KC isnt as advanced in my right eye so they were able to get some sort of prescription however they will only put a balance in the left. When you look at the prices just for the 1 eye it seems even more excessive i guess?
Spectacles
Moderators: Anne Klepacz, John Smith, Sweet
I don't know anything about glasses or grinding lenses and others may well differ on this.
It's very possible that the companies that operate on the net don't have the equipment to make up the prescription for you or because they work on small margins won't be bothered even they have. You might also find that even if you pay Boots £327 the glasses aren't much use to you.
I'd suggest the first step might be to ask if they have the equipment to make up the prescription and how much they'd charge. I'd be surprised if any company would want the hassle of your order if they weren't able to supply and if no one here has ever asked you won't know.
I'd much sooner pay £50 for specs that are totally useless and stay in the drawer than £327 for some that are equally useless.
I only know one person who has bought specs on the net, just simple bi-focals, and he was very chuffed with them. It might be that others here know buyers that have been very disappointed.
It's very possible that the companies that operate on the net don't have the equipment to make up the prescription for you or because they work on small margins won't be bothered even they have. You might also find that even if you pay Boots £327 the glasses aren't much use to you.
I'd suggest the first step might be to ask if they have the equipment to make up the prescription and how much they'd charge. I'd be surprised if any company would want the hassle of your order if they weren't able to supply and if no one here has ever asked you won't know.
I'd much sooner pay £50 for specs that are totally useless and stay in the drawer than £327 for some that are equally useless.
I only know one person who has bought specs on the net, just simple bi-focals, and he was very chuffed with them. It might be that others here know buyers that have been very disappointed.
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Alison Fisher
- Forum Stalwart
- Posts: 334
- Joined: Sat 18 Mar 2006 12:56 pm
- Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
- Vision: Graft(s) and spectacles
- Location: Leicester
Good grief! That's a lot of money. 
I know my post graft prescription is most likely a lot simpler than yours but my last specs cost me £79 complete, and it was buy one get one free so I had the free pair as reading glasses. I go to the instore optician at my local Tescos. I see the same optician every time, she's very knowledgeable about KC, is wonderfully supportive about my concerns about my daughters and even knows the surgeon who did my grafts. I get the most thorough examination I've ever had outside of a hospital.
That's a lot of money.
I know my post graft prescription is most likely a lot simpler than yours but my last specs cost me £79 complete, and it was buy one get one free so I had the free pair as reading glasses. I go to the instore optician at my local Tescos. I see the same optician every time, she's very knowledgeable about KC, is wonderfully supportive about my concerns about my daughters and even knows the surgeon who did my grafts. I get the most thorough examination I've ever had outside of a hospital.
grafts in 1992 and 1996
Glasses still work for me, but only up to a point. My vision is so much better with contacts, unfortunately I'm still trying to get sorted with them (that's another story lol) However, I got glasses from boots (who were the ones to spot my KC) about 5 years ago, I paid extra for the thin lenses and combined with the frames it came to £300.
Just as recently as last week I popped into Vision Express with my new prescription - which cannot be made any stronger for glasses now - and I also paid a total of £300 including thinner lenses.
The weird thing is for the first time they took some getting used to. I felt sick wearing them for the first few days and that never happens with my lenses.
Also, be warned that due to my "difficult prescription" (their words) they couldn't make up my glasses in an hour. It took just under a fortnight.
Personally I'd be lost without my glasses, and now that I know how long it takes to get a replacement pair made, I shall be investing in another pair!
I'm a sucker for a label though, so if you aren't fussed on the frames just go for the sale section in any opticians!
Just as recently as last week I popped into Vision Express with my new prescription - which cannot be made any stronger for glasses now - and I also paid a total of £300 including thinner lenses.
The weird thing is for the first time they took some getting used to. I felt sick wearing them for the first few days and that never happens with my lenses.
Also, be warned that due to my "difficult prescription" (their words) they couldn't make up my glasses in an hour. It took just under a fortnight.
Personally I'd be lost without my glasses, and now that I know how long it takes to get a replacement pair made, I shall be investing in another pair!
I'm a sucker for a label though, so if you aren't fussed on the frames just go for the sale section in any opticians!
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Tammy Again
- Contributor
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Sun 20 Aug 2006 5:13 am
- Location: Manchester
Fitting with glasses
The trouble is with us the prescription is complex and the astigmatism correction is not standard and likely to be differenrt in each eye.
