If I need reading glasses is there any advantage to getting an optometrist’s prescription for them vs. getting three for $11.99 at Costco? Just asking about reading glasses here, not bifocals, etc.
And optometrist will make sure you get the right glasses; the Costco ones may be OK, but lenses made to your prescription are going to give you better vision. For instance, your prescription may be somewhere between the sizes at the store.
Also, the optometrist can detect things like astigmatism that drugstore glasses don’t correct for.
Spoken like a true member of the optometrists lobby.
Don’t go to Costco and pay $11.99 for 3 pair. Go to your local dollar store and get them for $1.00. My wife and I both use these and they are very satisfactory for reading work. We usually buy 4 or 5 pair so that we always have one lying around when we need to put our hands on them.
My optometrist tells me I am getting on toward the age where I may need reading glasses. I already wear contacts for distance and close-up, but of course close-up will start deteriorating.
Anyhoo, she said if I start noticing that I need to move things closer than I used to, to buy the -1.00 or -1.25 strength reading glasses at El Cheapo Store. It won’t hurt my eyes and is not a material thing to correct for with prescription. I guess anything more than that might mean Rx glasses.
I get the ones from the dollar store for reading and sewing, and they work just fine. I have a pair of prescription ones, and I really can’t tell the difference except the prescription ones are heavier and leave red marks on my nose.
Makes no difference. You adjust your reading distance for a given “Diopter” magnification.
Just pick the one for a comfortable reading distance.
A good optometrist will refer you to an opthalmologist if he detects other potential problems.
Ex-optician here. As long as you don’t have a problem with distance vision that could be caused by astigmatism and vision for both eyes is the same, drugstore reading glasses should suit you fine.
Do you go to your eye doctor regularly? I mean, I’d think he’d have let you know by now if you had any serious problems with your eyes.
Then again, it occurs to me that people with good vision may not hit their eye doctors up as much as I do. I go every year strictly, because my eyes are bad + I have astigmatism that makes me fall in only 2 % of the population (lucky me - I get to be special in something.)
Anyway, if your eyes are pretty normal, I should think the $1.00 pair should be fine. Why not ask your doctor what he thinks next time you go, if you do go? He can’t force you to buy a pair, only make recommendations, and I know my doc works hard to find the cheapest options for me to help me pay for the stuff I need. I think most eye doctors are more concerned with helping you then bilking you. YMMV, of course.
I had both natural lenses replaced and the opthomologist (sp?) told me to go to the drug stor and buy a pair of +1.25. He did ask if my insurance covered glasses (they don’t).
I found that +1.50 are better, and I got several. My last perscription glasses were $250.00, and were very heavy.
The drugstore brand were about $5.00, and light.
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