When do you need new glasses?

[GeoffF100]

I have just had my eyes tested at Specsavers, and the recommend new clear glasses and new sunglasses.

My spherical prescription has changed by 0.25 on both eyes from the previous prescription. On one eye it has reverted to the same value as on the prescription before that. On the other, it seems to follow a gradual trend.

The minimum change on a prescription is just 0.25. I wonder what the result would be if I had my eyes tested by ten different opticians. Would they all get exactly the same result. I suspect not. Some of the judgments they ask me to make are very fine, and I might not be entirely consistent.

I am not having any problems with my existing glasses, and am I reluctant to follow Specsavers advice. I guess I could just buy one pair of £25 glasses (rather than two pairs of £69 glasses) to see whether the prescription change makes a worthwhile difference.

[Alaric]

I am not having any problems with my existing glasses, and am I reluctant to follow Specsavers advice.

I think if you change your glasses every two years, over time you end up with a lot of spares.

[Maroochydore]

You can always save the cost of new frames by asking them to fit lenses to your new prescription (if really needed) to your existing frames.

I've done this a few times with Specsavers rather than discard expensive titanium frames.

Just as an aside; I no longer use Specsavers, who always wanted to sell me new frames, for Vision Express who come across as more helpful. Specsavers are a franchise operation, whereas VE are company owned and operated. This may have something to do with Specsavers' more aggressive sales techniques but I can't be definitive on that point, it may just be down to branch management.

edit: You got me thinking so I googled and found this piece of advice:

However, +/-0.25D is the error range of refractive testing anyway, and if you go to the shop/clinic on another day, you may find that the +0.25D has 'miraculously' disappeared. All because of random variations in your tear film/vertex distance of the trial frame/phoropter/your own subjective responses to 'Is this clearer or that?'.

[GeoffF100]

That quotation rings true to me. Googling found the source:

https://www.quora.com/I-was-recently-di ... pt-to-them

A more reputable source would be better, but that seems to confirm my suspicions. Vision Express may be less sales oriented, but they are twice the price.

[swill453]

A more reputable source would be better, but that seems to confirm my suspicions. Vision Express may be less sales oriented, but they are twice the price.

But if they don't sell you new glasses when you don't need them, they're free!

Scott.

[GeoffF100]

But if they don't sell you new glasses when you don't need them, they're free!

Yes, but you do not have to buy them.

In the past, opticians have flipped between the new prescription and the old one to show me the difference. This did not happen on this occasion. The Boots opticians always gave me my prescription on an NHS form. I had to ask for my prescription, which was copied from the computer screen onto a marketing card by an assistant and signed by the optician. I recall being told in the past by a Boots optician that a change of 0.5 was generally necessary to justify new glasses.

There is clearly a conflict of interest when the same company does the eye test and dispenses the glasses. On the other hand, if there was separation of the two functions, the two companies could end up blaming each other when something went wrong. The existing system is clearly not ideal, but I am getting a subsidy from people who frequently buy expensive glasses that they do not need.

[stewamax]

I would guess that the focus of the average eye varies by 0.25 dioptres during the day anyway, and this will be more noticeable on dull days when the pupil is wide and the light travels through more of the cornea and the lens and falls on off-centre parts of the retina - particularly if there is significant astigmatism present. Sunny days are clearer because they are bright!

I use both Specsavers and Vision Express, and - prescription from their optometrist in hand - I ask for a straightforward reglaze, ignore the spiel of 'at your own risk - we mighty break the frame' etc etc. and sign the breakage disclaimer form. Peasy.

[didds]

order a cheap pair of specs online with your prescription.

Assuming it is a simple prescription, the first hit on google suggests you can get a pair of prescription specs for £6. I expect there will be P&P on top of that (?). The lenses will undoubtedly be plastic not glass I would imagine.

could be a cheap way of finding out.

didds

[vrdiver]

Short answer: when your current glasses no longer meet your requirements.

So, if you drive, do you pass the minimum eyesight standards? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/visual-diso ... ll-drivers

Any other activities that have sight specific requirements?

I presume your current glasses allow you to read in comfort?

Are you still happy with the existing frames and quality of finish on lenses and frames?

Have you been warned that not changing to the new prescription will cause eye strain?

Just to make sure, I'd probably take my previous and current prescriptions to an independent optometrist and get a second opinion.

My independent optometrist takes photos of the retina each time I visit, and compares the series of photos, looking for any changes over time: I'd recommend finding one you are happy with and avoid those with too corporate an overhead!

[swill453]

The lenses will undoubtedly be plastic not glass I would imagine.

Aren't all lenses plastic these days? I don't think I've had glass lenses since the '80s.

Scott.

[GeoffF100]

On reflection, I remember an occasion when Boots recommended new glasses and I ordered them. When they arrived I compared them with the previous pair. I could not see any difference in my vision. I told them so, and they made a feeble excuse about trying to provide me with the best possible vision. This is an endemic problem. Caveat emptor!

[didds]

The lenses will undoubtedly be plastic not glass I would imagine.

Aren't all lenses plastic these days? I don't think I've had glass lenses since the '80s.

Scott.

TBH I presumed glasses were that from "proper opticians". That was just a presumption. Ive just checked my pair and they ARE plastic too!

hey ho!

£6+p&p gets you a test!

didds

[JMN2]

At optician's they give you a card with some numbers, for instance I have one from 2014 saying SPH L -2.5 and R -3.25 etc etc but for the one crucial bit of information you have to hold them at gunpoint and still not get it, is the distance between eyes because with this final piece of the puzzle you can order the new glasses online for fraction of the price without visiting the shop. Order online from China where 99.99% of all the lenses are manufactured anyway and in most cases at opticians they just do a minor shave off in order to fit them into the frame.

[JMN2]

When I moved to England in mid 90's I was flabbergasted when I visited Opticians. What a shock! In the UK you actually got your glasses in two to three hours and even faster, the same day! Went for a walk or lunch (if you could see) and then went back to pick up the new glasses. All was done on the premises. In a recent Euro-land where I came from at that time they used to send the order and lenses to a factory off-site where the lenses would be polished and attached to the frames. Would take two weeks, next week Friday if in luck. Nowadays there they send the lenses and frames to Estonia, probably takes at least a few days. No Specsavers there then, the cost for simple prescription glasses hundreds of Euros, I think my mother paid more than thousand Euros. Then with EU came competition to some small areas of economy, opticians being one of the few (but you still can't get heartburn or headache pills from a supermarket, nor alcohol stronger that 4.7%).

[didds]

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?.

didds

[Alaric]

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.

[didds]

yerrrss... but given that the eye test doesn't mean the frames will be bought form the same optician - or at all - its a pretty rubbish model.


Unless virtually everybody that gets regular eye tests does so for "free" on the NHS which pay a pittance for them I suppose, so frames are the only way to recoup any dosh whatsoever.

Anybody here got new lenses in old frames? What was that charge?

didds

[swill453]

Anybody here got new lenses in old frames?

At least 2 people earlier in the thread said they did this (Maroochydore and stewamax).

Scott.

[GeoffF100]

Anybody here got new lenses in old frames? What was that charge?

I have done that. It does not save money at the likes of Specsavers (basic frames cost them next to nothing anyway), but you get to the keep frames you like (or could not replace becase round frames were unfashionable). They do not guarantee the result, but I did not have any significant problems. The worst that happened was that they have had to re-thread and use bigger screws. Oh, and the Asda premium lenses were rubbish.

[stewamax]

New lenses in old frames...

If you insist on a reglaze of an existing frame, you can of course just have a single lens changed if the prescription for the other is unaltered. Reglazing is usually charged per lens.