Alaric wrote:didds wrote:The cheapest frames from my opticians are £80. For a piece of metal that puts the lenses in the right place - that's hardly a major engineering requirement - is it?.
What would the open market cost of an eye test be? Quite high I should think given the sophisticated machines and staff needed to operate them. There is presumably a massive cross-subsidy from frames as reading classes and sun glasses are on sale at very cheap prices.
Eye tests are free to the Over 60s and often offered for free by the High Street chains as an incentive to get custom through the door.
I see a private opthamologist for an annual eye exam. In other words a real doctor who doesn't make most of his income from flogging frames and lenses. He then he gives me a prescription that I can fill anywhere I want.
The cost isn't cheap - about 200 quid. But it's a much superior test, with the latest equipment, including visual field tests, a retinal scan and examination of the optic nerve. I don't trust my eye heath to a high street technician.