ARRG! (eye glasses)

Pat-inCO

Pat-inCO

Hawkeye
Joined
Oct 17, 2009
Messages
5,922
City & State/Province
In the AZ oven (Phoenix basin)
{whine on}
I've been wearing eye-glasses since 1963 so it should not be any big deal
to get a new prescription put into my eye-glass frames. Right . . . Sure.
I've been wearing the same frames (two pair) since 1972. They are
German made and I paid $65 each for them (that was a full week's wage
for the two pair, back in '72).

Went in on December 12th last, to get the new 'script put in to the "spare"
pair, and it all went down hill. Chipped lenses, wrong base curve (those
of you with significant stigmatic correction understand), bifocal cut WAY
too high, etc. I wear glass lenses (hard to find here of late) with
photocromatic tint, and only TWO places in the U.S. do those any more.

Today is the first day in over two months that I've had the correct lenses
in the frames that are most comfortable to wear. I'll spare you any further
details of what went wrong . . . but ARGGGGG!

It's NICE to be able to see more clearly with them on, than off. 8)
{/whine}

Now if that were just the worst problem in our nation . . . . . . :roll:

:D
 
My wife often struggles with new glasses. Wrong prescription, and scratched or chipped lenses are becoming common when she receives new glasses.

So, is it the increased involvement of "technicians" in the industry, is it automation, is it the number of glasses that are now ordered and they just have to work too fast to complete all the orders, or is it just the effects of cost cutting, and QC is set aside? We must ask why some of this stuff ever left the fabrication facility.

WAYNO.
 
Pat I feel your pain, I also have to wear glasses for over 50 years now. 30 years ago
seems getting good ones were a slam dunk no problem! Now tho no one gets them right
I can tell immediately and guess what? They do not want to hear it. I left a pair right
on the counter and walked out. It is all about money not what works for you.
Dr. Booth I had for many years he was a good man and took the time to get it right.
Now you've got lens crafters five and dime optician. Good luck ps
 
I wore bifocal glasses since 1985. Finally, a few years ago, my eye doctor would not give me a newer prescription for glasses. She said I had cataracts and should have cataract surgery.

I had the surgery in both eyes which was really no big deal at all. Imagine my shock that after the surgery, I no longer need glasses for anything. The lenses he put in my eyes are corrective lenses.

Even if you don't have cataracts, I would see a reputable laser eye surgeon. I hear that they can do wonders for any eye problem now.

Imagine how good you'd feel if you never needed glasses again.
 
Everytime I want to complain about my glasses, I think about a friend of my uncle's he had to wear contacts and coke bottles, at the same time, and still could barely see.
 
Along the lines above. I won't complain. My older cousin, a career Marine is now blind. Too many things going boom too close by. Apparently damage when one is young can result in an atrophy of the optic nerve.

Crusty old so and so refuses help. Heck, he'd probably still try to drive if he could find his keys.
 
There seems to be a lot of planned obsolescence in the optical industry, I broke a frame, took it to the local optical shop where I got them, same doctor and optician there-can't get that size lens anymore.
 
For over 10 years, I had good service at the local Sears optical shop. The technician there was great, and the prices better than the uppity downtown shops. Wal-Mart was cheaper, but one pair from them was enough. Then Sears closed their local store, and the technician transferred to Wichita. Fortunately, I had cataract surgery before I needed new glasses. Now, I just wear reading glasses for close-up work.
 
Well, catarct surgery on both eyes cured a load of problems, but I still have to wear glasses for reading because my astigmatism was too irregular to repair.
SIGH, BACK to what I had way back in 1968 when I got out of the Army; good distance vision and corrective lenses for reading.
 
blackhawknj said:
There seems to be a lot of planned obsolescence in the optical industry . . . .
Click to expand...
It was funny, when I was in getting mine yesterday, the shop owner was
finishing up with another customer who had broken his frame (Oakley I
think) and they were going to send out to the manufacturer for "spare"
parts. The customer said something like "I shouldn't complain, I got three
years out of them" and I almost fell out of the chair (my frames being 44
years old). But I was nice and didn't say anything.

