Sounds to me as though your optometrist is using a lab that puts anti-reflective on every hi-index lens. Our labs will do it however we ask them to. The anti-reflective is really nice for people with high prescriptions though.
The highest prescription I’ve ever seen in glasses was +24.00 for a patient who had no natural crystalline lenses in his eyes. The highest I’ve ever seen for a nearsighted patient was -22.00. I’ve also helped patients with contacts at -20.00. These patients are few and far between. I rarely see anyone over -10.00.
How does the lack of anti-reflexiveness differ between a low and high prescription?
As a side-note, I’m not a candidate for surgery (yet) because I’m still losing about 0.5 per year in each eye. Not much point in getting lasered just to have to wear glasses again!
I personally don’t want corrective surgery. If I ever did get it, I would seriously get a pair of no-scrip glasses. My eyes are small, deep set and vaguely almond-shaped (I inherited some nice eastern European eyes, heh). I need my glasses to balance my eyes out so they don’t look teeny tiny.
That being said, I have the trendy smallish rectangular plastic frames ( you can see here along with my new haircut, heh :D), in purple no less. The thing to remember is that when you try them on, yes, all you can think is “holy fucking shit all I’m seeing are these frames, I can’t stand this shit!” But seriously? After a couple days, your eyes adjust to them and you don’t notice them anymore; they’re just like if you wore those oh so stylish larger frames except not hideous.
Thanks to the OP for making this info available. I’m kinda late coming in so I have only skimmed the previous posts. I doubt if this is a repeat from the personalized info I have seen. If so, I apologize.
I have a pair of aviator-type tear drop glasses with the type of arm that is a wound/spring-like material on the end that wraps down behind the ear to prevent the glasses from sliding down my nose. One of these has broken near the top of my ear and is currently working with a temp fix. I have gone back to the place I purchased them ( well out of warranty BTW) and the young girl happily informed me that “Oh we don’t carry that kind anymore”. I said “So, I spend a few hundred on glasses and if they break you have no replacement parts? How would you like to buy a car and be told this?” This was apparently to perplexing and she kinda froze up.
My question (finally) is how can I find what I believe they referred to as a “single loop spring temple” set of arms for my otherwise functional glasses? Know of anyone that I may contact for this?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Ex-lab tech checking in. I worked in an optical lab in the 1970’s. We did exclusively glass single-vision (no bi- or tri-focals) in plastic or metal frames.
Unless the financial structure of the industry has changed, which I doubt, there is an ENORMOUS markup between the lab and the customer. Example: lens blanks cost us 30 cents apiece (that’s right, 30 cents, from Japan). The cheapest plastic frames wholesaled for US$1.70 and the top of the line, gold-filled, were $6.00.
We charged the optometrist $5 to cut the lens blanks (round) into the shape for the frame and insert them, per glasses set, lens material included. Hardening was $1 extra per pair. It took 90 seconds for the diamond cutter machine to convert one lens blank to one shaped lens with integral bevels, and about 30 secs to harden. No hand work was needed to cut or shape if the machine was programmed right.
We did work for other optometrist shops (most small optometrists didn’t have their own lab), but the guy who owned ours was also an optometrist with multiple outlets, and he owned the frame wholesaler and his wife ran the shop, so he got profit from all levels. This would be similar to Lenscrafters, who profit from the entire vertical operation.
So a typical bill for one pair of glasses was $5 + $1 + $1.70, or $7.70.
These glasses would typically retail for $150 or more, not including an eye exam. You can see from the above costs that the retail store’s markup was substantual.
Unfortunately, when arms break the only thing we can do is cannibalize other frames for their arms. We have a box of dismembered frames that we dig through to repair broken arms.
The higher your script the more curved your lenses have to be. If you put a curved lens in a straight frame, the lens is prone to popping out. Also, we cannot put Progressives in frames that don’t give us at least 17 millimeters measuring from the bottom eyelid down.
I’m just not gonzo on surgery. In part, it’s because for the 1% or 2% or whatever percent who don’t have a good outcome they’re sort of permanently screwed
And I don’t want “some sort” of corrective procedure - I’d want one where I really could get rid of the glasses.
The official verdict I got regarding me and LASIK was that, first of all, I was at “elevated” risk of several nasty side effects, and second, they couldn’t safely correct me to 20/20 - the best would be around 20/60 with current techniques which means… that’s right! I’d still need to wear glasses.
Hmm… can’t get rid of the glasses, plus high risk of side effects… ? Doesn’t seem like a wonderful idea to me.
