hour or so. Reasonable prices, 1-200 as I recall, varies according to choice of frames. DC suburb. Glad she'll have her glasses soon!

[SammyWinstonJack]

29. So have I.

[SoCalDem]

3. I always use zenni.com

they come rather quickly and only cost me $12 for frame & lens..

[MineralMan]

5. They're good if you have a prescription.

[Wounded Bear]

7. That's the problem with the brick & mortar eye docs...

to get any kind of discount, you have to order their glasses after the exam.

Now, I buy reading glasses off the discount shelf at the local stores. Of course, I don't have any extenuating circumstances with my eyes.

[MineralMan]

8. Yeah, my readers are generic.

I bought a dozen pairs on Amazon for almost nothing.

[Honeycombe8]

13. I just have readers, too.

But I guess eventually we all have more things wrong with our eyes.

[Wounded Bear]

25. Just to clarify...

I wore glasses since 3rd grade, near sighted. Around 60, I had cataract surgery that basically corrected my distance vision to 20/20, but I still need readers. I don't fully understand why someone would need to go to a doctor for those, unless there are complications.

At the end, I used Zenni for years myself and was satisfied with their glasses. I get my readers off the shelf.

[TexasBushwhacker]

27. Store bought readers don't always work well

If you have a lot of astigmatism, you'll need a prescription. Also, prescription readers are made to fit your personal pupilary distance which can vary by as a centimeter or more between one person and the next.

[lunasun]

28. Always ask for a copy of your prescription after an exam . Good for one year .Also americas best

will give you one no problem whether you buy glasses there or not if you had an exam

[TheBlackAdder]

31. Yep. I've done that in the past. Always ask for a paper script, you'll never know if you'll need it.

[tammywammy]

32. You shouldn't have to ask, they're required to give you your prescription.

[skylucy]

9. I love Zenni.com. I have gotten many pairs of glasses there.

[The Blue Flower]

10. How are they for bifocals?

Don't you need to have a professional figure out where the lens divides?

[Ferrets are Cool]

21. Zenni is the best. I've used them for YEARS.

And yes, you have to have a prescription, but you damned sure don't have to pay the exorbitant prices to get the frames from eye doctor.

[redstateblues]

6. Go Costco-You'll never go back to Lenscrafters

[defacto7]

11. Yep, same here.

[dflprincess]

14. My friend loves Costco

I tried them and, it pains me to say it, wound up going back to Lenscrafters. I'm just happier with the progressive lens I get there. I think if I still had a single correction prescription or my reading prescription hadn't gotten so strong it might be different. Because I really would prefer to give Costco my business.

Though what really irks me is, despite the small fortune I pay for my progressives (which work great for most aspects of life) I still wind up using a $20 pair of drug store cheaters when I'm on the computer at home or at work.

[Honeycombe8]

12. Do they have an Ophthalmologist on staff? Since she's prescription patient?

Or just an optometrist? Is an optometrist good enough to do an eye exam for things wrong with the eyes (instead of just near sightedness & such)?

Once she has a prescription, can't she take that script to any place to get it filled?

[SouthernIrish]

18. I am an Optician

Optometrists do everything that Opthamologists do except for surgery and speciality issues like treating Glaucoma. They also do Diabetic eye exams.

OTC readers are fine for patients that have a spherical rx or have a very low astigmatism rx. Readers do not correct for astigmatism, so if you have above a .50 diopter rx for astigmatism, you should have rx glasses made.

Many people purchase glasses online without realizing that without an Optician to check the seg height and pupil distance, these glasses could throw off your rx if it is only a few millimeters off. This could result in prism which causes double vision.

In my state, if I give someone their p.d. and they have their glasses made online, I could be named in a lawsuit if the person has an accident and they blame their eyeglasses for the accident. I could even lose my license. So please don't get upset if you want this info and the Optician won't give them to you. I may make someone upset, but I am not risking my license or getting in a lawsuit for anyone.

Be careful purchasing eyeglasses online. Sometimes you get what you pay for and those are the only eyes you have.

[xmas74]

23. The only problem I have with that is

I used to work in a foundry. I had to wear safety glasses and I would sweat too much to keep contacts in.(The sweat would get in my eyes and the heat would dry out my eyes.) If we had prescription glasses we would be given a voucher for prescription safety glasses. The company we used accepted our voucher but not our vision insurance. We could bring in our prescription from our personal optometrist or else we'd be forced to pay for an exam-$200.

If my optician had refused to give me my prescription I think in that case I would have found a new optician.

[SouthernIrish]

36. The person making the glasses measures you for p.d. and seg height

They should be able to do that where you order them.

