So are ALL plus diopter lenses. And ALL corrections for farsightedness are plus diopters. Does that mean that nearsighted folks legally need prescriptions, but farsighted ones don’t?
I have no idea about legally needing prescriptions or not, but the general idea is that glasses (other than reading glasses) are are finely adjusted to suit the wearer’s needs, whereas reading glasses are used just to magnify small objects looked at at close range and don’t need to be so precise.
I am not sure what “servicing” you are talking about. In many years of wearing glasses I have only once needed to get a pair fixed. A screw came lose and the lens fell out. I bought a repair kit from the drugstore for about $10 (a selection of tiny screws and a tiny screwdriver) and, despite being a pretty hamfisted type fixed it myself in about 5 minutes.
If you want to pay a huge markup for frames at a brick and mortar opticians shop, that is fine by me. I am pointing out the fact (for those who may not know, and may not have cash to burn) that, for a little bit of effort taken measuring your interpupillary distance, you can get perfectly good prescription glasses, very much cheaper, online.
So nobody knows why those needing to hold things up to their nose to read can go to the dollar store and buy glasses that are a big help cheap, but those needing to hold the newspaper at arms length to read it are stuck going the prescription route?
I would think there would be a market. A technical term for the far sighted is presbyopia, a condition of aging. Many people do fine much of their life without any glasses. As they age, their eyes can no longer focus on close up things, but they still have good distance vision. I suspect many of them are manipulated into buying bifocals, window glass and minus. A cheap pair of -2 might be all they need for reading.
Another thing is quality. How well is a pair of glasses going to hold up to the knocks of everyday life? In addition to being somewhat of a klutz, I have a series of large, young dogs in my life, plus now grandchildren. Neither of which is known for showing any care of glasses. I am over due for new glasses. Less for any great change in my eyes, but the frames are about ready to fall apart. They were fairly cheap, CE brand, a very common brand of cheap frames. Now, if they were CD, they would have cost hundreds, but would they have held up any better? Really cheap junk usually falls apart quickly no matter what it is. On the other hand, much of the highly advertised brands may be little better. You pay for the name. If it is a famous designer, you really pay. Of course, the CD is right there on the outside of the frame by the hinge for everybody to see.
You’ve got it the wrong way round. People with +prescriptions (up to a certain level), i.e. those who have to hold the newspaper at arm’s length, are the ones who can buy cheap glasses at the corner store.
I think Doug K’s closest to an explanation when he says that reading glasses aren’t intended to be worn all the time, so can be of a low standard, which is much less likely with myopia. Why short-sighted people up to about -3 aren’t given this option and take any consequences on themselves, I don’t know.
The technical term for far-sightedness is hyperopia. Presbyopia is a condition of aging, but, as you say, it is caused by the inelasticity of the lens and supporting structures as one ages. It does result in ability to adjust to near vision. Many people are born with far-sightedness due to a short eyeball, resulting in the focal point to be beyond the retina. Corresponding, many people are born with a long eyeball.
Many people also have some degree of astigmatism, so that just a plus or minus diopter lens is not going to give them 20/20 vision.
njtt:
I have such a kit and have used it, but I’ve frequently have had to have my glasses adjusted. This has been particularly noted when running. The usual cause is a loose nose piece. It appears that the nose pieces do not really last that long. I’ve had several replaced in just a few years. Balance that with the price differential of online buying. What do those places charge? You can buy a pair of glasses from a big box place for $36, and sometimes get another one thrown in. How much cheaper can you get?
Recently I bent my frame when I fell. The place I’ve been going to for over 25 years was able to straighten them (by the use of heat, I guess). No charge. Now, admittedly, this is the place that charged me $600, but, perhaps it was worth it, as the lens did not shatter. I think there are differences in shatterproofing. Wal-Mart will add $10 for it, but I don’t think that’s shatter proof as much as shatter resistant.
Once again, can we get out terminology straight? From http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/near+sighted ‘‘near·sight·ed
/ˈnɪərˌsaɪtɪd, -ˈsaɪ-/ Show Spelled[neer-sahy-tid, -sahy-] Show IPA
–adjective
1.
seeing distinctly at a short distance only; myopic.
2.
shortsighted.’’
