That's good for you to be happy with them. I have to say that from my experience of wearing glasses since the age of 11 years I have tried everything and my opinion is offered from the 67 years of trying them all!! I do have a very complicated prescription which seems to get more and more so as the years tick on and this is where the lens offered through an optician wins hands down. The strength of the lens is the minor consideration, it then goes into the quality and subsequently weight and thinness of the lens that comes into consideration. Specs direct do not offer these specialist lens and if they did then you would find the cost would be vastly different!! Varifocal ( a revelation for me when they first came out!) is just a coverall name for a prescription lens that goes in channels from near to long sight, it is the optician that measures the exact requirement for each eye in order to get the 'centres' and channels accurately fit to suit the wearer. It does not surprise me that you were quoted £900 for the lens. These days, in retirement, I choose to go for the lighter, thinner lens in the second tier down as they are acceptable for comfort and vision and they come out at only £600 - £700 including frame and fitting.
PS. It was a revelation to me that trees outside my garden had leaves on them and were not just green 'blobs'! I can still remember the excitement of trying on my first pair of specs!
The way they do it "online" is you send them a selfie with a credit card stuck to your forehead and with a clear focus of your pupils. Apparently they can accurately determine the pupil centres as credit cards are a precise size which they can use as a gauge. Only thing is, me selfie looks like a victorian criminal poster
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I sympathise.That's good for you to be happy with them. I have to say that from my experience of wearing glasses since the age of 11 years I have tried everything and my opinion is offered from the 67 years of trying them all!! I do have a very complicated prescription which seems to get more and more so as the years tick on and this is where the lens offered through an optician wins hands down. The strength of the lens is the minor consideration, it then goes into the quality and subsequently weight and thinness of the lens that comes into consideration. Specs direct do not offer these specialist lens and if they did then you would find the cost would be vastly different!! Varifocal ( a revelation for me when they first came out!) is just a coverall name for a prescription lens that goes in channels from near to long sight, it is the optician that measures the exact requirement for each eye in order to get the 'centres' and channels accurately fit to suit the wearer. It does not surprise me that you were quoted £900 for the lens. These days, in retirement, I choose to go for the lighter, thinner lens in the second tier down as they are acceptable for comfort and vision and they come out at only £600 - £700 including frame and fitting.
PS. It was a revelation to me that trees outside my garden had leaves on them and were not just green 'blobs'! I can still remember the excitement of trying on my first pair of specs!
I had to start wearing specs from the age of 14-15. Simple short sight but I loathed it, so only wore them when I really had to.
Then was given contact lenses at the age of 18. FANTASTIC! Couldn't get over it and loved them to bits, wore them all the time until I was about 50 and suddenly my left eye no longer could take them, eye got very irritated. Seriously contemplated getting a monocle and wearing just one lens in the other eye. But ended up forced to go back to glasses.
BUT, with age my short-sightedness was offset by the normal onset of long-sightedness. Whoopee do! So I now have gone back to how things were, only wearing them for the telly and driving really! Especially in bright sun light. But yes, varifocals for driving and using a computer at the same time as watching TV.
Such a pain how they mist up when wearing a mask, even a really well-made one.
I have to think of them as consumables. They have a hard life - getting dropped and abused especially when working in the garage or on diy projects. I consider anything over 12 months useful life to be a bonus. Couldn't afford those kind of prices every year. And I have spare pairs in case of breakages (which are inevitable). When the new ones arrive I will have 5 useable pairs - 2 reading, 2 compooter, 1 varifocals for driving.
Mine never go off my nose unless I'm in bed! If they did, I wouldn't know where either me or them was!! I can only see clearly for four inches in front of my nose.
Do you have to include a photocopy of the rest side of the card, with the 3 digit verification number clearly visible??The way they do it "online" is you send them a selfie with a credit card stuck to your forehead and with a clear focus of your pupils. Apparently they can accurately determine the pupil centres as credit cards are a precise size which they can use as a gauge. Only thing is, me selfie looks like a victorian criminal poster
Well I made the decision to sell my road going motorcycle today. I got offered what I wanted and he is coming over at the weekend to take it away. I haven't been able to ride for 3 years....
I always thought I may be able to again one day but realised it will not happen
Tis a sad day but inevitable c'est la vie
Gutted for you
And you put a smiley after that? You really do seem to have accepted this. Were you not able to wear contacts then? I'm aware not everyone can.Mine never go off my nose unless I'm in bed! If they did, I wouldn't know where either me or them was!! I can only see clearly for four inches in front of my nose.
My sister made me laugh when, just after she collected her first pair of specs from the optician, commented how good they were cos she saw the bus coming before it reached the bus stop. Her next episode was when she left the driving test centre at the start of her test, she drove round the first corner and straight into the back of a bread van. Think that was in 1970.PS. It was a revelation to me that trees outside my garden had leaves on them and were not just green 'blobs'! I can still remember the excitement of trying on my first pair of specs!
I'm not daft. I used my pay as you go phone card. Same size as a credit card.
Contact lens hadn't come into use in my youth!! But I did get some of the 'new' micro-corneal ones when I was in my early twenties. They were brilliant for vision but my eyes do not secrete sufficient tear and after about an hour ( almost to the minute) the first one just flicked out, followed by the second one if I didn't grab it quickly. It was then 'STOP' everyone and hunt. After going through three sets, each one being made smaller and smaller, I just admitted defeat and returned to the glasses which were trouble-free, if nowhere near as good. I've still got the last pair somewhere.
Tempted to say "Shoulda gone to Specsavers" but that's a bit obvs!
I couldn't agree more!
They hadn't been invented for normal use!!!! It was not until they invented the 'micro-corneal' ones that a few specialist practitioners started to fit them - and that was 10 years into my eye defect correction time.
That's a shame.
When the optician first tried me out for contacts he did the tear test and told me "you won't have any trouble!" and he was right, i used to wear them for far too long, every day from when I got up to when I went to bed, and also when driving around in my open kit car, which i did for a lot of each year, with no goggles or anything on. I used to stay overnight at people's places unexpectedly and just took them out and wrapped them in tissue, put em in my pocket. following morning licked them and put them back in. But that was my downfall as the eyes can only take so long of that.
I much preferred ordinary hard ones, have since tried the soft ones and couldn't stand them. If I was back in my early twenties or even 30s and still single I daresay I'd have persevered! Vanity, oh vanity!
If they knew your problem I cannot understand why they gave you ones which just made them falling out worse. Sounds as if soft ones might have worked better but then maybe your prescription wouldn't have been possible.
My bruv got contacts at the same time as I did. He only wore them for a short time, we were both the same as far the lenses were concerned but he just couldn't be bothered. Some of it deffo is down to personal attitude to them.
Now of course I have developing cataracts. It is tempting to get them to put the vision corrected lenses in, but that is much more expensive. My stepson has had his "Lasiked" and he loves it.
So many more options nowadays, but none cheap and all with dangers. Think I'll stick with the specs, at least for now!
They hadn't been invented!!
