Ron,
That's a really, really good price. I only have one pair of eyeglasses... I am WAY overdue for bifocals (though Dr is talking more like trifocals it sounded like at the last appointment)... being that I am not a pensioner
(I'm 36), and our insurance only covers single vision lenses, the extra cost is prohibitive for us, so I make do by keeping magnifying lenses handy... as in kept in my pocket. If I hold one of those up to whatever I am reading, I can generally make out the letters. My lenses, even for the cheaper (and horribly too blasted easily scratched) plastic lenses run about $275. If I were to do the additional prescriptions that my eye doc wants me to do, it would run me about $400. If I stick to the single vision lenses and keep the magnifying glass method, then the eyeglasses don't cost us anything except for the frame
(and in a pinch the frame would cost us nothing also as I could choose from a select group of frames that would be covered by the insurance, instead of getting my own frames as I prefer to do).
Our insurance will only cover single vision lenses, though, so if the script is for bifocal or trifocals, they won't pay for even one cent of the prescription and will only cover the in-office exam. For me, it's not a matter of not wanting to spend the extra to get the multi-vision lenses I need... it's a matter of us not having $400 to dump into a single pair of eyeglasses that will be scratched up in a week. That $400 is just shy of being half of our mortgage payment. It's too much to drop at one single time.
I've got er, very challenging eyes. Was so nearsighted and with extreme astigmatim that I couldn't see beyond my nose clearly (literally) without my contact lenses (gas perms - couldn't wear soft ones). Didn't own glasses as the only time I tried them as an adult it felt like I was looking through a fishbowl (through about 1" thick lenses) and the whole world just was spinning. I had my contacts set with one distance and one for close up. The plus side was that I could see without my lenses REALLY close up if I stuck my nose into something so I could see splinters pretty well
.
You sound like me, almost. I was the baby that they took a guess and stuck glasses on her face because I was bumping into walls, tables, furniture, everything when I finally started walking. So they just started putting glasses on my face and increasing strength until I stopped walking into everything and everyone around me. LOL I was in coke-bottle glasses by the time I was 10 years old. I've needed multi-vision lenses since my early 20's, but we didn't have any insurance at all until the last three years or so, and well... the insurance we have won't pay one penny towards lenses that are multi-vision.
I love my magnifying glass! It goes everywhere with me.
