# Prescriptions for some eye glasses but not others? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prescriptions-for-some-eye-glasses-but-not-others/572422 "2011-02-24T03:44:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prescriptions-for-some-eye-glasses-but-not-others/572422/61 "2011-03-04T20:56:36Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I took a pair of generic off-the-shelf reading glasses to the optician at Wal-Mart to get one of the nosepieces screwed back on (I had the screw and the right size screwdriver, but because the screw itself was so small I was finding it impossible to actually hold it in place while I tried to screw it in myself). The guy fixed them for me completely free of charge, despite the fact that I’d purchased the glasses elsewhere. When I take it to my optician (who is in the same office as my optometrist), she puts in a new nose piece. thelabdude > [@](#): > > I have a print out I made after I checked my own vision. I wonder if I took it to an optometrist, if he could fill it without a doctor’s signature? No, and neither would an optician. 🙂 My optometrist’s clerk has a pad already signed by the optometrist. When I ask for my prescription, she merely writes on it and gives it to me (since it is already signed). ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prescriptions-for-some-eye-glasses-but-not-others/572422/62 "2011-03-04T22:54:49Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > What actually happens all too often is this: > > Doctor performs exam. > Doctor writes prescription in chart, but not on prescription form. > Doctor walks patient to dispensary and hands chart to assistant or optician. > Doctor moves on to next patient. > Assistant or optician starts showing frames. > If patient asks for prescription then depending on the doctor either the assistant can interrupt doctor to get prescription written for patient, or patient may be told to come back later to pick it up. Either way patient is frequently made to feel like a nuisance for asking for it. Well, that’s not been my experience, at least since I’ve lived on my own (and thus paid for my own glasses). I remember because I was surprised the first time it happened. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prescriptions-for-some-eye-glasses-but-not-others/572422/63 "2011-03-05T05:07:29Z")
> [@RedSwinglineOne](#): > > Not true. I am nearsighted. I don’t wear glasses (contacts actually) to make things look **bigger**. I wear them to make things look **sharper**. Things don’t look any bigger with glasses on than without. > Far sighted people also wear glasses to make things sharper, not smaller. How would making things appear smaller help? It’s true that glasses make images sharper where they’re naturally fuzzier for the given patient. But that’s done by wearing convex or concave lenses for farsightedness or nearsightedness, respectively. The former will make images slightly larger, the latter smaller. These size changes are very slight when looking through the glasses while on your face. But if you take your glasses for nearsightedness off, hold them at arm’s length, and look through them, you’ll notice that images seen through them are _much_ smaller than naturally (sans glasses). ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prescriptions-for-some-eye-glasses-but-not-others/572422/64 "2011-03-10T03:04:54Z")
> [@Frisco](#): > > Why can far-sighted people buy reading glasses at the corner store without a prescription, but near-sighted folks have to pony up for a prescription if they want to buy glasses? > > If it is just a racket to protect eye doctors, why did the reading glass crowd get and exception? Had a chance to talk to somebody that knows today. You must have a prescription to buy any corrective lenses. They only get away with the +readers because they are classified as magnifying glasses. Strongest union in the country? AMA [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prescriptions-for-some-eye-glasses-but-not-others/572422.md?page=3)