Buying Prescription Glasses Online

HEALTH · GLOBAL

Buying Prescription Glasses Online

What you need from the optician, pupillary distance, lens choices and fitting

Glasses online cost a fraction of high street prices and work well for straightforward prescriptions, provided you have the right numbers.

Get the eye test anyway

A sight test checks eye health as well as vision, and it detects glaucoma, diabetic changes and other conditions before symptoms appear. It is free or subsidised for many people, and the prescription is yours to take away.

Opticians must give you your prescription after a test.

Reading the prescription

Sphere corrects short or long sight, cylinder and axis correct astigmatism, and addition is the reading power in varifocals and bifocals. Prescriptions are usually considered current for about two years.

Pupillary distance

The distance between your pupils in millimetres, needed to centre the lenses. It is not always written on a prescription, and an optician may charge to measure it. It can be measured at home with a ruler and a mirror, carefully, and an error of a millimetre or two matters more in stronger prescriptions.

Lens choices

Higher index lenses are thinner and more expensive, and matter for stronger prescriptions. An anti-reflective coating is worth having; a scratch coating is standard.

Varifocals depend heavily on frame shape and fitting height and are the least suited to buying online.

Frames and fitting

Check the measurements printed on your current frames — lens width, bridge and arm length. A new frame frequently needs adjusting, which most opticians will do for a small fee.

Children's glasses

These should be fitted in person. Frames need to sit correctly for the child to look through the centre of the lens, and a poorly fitted pair simply gets pushed up the forehead and ignored.

Sight tests for children are free in the UK, and vouchers cover a basic frame and lenses. Problems caught early are far more treatable.

Looking after glasses

Rinse before wiping, since dust dragged across a lens scratches it, and use a microfibre cloth rather than a shirt. Hold them with both hands when removing them, which stops frames going crooked.

Keep them in a case rather than face down on a surface, and have the fit adjusted free at an optician when they loosen.

Sunglasses with a prescription

Prescription sunglasses, clip-ons and photochromic lenses all work, and each suits different habits. Check the lenses carry UV protection, which is separate from tint darkness.

Reading glasses bought off the shelf suit simple long-sightedness and not anything with astigmatism or a difference between the eyes.

When to get tested again

Every two years for most adults, sooner if vision changes, and promptly for sudden changes, flashes or floaters, which need urgent assessment.

When to stay in store

Strong prescriptions, large astigmatism, varifocals and children's glasses.

WHERE TO BUY

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