What really bothers me is seeing some frames on TV advertisements
that are exactly what I want (replace my current ones with new that are
virtually the same) and the shop can not get them. I even contacted him
when the ad's were running and he could see them. DOUBLE SIGH!

As you say, so durned many of them are "obsolete" before you buy them. :roll:
 
In the past I had new lenses put in old frames with no problem. I thought that they actually made lenses to fit the frame. Do they not do that any more? So, they only want to work on pre shaped lenses now?

They still have to grind them to a certain prescription. What's the problem with making them to fit the frames you have? Just too much trouble for their money?
 
eveled said:
Everytime I want to complain about my glasses, I think about a friend of my uncle's he had to wear contacts and coke bottles, at the same time, and still could barely see.
Click to expand...

Jeepnik said:
Along the lines above. I won't complain. My older cousin, a career Marine is now blind. Too many things going boom too close by. Apparently damage when one is young can result in an atrophy of the optic nerve.

Crusty old so and so refuses help. Heck, he'd probably still try to drive if he could find his keys.
Click to expand...

I get that, too. When I bellyache about my glasses, I stop and remember my blessings, and think of the folks who wish that seeing could be as easy as putting on a pair of glasses.

WAYNO.
 
Jeepnik said:
Along the lines above. I won't complain. My older cousin, a career Marine is now blind. Too many things going boom too close by. Apparently damage when one is young can result in an atrophy of the optic nerve.

Crusty old so and so refuses help. Heck, he'd probably still try to drive if he could find his keys.
Click to expand...

There used to be a gentleman in a town I used to live near,who drove with a pair of binoculars!
He traded at the gas station I had at the time,that was also a state inspection station,and he came in one time when the highway patrol officer that inspected my logs was there.No more driving for him!
 
Seems to a nationwide thing. I had a great optician for years. Then he retired at 55. It's been a fight ever since.

I am correctable to 20/13 and have always had glasses that get me there. Got a new scrip about four years ago. The glasses come in and I can't see crap. I complain and they have the guy check. They match your scrip, he says. So I tell him the scrip sucks. He takes me back and set up his machine and rechecks. It's a good. he states. I look him in the eye and tell him with my old glasses (which I think suck since my vision isn't what it should be) I can tell you the date you graduated on your diploma. With this crap you're giving me I can't read your name in the large print. He argues a bit but relenets and changes my scrip. Still not what I wanted but better.

I have now found a different optician that tried to do the same thing but when I complained during the exam she went all out and gave me what I wanted.

Being a shooter I KNOW when my scrip is getting bad. It shows up in sighting a gun or a bow first.

Your comment on base curve caught my eye too. Most people don't know what that is or have an issue when it is different, but if you do have an issue with changing base curve you know immediately. Full aquarium effect as soon as you put them on.
 
Dan in MI said:
Your comment on base curve caught my eye too. Most people don't
know what that is or have an issue when it is different, but if you do have
an issue with changing base curve you know immediately. Full aquarium
effect as soon as you put them on.
Click to expand...
Try it with one lens correct and the other not.

The one lens was replaced after they chipped the first try. So they ordered
just the one lens . . . WRONG! THEN they ordered both as new and almost
got it correct. Like I said, litany of problems. :roll:

:D

But what the heck. It only took from December 12th to February 20th.
 
My new glasses work fine except they won't focus at arms length where I need them for seeing the computer and the newspaper. :cry:
 
I cannot stand bi-folcals. I have had my reading glasses made for computer work. Some stuff a little close needs to be held away a bit. And my astigmatism is really starting to hurt my driving vision. I do have a pair of distance glasses. At night they have become a must have for me. Still not restricted on the DL. But I need them. Lights appear to be stacked at night and get closer as the object gets closer. Finally merging into the single lamp that they are. A stack of railroad signals down the road can appear to be a Christmas tree 8 lights high and very annoying.

When I complained about the poor quality of glasses that I had been getting. They said, to bring them back and they would replace them every 6 months if necessary, no charge. They do not seem to understand that I do not need the hassles. Or being without them for 10 days to two weeks. That the coatings used to last a couple years and now wear off and get blotchy in no time.
 