The lens implants probably would work… except I have no trace of cataracts. Probably from wearing sunglasses all my life, protecting those precious eyes. So my insurance won’t pay for that one. Not that I’d be particularly eager for that procedure, either, but if I had cataracts I think I’d opt for the new lens implants.
Oh, yes, of course - my objection was to frame-pushers who put fashion before all else.
One of my problems with the slitty-style frames is that when I look down my vision goes below the lens. Given how crappy my uncorrected vision is, this means I’m missing a significant part of my field of vision when looking down. And this IS a problem - try going down stairs that way. It’s not just distracting and annoying, it’s potentially unsafe. For my indoor/reading glasses I got the most non-slitty frames I could, and their still not good enough. I’m always tripping going up and down the damn stairs. And I can NOT seem to get the frame-drones to understand this - I can’t see my own feet without correction, and having to bend my head down to negotiate stairs is a pain in the neck. Literally.
At least my outdoor/distance glasses still have a good sized frame.
I do have a set of frames that I really liked, but they were heavily damaged when I accidently got hit by a faceful of avgas a few years back and not only did part of the frame melt, but the hinge on that side is heavily corroded. And - as usual - “we don’t make those anymore” so no possibility of fixing them >sigh<. Keep as spares, with the old Rx which isn’t quite what I need anymore, but in a pinch (I break my regular glasses) they will allow me to drive or whatever else I need to do to get home.
Almost the same story as LASIK - probably can’t fully correct my vision, so it would be glasses + contact lenses. At least, that’s what I was told last time I inquired. Great - all the aggravations of both types of vision correction at once. No thank you. Plus, between my eyes being prone to dryness and irritation, not to mention my allergies, there were more potential problems there. My current eye doc said that if I was interested in contacts he’d be willing to have a try at fitting me, but he wasn’t optimistic about success.
So yes, I have weird eyes. This isn’t really news to me. Lenses seem to be my best option for the foreseeable future. I can handle that - as long as those frame-fitters don’t get pushy about those nasty slitty little frames.
That, and the busy bodies in my life who want to push “solutions” on me, who seem to think that I have somehow reached my 40’s without hearing about alternatives to glasses. Do You Have A Financial Interest in LASIK or What?
Oh, yes, of course - my objection was to frame-pushers who put fashion before all else.
One of my problems with the slitty-style frames is that when I look down my vision goes below the lens. Given how crappy my uncorrected vision is, this means I’m missing a significant part of my field of vision when looking down. And this IS a problem - try going down stairs that way. It’s not just distracting and annoying, it’s potentially unsafe. For my indoor/reading glasses I got the most non-slitty frames I could, and their still not good enough. I’m always tripping going up and down the damn stairs. And I can NOT seem to get the frame-drones to understand this - I can’t see my own feet without correction, and having to bend my head down to negotiate stairs is a pain in the neck. Literally.
Oh, Broomstick… I wish it could be possible that I could fit your next pair of glasses! Where I work, we take into consideration that all our patients have different needs, and we stock a large variety of frames (in very small and very large sizes). For a small-town operation, we’re pretty full-service. I also wish that more opticians took the job as seriously as I do. I’ve been doing this since 1988, and I truly care about making my patients happy. I would rather watch you walk away than sell you a pair of glasses that couldn’t possibly meet your needs. Any chance you’re in or near Pennsylvania? I’d call every lab we use to get you a pair of glasses that would make you HAPPY! If I can offer any help, in any way, please don’t hesitate to ask. I’m sure you’re in capable care, but it must be so frustrating when your needs aren’t being heard by the person who is interested in a fat commission (which I do not even get). I’d rather spend 2 hours getting you what you need. You know, as long as you’d be pleasant and smile at me a few times
My personal financial interest in LASIK is only the fact that I work for a practice that performs it. Is it a great option? Sure. Is it right for everyone? Hell NO! I can’t even have it (because of my congenital cataracts), but I probably would if I could. So, when my cataracts are finally ready to go, I’m hoping the presbyopic lens will be an option for me (even though it will still cost around $2000 after insurance). Of course, for the average healthy person, cataracts will wait until you’re much older. The dry eye thing though, is one of those things that will sometimes get worse with a surgery.
The FrameNazi at my eye doc’s shop has been Sternly Lectured. She isn’t exactly thrilled to see me coming, but she keeps her opinions to herself now. And I take the husband along to help me choose the frames now.
