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Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

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Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#191

Post by JKCalhoun »

femto wrote: post #177
acomjean wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you also need to measure the distance between your eyes. The only not supper easy part.

Measuring Pupillary Distance (PD, or distance between your pupils) is easy! Here's how: 1) Stand in front of a vertical mirror, making sure you are square to the mirror. 2) Place a horizontal ruler on the surface of the mirror. 3) Close one eye and move your head until the reflection of the centre of your pupil lines up with zero on the ruler. 4) Keeping your head still, open your eye and close the other eye. 5) The…

Can't read the ruler, too blurry. ;-)

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#192

Post by pkphilip »

chasil wrote: post #90
imroot wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked on the retail IT side of things at Luxottica. I don't even think that you've scratched the surface of just how prevalent Luxottica is: you've touched the retail side of things, but, you also haven't touched the manufacturing side of things (Lux has patents on the hinges used in glasses), the wholesaling side of things (Lux supplies generic and branded frames to your local optician on less-than-preferred term…

Glasses aren't that expensive. I buy them from https://zennioptical.com I don't think that I'd ever pay more than $100 for a frame again. The sunglasses that we buy in a drugstore can be had for paltry sums, why not prescription eyewear?

You can buy frames with glasses in India for less than Rs.800 (less than $10)

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#193

Post by tcgv »

In my last summer vacation I travelled abroad and forgot to bring my sunglasses.

Looking for a new one in the stores I found that prices for regular Ray-Ban (owned by Luxotica) were too expensive for my taste (~120 USD). So I decided to get a Polaroid sunglasses instead, for a third of the price (~40 USD).

My only concern was wether the lenses polarization would be up to standards. So I Googled it and found out that Polaroid was in fact the company that invented polarized lenses :)

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#194

Post by someweirdperson »

epmaybe wrote: post #84
olliej wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would suggest checking out other optometrists, most have a much better insurance wall than they had a couple of decades ago. Or go online (to order, not suggesting an eye exam over webcam :D ). That said, I'm currently getting cataracts removed and IOL implants and insurance is like "correcting your astigmatism isn't needed so we won't cover the IOL that does that, just your distance vision". If correcting my visio…

This gets into the weeds a little but the reason boils down to money and tradition, and “what is needed” is a shifting goalpost for society. Just thirty years ago you may have never even gotten an IOL due to tradition or cost. After adoption in the developed world there was a huge push to prevent lower income countries from accessing the technology because they “didn’t need” that technology and could benefit from low…

> [...] they don’t even manufacture a toric lens for at any usable tolerance (the FDA allows a +/-0.50D tolerance to all lenses including torics)

I tried a quick google search but couldn't immediately verify. That seems horrible. Really production/specification tolerance, or just eye-correction tolerance to determine the need for a change?

I feel tempted to replace the lenses when eyes have changed by 0.25 (though delaying until 0.5 off). I have returned glasses which were mis-manufactured with the cylindrical axis for one eye off by 10 degrees.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#195

Post by krageon »

doikor wrote: post #168
londons_explore wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lenses are no longer custom high precision manufacturing... In fact a 50 cent laser pointer has far more far more precise lenses than a pair of glasses. Lenses today tend to be polycarbonate plastic anyway - which means they can be produced rapidly like any other plastic moulding.

For a lot of people you can just take lenses from the production line and cut them to shape and be done but that is not always the case. Personally I always have to wait 2 to 3 weeks to get new glasses done as the lenses have to be made to spec and the lenses alone are around 350€ and no they are not any cheaper at any online retailer that operates here if they even offer to make lenses to my spec.

Then you are an incredible outlier. The vast majority of folks that need glasses do not have this as the reason for the lenses being expensive. They're just being shafted.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#196

Post by krageon »

femto wrote: post #177
acomjean wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you also need to measure the distance between your eyes. The only not supper easy part.

Measuring Pupillary Distance (PD, or distance between your pupils) is easy! Here's how: 1) Stand in front of a vertical mirror, making sure you are square to the mirror. 2) Place a horizontal ruler on the surface of the mirror. 3) Close one eye and move your head until the reflection of the centre of your pupil lines up with zero on the ruler. 4) Keeping your head still, open your eye and close the other eye. 5) The…

Or you get a single eye exam and call it a day. The results will have your PD, which doesn't change.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#197

Post by dghughes »

I had the same pair of glasses for 20 years just getting new lenses as needed. A year ago I had a slight change in prescription but also had to make the plunge into bifocals. Cost to me even after insurance? $800. And they're terrible.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#198

Post by dotancohen »

odysseus wrote: post #103
wyclif wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out Shuron. USA-made and not owned by Luxottica. Superior quality zyl frames and five-barrel hinges, unlike almost everything Luxottica sells. And they are full service and have top-notch customer service—they'll fill your prescription and also send you five different frames to try on and return: https://shop.shuron.com/

I wanted to like these, but these are some ugly frames compared to some of Lux's Italian-made frames. Same deal with a lot of discount frames (including some from Luxottica) - very old styling and cheap looking materials. But to each his own - I'm sure some people will like Shuron and maybe I'm not up on the latest trends.

  > very old styling
Correction: Original styling. These were the guys who invented that styling. The problem is, they've hardly innovated styling at all for decades.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#199

Post by londons_explore »

doikor wrote: post #168
londons_explore wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lenses are no longer custom high precision manufacturing... In fact a 50 cent laser pointer has far more far more precise lenses than a pair of glasses. Lenses today tend to be polycarbonate plastic anyway - which means they can be produced rapidly like any other plastic moulding.

For a lot of people you can just take lenses from the production line and cut them to shape and be done but that is not always the case. Personally I always have to wait 2 to 3 weeks to get new glasses done as the lenses have to be made to spec and the lenses alone are around 350€ and no they are not any cheaper at any online retailer that operates here if they even offer to make lenses to my spec.

Methods for cheap fully custom made lenses are also coming to fruition.

Both SLA and FDM 3D printers are now able to make curved surfaces with 10's of micrometer precision across the lens surface, and local 10's of nanometer smoothness (usually via a surface-tension based smoothing process).

Usually you then use that as part of a two part mould to make the lens out of polycarbonate or some resin which has optical and hardness properties you want.

The whole lot, if done in ~10M quantities should come out to only 10 cents or so per piece (with each piece having a custom geometry).

There are really big opportunities available for doing this to contact lenses, since the lens can then fully compensate for any unevenness in the eye below, and could possibly lead to superhuman vision if done right. The same can't be done for glasses since the eyeball moves - instead the best you can do is a best-fit approximation for looking ahead.

Re: Why are glasses so expensive? The industry prefers to keep that blurry (2019)

#200

Post by tartoran »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #191
femto wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Measuring Pupillary Distance (PD, or distance between your pupils) is easy! Here's how: 1) Stand in front of a vertical mirror, making sure you are square to the mirror. 2) Place a horizontal ruler on the surface of the mirror. 3) Close one eye and move your head until the reflection of the centre of your pupil lines up with zero on the ruler. 4) Keeping your head still, open your eye and close the other eye. 5) The…

Can't read the ruler, too blurry. ;-)

Use a marker, allign eyes and put on the glasses when measuring:)
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