[pnwmom]

24. This is important information, SouthernIrish. Thanks for sharing! n/t

[Lefta Dissenter]

26. Years ago

I went to the optometrist at a discount store (Shopko), and she saw a spot in the back of my eye that she was concerned about, so insisted I go to the ophthalmologist to get it checked out. It turned out to be a harmless nevus, but could just have easily been melanoma. The ophthalmologist gave a lot of credit to the optometrist for even seeing the spot and for knowing that it should be more carefully examined.

I just wear over-the-counter readers now, but this discussion has been a good reminder that I should go get my eyes checked out anyway to make sure nothing has changed.

[dflprincess]

15. Do you know what her reading prescription is?

Back when all I needed was the reading Rx my eye doctor said the ones you can get at the drug store were fine as long as the correction I needed was the same or close to the same in both eyes.

[pnwmom]

17. I've never heard of an ophthalmologist who would have required a new physical

for a patient who had had one a month ago. (When our children had to fill out forms for school, an up-to-date physical was one that occurred within the last year.)

In fact, I've never had any ophthalmologist ask me about a physical ever.

[SouthernIrish]

19. I agree

I think that the Dad may have gotten the word exam confused with the word physical. It is always the PCP that refers for the patient to have an eye exam. Not the other way around.

[Texasgal]

20. Not sure what was expected

for 69.00...

For that price of course they are made in china!

[pnwmom]

22. Usually an opthamologist wants to do a complete eye examination every 2 or 3 yrs.

In between they will refill prescriptions for eyeglasses.

I think maybe your dad misunderstood. A full physical done a month ago wouldn't have included an eye exam, and neither would a full physical done today.

[TheBlackAdder]

30. My kids use America's Best too. Their mom used to work for an ophthalmologist and recommended them.

.

While I still see a specialist, the kids go to America's Best. We even have an optional eyeglass plan on my work policy which helps with glasses and contacts. Her doctor and the eyeglass store owners retired. When I purchased custom Italian frames and eyeglasses, I used to get them at cost... I got the best frames and lenses possible, and it cost me no more that $60, when the list price was over twelve times that!


All the rest is markup.


I used to work IT for a high-end retailer and used to see the purchase orders. At the time, the most expensive sunglasses, the ones that sell for around $200, used to cost $5.50 a pair, unit cost. That's right. Those $150 fancy name-branded sunglasses are five bucks... and that's the retail store's cost! They must cost a buck or two to make! But, suppliers (Luxottica owns most eyeglass brands now) force stores to sign a contract that they will not discount their products.

Blue jeans were another scam. Whether you were getting $24 Wranglers or those $200 designer ones, they all cost $8 a pair.

Those $40 silk scarves on the counter at Christmas, the ones without loss prevention tags... cost $0.75 - $1.25 each.

A high-end hip clothing store, often near Apple Stores, sell t-shirts for $45 each. They cost less than $2.

.

[MineralMan]

33. Yes. Vision and hearing. Both have astronomical markups.

Hearing aids that cost $3500 probably have a manufacturing cost of about $10. The entire electronics are on one chip. Profession-protective laws are the reason that prices remain so high. I think that will finally end up changing eventually. In the meantime, though, if you want hearing aids, you're going to pay a fortune for them.

[TheBlackAdder]

34. I saw some ad for really cheap, disposable hearing aids. I can't remember the brand.

[MineralMan]

35. There are a lot of OTC hearing amplifiers available now.

The laws have changed, so it's possible to buy good hearing devices for far less. However, not every device is right for every person. That's the dilemma, really. The typical person doesn't really know the extend or the type of hearing loss they have, which can make it difficult to shop for OTC devices.

There are websites that have reviewed many of them, of course. Eventually, some reputable company is going to make it possible for you to get your hearing tested for a reasonable price and a recommendation for a type of device provided. Sort of like getting an eye exam and a prescription. Then, with that in hand, it will be easier to shop for hearing assistance devices.

Both of my parents are in their 90s, and have serious hearing problems. They've paid huge sums for hearing aids, and then they end up losing them and paying again for replacements. They can afford to do that, luckily enough for them. However, not everyone can. We need some way to get hearing tests and a device type prescription that can be used to shop for lower cost devices. It's available for vision, and should be for hearing, as well.

It's coming, but not quickly enough.

Hell, I'm 72 now. I still hear well, but when I can't, I'll be experimenting with lower cost devices until I find my own solution. Even if I have to try a dozen different devices, it will still cost far less than the alternative. But, I'm a good researcher, so I imagine I'll find a solution quickly that will work for me.