If you don't get glasses that are specifically for your prescription (and get a good eye test where they check minute corrections at the periferay of your eye too) you will get horrendous headaches and migraines, feel dizzy, get very intence eye pain, and your vision may 'get used' to the wrong presricption and take a while to settle down when you get the right one. You may also experience what have been desribed as hallucinations but it's actually your brain filling in the gaps, and blurred bits (it'sa got a Syndrome name but I can't remember it at this time of night). I think I see cartoon bumble bees and flying things, everyone in a crowd looks like people I know. Peple I work with are used to me mixing them up... but I see the other person that they barely resemble if I've only glanced at em.
Anyway, my advice is get a good eye test, and get your glasses fited by an experienced optician, in person so thay can check measurements etc.
If your KC is mild/moderate and the degree is astigmatism is not too wavy, then it's worth giving glasses a go. Glass tech has got much better and is improving all the time.
You're looking at a couple of hundred quid for the ultra light glass. It actually costs more for glasses than NHS Contacts but no fluids, no bad eye days, or on your nbad eyes days you can probably still function.
One tip though get solid dark frames as groping for them when you put em down can take ages, and I found the contrasting frames much better as my previous pair were rimless, I must have wasted hours..... sometimes fingertiup searching if I was on my own
Tam
If you don't get glasses that are specifically for your prescription (and get a good eye test where they check minute corrections at the periferay of your eye too) you will get horrendous headaches and migraines, feel dizzy, get very intence eye pain, and your vision may 'get used' to the wrong presricption and take a while to settle down when you get the right one. You may also experience what have been desribed as hallucinations but it's actually your brain filling in the gaps, and blurred bits (it'sa got a Syndrome name but I can't remember it at this time of night). I think I see cartoon bumble bees and flying things, everyone in a crowd looks like people I know. Peple I work with are used to me mixing them up... but I see the other person that they barely resemble if I've only glanced at em.
Anyway, my advice is get a good eye test, and get your glasses fited by an experienced optician, in person so thay can check measurements etc.
If your KC is mild/moderate and the degree is astigmatism is not too wavy, then it's worth giving glasses a go. Glass tech has got much better and is improving all the time.
You're looking at a couple of hundred quid for the ultra light glass. It actually costs more for glasses than NHS Contacts but no fluids, no bad eye days, or on your nbad eyes days you can probably still function.
One tip though get solid dark frames as groping for them when you put em down can take ages, and I found the contrasting frames much better as my previous pair were rimless, I must have wasted hours..... sometimes fingertiup searching if I was on my own
Tam
Allergic to loads you only have to ask but be prepared to be bored!
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Andrew MacLean
- Moderator
- Posts: 7703
- Joined: Thu 15 Jan 2004 8:01 pm
- Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
- Vision: Other
- Location: Scotland
My specs are expensive mostly because of the ocmplex lens.
I could have one made of standard material, but it would resemble the proverbial beer bottle bottom. I choose to have Zeiss lenses (not made of the most dense and therefore thinnest material, but the next one down). This means that my specs are not too heavy on my nose.
Sadly, the other lens has to be the same material but without any optical value. Since I started wearing glasses in September last year I have spent over £1500 on specs. I just look forward to the day when my prescription stabilizes for both reading and distance glasses.
Andrew
I could have one made of standard material, but it would resemble the proverbial beer bottle bottom. I choose to have Zeiss lenses (not made of the most dense and therefore thinnest material, but the next one down). This means that my specs are not too heavy on my nose.
Sadly, the other lens has to be the same material but without any optical value. Since I started wearing glasses in September last year I have spent over £1500 on specs. I just look forward to the day when my prescription stabilizes for both reading and distance glasses.
Andrew
Andrew MacLean
Some good news. I visited a local optician who said they could provide me complete pair of spectacles for £85. I received them on Saturday. I was amazed at the vision i got with the glasses as it was almost the same as my RGPs for my right eye (not as advanced KC wise as my left). The optician said my sight was above the legal driving limit. Have worn the glassses all weekend and has been such a great feeling!!
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Andrew MacLean
- Moderator
- Posts: 7703
- Joined: Thu 15 Jan 2004 8:01 pm
- Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
- Vision: Other
- Location: Scotland
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