Yeah, maybe this could substitute for just going to an optometrist to get a glasses prescription if there’s no astigmatism, ect…but it’s no substitute for visiting an ophthalmologist trained to take care of one of the most complex parts of the human body. I gotta say, this device might be helpful to some people and better than nothing, and that’s great, but it seems a tad bit irresponsible to advertise it as a substitute for visiting an actual medical doctor.
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Apart from free visits to my ophthalmologist through socialized healthcare my workplace is required to provide eye exams every 3 years. The exams happen during paid working time.
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That’s the Invisible Hand of Free Market Economics poking you in the eye.
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Also good luck getting your bifocals placed correctly.
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Eyes change in weird ways. I needed bifocals from age 8 onwards, but around 25 or so, my eye doctor said “Oh hey, you don’t actually need bifocals anymore,” and they were right. Now I’m in my mid-40s and have to take my glasses off to read anything, and my eye doctor says that I’m exactly at the age that eyes start to deteriorate – fun! They predict I’ll need bifocals again in about two years.
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When I finally caved in I went full on progressives. Though I still take them off for some reading things that take up my full field of vision.
Neoliberal tactic to privatise (profitize) all aspects of government services, brought to you by profit-making propaganda.
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Tell me about it. I’m 7-10 years older than you.
For instance, immediately after getting my current pair of glasses I managed to wear an older pair to a conference. (I’d gotten a bunch of my old glasses out to donate them to charity and hadn’t actually done it yet. Yeah, not smart.)
They were awful. I had a terrible time reading anything on the screen unless I sat in the front, and I spent the week with a low grade headache. I’m just grateful I didn’t rent a car.
And I’d probably gotten that pair just four years before the conference.
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Make sure you are aware of the implicit irreversible gamble hiding behind every laser eye surgery
https://lasikcomplications.com/links.htm
I had a coworker whose vision, and life, was ruined by LASIK. He would have given anything to go back to the inconvenience of glasses and contacts.
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I’ve not heard many good things about LASIK. It definitely seems like a scam. I’ve never found glasses to be so inconvenient that I must have someone shoot laser beams into my corneas.
(Maybe if I genuinely needed glasses to function versus provide minor stigmatism correction and reduce eye strain I’d feel differently. My uncorrected eyesight is 20/30 which typically isn’t much of a hindrance.)
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I can’t see across the room clearly without them. I tried contacts but they bug the hell out of me even after I am supposed to be used to them and by now I have trouble picturing myself without them.
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Man, and don’t get me started on the Universe, neither. Sometimes I think it only cares about increasing entropy.
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Most people have slight differences between bridge and either eye. If the distances are the same, you’ll see ~70mm otherwise you’ll see right and left values.
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I remember reading a story about a guy who “made his own glasses” on Hacker News:
https://www.eidel.io/2019/04/24/making-my-own-glasses/
He obtained his own test glasses and frame, and ended up with the measurements for his perfect glasses, which he then ordered online. Interesting read for anyone who wears glasses.
As someone who can’t see more than 6 inches before things go very blurry, I will happily pay someone who knows what they’re doing.
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My optometrist usually hands me my script when I pay up. Then she’ll point out I can go look at frames if I want to. No biggie.
Also, I go pretty regular since she’s also the one that found hemorrhaging near my retina.
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10 years ago I could buy designer glasses from my optometrist and pay only $120 out of pocket. Now the same glasses would cost over $600 due to the near monopoly by one company in the glasses business.
I’ve been buying from Warby Parker for the past 4 years. This time around we discovered they made mistakes a year ago with my son’s lenses. So we are keeping the frames and paid $160 (after insurance) just for lenses from the optometrist. We will have the optometrist check the lenses when my son picks them up.
One problem with the inexpensive glasses (again Warby Parker but probably true for all of them) is they use polycarbonate. If you eyes aren’t too bad, like mine, this is usually fine. But the thicker the lenses the more likely you should be buying lenses made from better and more expensive materials.
My son and I now have enough glass frames in very good condition that we will just buy replacement lenses. Still too 'effin expensive without insurance.
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The notion that storefront/optometrist office lenses are foolproof is an interesting one. I recall a story from years ago where a Canadian news show went to six outlets (LensCrafters and Hakim Optical were definitely on the list, but it’s been years now so I can’t recall them all). Then they had the lenses tested by an optometrist for fit to the prescription.
Five of the six failed.
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Zenni is where it’s at. They are so cheap (while being well made), you can try styles you might not otherwise, and purchase identical backup pairs. I’ve purchased maybe 2 dozen pairs of glasses from Zenni’s over the years and never had an issue. My last two pairs cost 15 bucks each.
I am lucky in that my prescription is not strong, and has not changed in the last 5 or 6 years. The last time I went to an eye doctor the dude at the counter was a straight up smug brat when I said I was ordering online glasses rather than spend $400 (over my insurance coverage) for the “designer” bullshit they had in the shop.
Also, general tip- the eye doctor folks will quickly hand you a copy of your prescription, but sometimes you have to get pushy in order to get your pupillary distance. They don’t like to give that out, since (I’m assuming) that it is tough to do yourself, and mis-measurement is probably the main reason people have had bad experiences with cheap online eyeglasses.
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The chain I had trouble with was PearleVision. They ground the lenses wrong, and not just once! I’d get halos in my vision under certain lighting conditions, which was completely unacceptable. Once I finally got good glasses, I never went back, and that location wound up closing.
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