
Catie wears glasses now.
These are the glasses she got from our optometrist. Nice, right? Only within a few weeks she had damaged the hinges by taking them off with one hand all the time. I didn't know that was a thing, but Jake (a lifelong glasses-wearer) did.
So we got the frames replaced, because they were still under warranty, but she had to wear floppy glasses for a week until the new frames arrived. So I decided I HAD to get her a back-up pair of glasses, in case something else happened to this pair again.
There are a few online suppliers for prescription glasses, and most of them cost a LOT less than buying a pair through an optometrist. In order to... um... order... your glasses, you need to get a printout of your prescription and (this is important) your pupillary distance, or PD. Sometimes an office will be co-operative with releasing your prescription, but not your PD because they KNOW that you'll be ordering glasses from somewhere else, then. Selling glasses is the way they make their money - they barely clear $5 from insurance covered exams, so I can't really blame them. But I still need to watch my wallet, not theirs. It's your medical information, and it's your right to have it - ask politely but firmly.
Zenni Optical is a really nice online source for less-expensive glasses. Their base price for a full pair - frames AND lenses - is $6.95. They do have more expensive pairs, of course, and every little add-on costs money, as does shipping. But for less than $20 total, we got these!

Zenni is pretty cool, too - you get a free case, microfiber wiping cloth, and a little pupillary distance measuring tool. Why? Because after the first family member gets their pair, hopefully everyone else with poor vision will be so impressed that they'll want a pair, too. And the PD tool will save them from having to run to their doctor for the info.

No comments:
Post a Comment