I went to Lenscrafters last time, when they were having a sale. My vision is pretty poor–7.5 and 6, I think–so I have to get the thin, light lenses, which bumps the price up a bit.
My exam was about $50. After adding the thin lenses (an extra $50), my cute inexpensive retro glasses cost $150.
I’ll probably need new ones next year, because the baby keeps breaking them.
I’m in bloomington too, did you go to the Lenscrafters in College mall? When i went there, they said lenses were about $150 for some reason (that can’t be right, $150 for simple myopia lenses. Maybe they were talking about High index lenses with a variety of extras). I’m thinking of getting my lenses & exam at wal-mart & my frames at lenscrafters. Walmart offers plastic lenses for $20. With my 45% discount on frames at lens crafters i should come out to about $130 for everything.
Anywho, does anyone know if there is any serious difference between the quality of plastic, high index or polycarbonate lenses? a description of each can be found here. I’m a college student, so i would rather spend $20-35 for scratch resistant plastic lenses at wal mart than $100 for polycarbonate, or high index lenses unless there is a severe benefit in choosing the polycarbonate or HI plastic. I don’t think i need polycarbonate, as my current pair of glasses were given to me in 1994, i’m wearing them now and they still haven’t broken. I’m pretty sure these are regular plastic lenses.
The factual answer would be: it varies. This is a poll.
Off to IMHO.
DrMatrix - General Questions Moderator
This seems to be more about glasses rather than contacts, but if your vision is stable and you want to skip an exam due to the cost you can do what I did. My vision hasn’t changed in years so I just ordered my contacts from Canada and did not need a Rx.
I used this company: http://www.lensmart.com/ I’m sure there are others as well.
Better yet, undergo LASIK and be done with glasses once and for all. As I said previously, I have photochromatic, polycarbonate, high index, and UV 100% protection lenses in a titanium frame: $650, including exam, and well worth the price. If it weren’t for the polycarbonate or titanium, they would’ve been broken several times recently. OTOH, if you don’t engage in any sports, perhaps you don’t need polycarbonate. But my nose and ears appreciate the very light weight of the high index and titanium. UV protection is a very good idea to prevent macular degeneration and/or cataracts.
BTW, I had RK done over 10 years ago (that’s the surgery with the knife instead of laser), but I did not achieve 20/20 vision. I am now quite pleased with the results as my vision is good enough to get around without glasses (such as running and swimming) and I’m able to read without them.