Wow, I wore bifocals for thirty years and had never run into the problems you guys seem to have. I went through many pairs of glasses. When they were no longer effective and I needed a new prescription, the new glasses always worked fine. When I got my prescriptions printed out for me, they always said on them "Do not make this set of glasses if you are not prepared to remake them if there is a vision problem with them", or something to that effect. I even got an extra pair made a Walmart once with no problem.

It sounds like there are a lot of bad eye doctors out there now. I guess not needing any glasses after my cataract surgery was more of a blessing than I thought it was. By the way, it was a Kaiser eye surgeon that did the surgery. After the second eye was done and I went back about a week later, he even gave me a few little zaps on his laser machine to refine the procedure.

It sounds like you guys are seeing the wrong doctors.
 
Cary,
Some people either aren't as picky or don't know/can't tell the difference. I see people with lenses so scratched I swear they ran sandpaper across them for 30 seconds. I have mentioned it and they say they don't see anything and keep using them for months. I get a spec of dirt or tiny scratch on the edge of mu y vision and it drives me bonkers immediately.


I recently grabbed an old pair of glasses to use a bedtime tv glasses figuring the non bifocal scrip would be fine. They had a few small scratches in them. I couldn't wear them for ten minutes. It looked and felt like I was looking through frosted glass.
 
I finally got my new glasses last week after the first attempt came out wrong. I haven't got the nose pad fitting right yet but the lenses seem to be OK.
I down-sized my lens choice this time due to different current needs and now I've got to get used to seeing the frames at the outer edge of the lens.
The first attempt came out mis-aligned(?) causing my left eye to not see clearly. This may have been partially my fault cause when the girl said "look at the end of my nose" I couldn't stop looking at the "very ample cleavage" she was displaying as she leaned across the counter.
 
Dan in MI said:
Some people either aren't as picky or don't know/can't tell the difference.
Click to expand...
THERE is the truth. One guy that I worked with would have so much
pure crap on his lenses that I had problems just being near the dirty
lenses, but he would say "I don't see any", if you mentioned it. :D
 
My regular pair of glasses have progressive lenses; I also have a pair for reading and for use with my computer.

I don't like having to tilt my head up when trying to read with my progressive lenses.
 
Well, if you look at spending the next thirty years or so with having to worry about carrying glasses, breaking glasses, cleaning glasses, losing glasses and all the other problems associated with wearing glasses like working on a car or tractor in the summer with sweat running onto the lenses and blurring your vision, I think it's well worth seeing a laser eye surgeon about correcting your vision.

Like I said, I hear there are doctors now that said they can correct any vision problems with laser surgery. But if you don't mind the next thirty years with all the problems listed above then don't bother.

I needed glasses for thirty years and now I don't. Be good to yourself, at least check into it. My cataract surgery didn't cost me a cent. It was covered by Medicare and Kaiser.

After seeing the results, even if I had to pay for it, I would scrape up the money somewhere.
 
I buy my glasses from 39dollarglasses.com never had a complaint and they are truly 39$ for nice metal frame glasses with all the special coatings.
 
Pat-inCO said:
Galaxiedan said:
I buy my glasses from 39dollarglasses.com never had a complaint and they are truly 39$ for nice metal frame glasses with all the special coatings.
Click to expand...
Mine cost more than $39 for just the photocromatic lens option.
Click to expand...

Just more ammunition for the point I'm trying to make here. You may think I'm bragging about my good fortune but I'm just trying to maybe get some of you guys to get some good fortune for yourselves.

I know that some people may think the idea of any type of surgery on your eyes is pretty scary. I thought the same thing too but, The actual surgery for each eye only took like ten minutes and I never felt a thing. Of course they did my eyes about a week apart. When the doctor did a little fine tuning on the one eye with his laser, that took less than a minute and I never felt a thing then either.
 
My SIL has had bifocals for years, still can't get used to the sidewalks undulating. My optometrist tried to get me to wear bifocals, I passed, I find taking my glasses off to read, etc is no problem. For close work, inexpensive safety glasses or goggles work fine. I keep a pair of safety goggles in the tool box in my car. Lately I shoot handguns wearing safety glasses, no problems focusing on the front sight.
 
CaryC, not to rain on your parade, but the people I know who had the laser procedure, were back to glasses within five years. I will stick with my glasses. They afford protection from flying objects etc. Good luck!
gramps
 
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