‘’ * noisome
* syncretism
* passive voice
* bombinate
far sighted
- 4 dictionary results
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far·sight·ed
/ˈfɑrˈsaɪtɪd, -ˌsaɪtɪd/ Show Spelled[fahr-sahy-tid, -sahy-tid] Show IPA
–adjective
seeing objects at a distance more clearly than those near at hand; hyperopic.
2.
seeing to a great distance. ‘’
So who’s questioning the definitions of near-sightedness and far-sightedness? Check your Funk & Wagnall’s, or whatever else you are using, for presbyopia and hyperopia. It will probably give far-sightedness for one of the definitions of presbyopia, but technically, as I said, far-sightedness is called hyperopia.
I have a hard time believing the requirement for a prescription is predicated on how many hours a day i will wear the glasses or at what age I need them. Nor is the precision of the lens at play, because I can’t buy sloppy glasses for my myopia without a script but I can buy sloppy reading glasses without a script.
I am only left to presume the reason a prescription is required for one type of correction but not the other is because eye doctors have successfully created legal barriers against competition for that segment of the market. Of course, that still doesn’t explain why they didn’t include the far-sighted crowd in their racket.
Just for fun, I wrote one of the trade associations for eye doctors and posed the same question and they only explained the way the glasses worked but ducked the question entirely. This only makes me more convinced there is no reason for the distinction. And I suppose if a state tried to change the law so consumers could buy any glasses without a script the medical lobby would go ape.
You need a prescription for far-sightedness (hyperopia) too.
Hmmmm - I’ve wondered about this too (the disparity between “off the shelf” readers and opthomalogist {sorry if I mispelled that} dispensed near-sighted glasses that I use for driving. Which I must point out is very rarely. I take transit. :)) The question I want to pose here is if my prescription in each eye is different for my “driving glasses” (which they are) why do we assume that they would be the same in each eye for my reading glasses? I’m going to get him to check each eye next time I go in. I’ve been told it was “bad” to wear my old glasses once my prescription changes (which it seems to every few years). If my eyes DO have different strengths in each eye (and honestly, why WOULDN’T they? Most of us do have different strengths for distance, why not for close up?) is it not bad that I am also using the same power for each eye for my reading glasses? Anybody care to comment on that?
As an aside, I once gave my old glasses to my sister on the assumption that she was going to reuse the FRAMES. She proceeded to WEAR them for more than a year (for DISTANCE) with supposedly no ill effects. She was kinda lazy. lol. But hey, they worked. They weren’t her exact prescription I’m sure…
Sure. When you are young, the natural lens in your eye can flex and compensate for a wide range of focus distances, even if your eyeball is a little long or short. As you age, the lens becomes more rigid, less able to compensate, and also tends towards the farsighted range.
Note that you need a different lens curvature for every different distance to make sure of sharp focus. Cameras, except for cheap ones, require the focus to be changed, so do your eyes. (Study on “depth of field” to learn a little more about the exceptions; a sharp focus at 10 ft may allow for objects from 9-12 ft to be in focus, depending on some other factors.)
So if you need corrective lenses as a child, you can be prescribed a single value for each eye, but when older, you may need bi- or tri-focals to cover the same wide range with smaller ranges.
And yes, your two eyes aren’t always the same, but it is unusual for one eye to be farsighted and the other, nearsighted. More typically, they have slight astigmatism differences and only small diopter differences.
If it wasn’t for the ability of the human lens to compensate for slight focus changes, you would have to have a lens for 4 ft objects and a different one for 5 ft objects, 6 ft, etc. which unfortunately happens in extreme age. At that point, most people just get used to most everything not being in focus most of the time, and may settle for glasses that are only good for the most commonly used range.
I was in retail optical for about 15 years at three different offices. The markup on frames and lenses is not “huge” by any stretch of the imagination. In fact as a percentage it’s considerably less than the markup was for clothing when I worked for JCPenney. The markup is also regressive. That is, more expensive frames have a smaller margin than cheap frames. I miss the discounts I got when I was working in the optical field, but I don’t balk at paying full retail now.
And since most adult’s prescriptions are good for 2 years, that $600 pair of specs (which is about what I paid for my current pair) works out to just under 83 cents a day, making my glasses the cheapest necessity of life I have. And I get them properly measured and fitted. It’s physically impossible for an online place to fit multifocals properly-- the optician has to be face to face with the person wearing the frame to take those measurements.
And MissMaus, over the counter readers are intended for people who don’t need a distance prescription. Reading glasses for a myope might still be minus lenses. In my case reading only lenses would be about -4.
That may be true generally, but I know the lady who works at my optometrist’s office. He retired now and a new optometrist took over, but when he was there, he would stock many frames, which he would have to send out for the proper lenses. She said his markup was huge and urged him to lower his markup. She said he would have frames years old because nobody would buy them at the prices he charged.
Leaving the advert in doesn’t convince me that you actually read that definition. It contradicts your use of presbyopic for far-sighted.
How’s this for a real life illustration of prescription glasses vs the otc glasses?
I am nearsighted and astigmatic enough to need coke bottle bottom glasses or specially made contact lenses - no cheapie dailies for me and a very limited choice in frames. Each run me about $300, more if I get expensive frames. Without correction, I am the one holding my watch 2" under my nose to see what time it is. Without correction, my world is blobs of color, no definition to anything.
Now, since I’m 9 months shy of my 50th birthday, I have the age related changes going on too. So if I’m wearing my contacts and I want to read newspaper or a menu not designed for children, I need to add the otc magnifying specs to the contacts. Granted I only need the lowest power (+1 or +1.25) but still… irritating as hell. So yeah, I wear both 'scripted eyewear, and otc eyewear.
I know they can do “bifocal” contacts, but you lose a lot of depth perception. I ride horses at speed over jumps (Eventing) and depth perception is kinda necessary there 
I asked my wife who is an optometrist why you could only get the cheap reading glasses and she wasn’t sure. She knows of no laws or regulations that prevent other prescriptions from being sold. She suspects that it is just a matter that if people just need glasses for reading they can buy a pair of cheap readers and be fairly satisfied (she said she even recommends them to her patients when there only problem is presbyopia), while if they actually have a more complicated prescription (especially considering astigmatism and that the two eyes are slightly different), it would be difficult for them to find a pair they would be satisfied with. So she suspects it is just not profitable for companies to try to provide off-the-shelf glasses for anything besides reading.
Generally speaking an optometrist’s office is not the best place to buy glasses. Optometry and opticianry are different, but related fields. Too many ODs want to manage their dispensary on top of practicing optometry, and won’t even consider hiring experienced opticians, because “I want to train them my way.” But an optometrist is no more trained to be an optician than a medical doctor is trained to be a pharmacist. It would help if opticians were licensed. They really should be, but right now only a handful of states require it.
If an office has lots of old frames, that’s poor board management. But you can only have proper board management if some one who is in the dispensary full time has the authority to make inventory decisions.
The best place to buy glasses would be an independent optical shop (not a chain) that has ABO certified opticians. Yes, they’ll cost more than at Wal-Mart, but you’ll get what you pay for, and they won’t act like they’re doing you a favor by offering one year breakage protection, when most frames have a 2 year manufacturer’s warranty.
There are two reasons to get bifocals. 1). Some people who are short-sighted (myopic, unable to see things far away) go on to also become long-sighted (presbiopic, unable to see things close up) as they get older. These people need two different prescriptions for the two tasks, so they need bifocals. 2). People who are only long-sighted may not need bifocals, but find it inconvenient to keep taking the glasses on and off all the time. Half-moon glasses would probably do but aren’t fashionable, so some of these people may also get bifocals.
If you can get an optician to tell you J’s pupillary distance (measured in mm), you can use that and the other information on her prescription to buy glasses online. They’re still tailor-made, so not as cheap as the cheapy reading glasses, but often cheaper than in physical shops. The only downside is that you can’t easily try them on (though some places will send you trial blank frames for a fee that’s refunded if you buy from them).
My new optometrist (who took over the practice) now has an optician shop in the same facility, and an optician in there. I don’t know whether she is ABO certified, but I can ask. I called her as to prices, and she says they start at $180. I think a lot of optometrists have this set up now. Even my opthalmologist, who is one in a clinic with other opthalmologists and optometrists, has an optician shop in the same clinic. Do you think that the optician in this arrangement would be satisfactory? I don’t think the optician in my optometrist’s office is fully independent as there seems to be an arrangement between them.