Lost a little in the shuffle of cheap glasses tips is the possibility that, once you have a place to get your lens prescription filled, you may stop seeing your optometrist. After all, who cares if your prescription is a little old? Getting your glasses online means you don't have to suffer the hard-sell at your optometrist's office, right?

However, optometrists do far more than determine the prescription you require for corrective lenses. Their primary job is to ensure the health of your eyes. That's why they do so many different measurements and make you suffer through those dilating drops.

One analogy to consider is visiting your dentist. Most of us visit our dentist twice a year, as recommended, and love the feel of our teeth once the cleaning has been completed and all the accumulated tartar has been scraped off. But dentists do far more than that during the exam: they evaluate and monitor the health of your teeth and gums. Without this, cavities may grow unchecked and tooth decay may result in many complications.

(Disclosure: I'm married to an optometrist, so I've seen the variety of attitudes and misinformation that comes through the office, but I am not one myself (nor a dentist, for that matter).)

I use Zenni and I still go to my optometrist. I pay for an eye exam and then I take the prescription and buy online. If this short changes the optometrist because he relies on profit from glasses sales I am willing to pay more for an exam.

I've used 39dollarglasses.com before (but now that I know about Zenni, I'll have to check them out), and went through the hassle at the doctor's office to wheedle my prescription from him. He REALLY gave me a hard time. Well, that's too bad for him. All he did for me was "Is this clearer or this? One or Two? One? Or Two? A or B?" - which could have been done by a trained monkey. WORSE - that's ALL he did - he didn't seem enthused to see me, didn't feel like a "bedside manner" was necessary, and made me feel like a part going through a factory line. Why should I pay him hundreds of dollars just for him to tell me a few numbers? That's ridiculous! Yeah, yeah, he's a doctor. Yeah, yeah, he checked the "health" of my eyes. Big deal. I can have my regular doctor do that - all I went to the optometrist for was a new prescription.

ard_vrk:

I've used 39dollarglasses.com before (but now that I know about Zenni, I'll have to check them out), and went through the hassle at the doctor's office to wheedle my prescription from him. He REALLY gave me a hard time. Well, that's too bad for him. All he did for me was "Is this clearer or this? One or Two? One? Or Two? A or B?" - which could have been done by a trained monkey. WORSE - that's ALL he did - he didn't seem enthused to see me, didn't feel like a "bedside manner" was necessary, and made me feel like a part going through a factory line. Why should I pay him hundreds of dollars just for him to tell me a few numbers? That's ridiculous! Yeah, yeah, he's a doctor. Yeah, yeah, he checked the "health" of my eyes. Big deal. I can have my regular doctor do that - all I went to the optometrist for was a new prescription.

You just saw a crappy optometrist, change the eye doc you go to. Your regular doctor does not have the proper training to assess the health of your eyes, trust me I know. I'm an optometrist. I agree that mark up on glasses are high, I am not arguing that, but I've gone to plenty of doctors visits to my primary care docs through out the years whose "examined" my eyes and as an expert I KNOW he could see absolutely nothing. Don't short change your eye health, it may be an inconvenience, but ask yourself if you lost one of your senses, which would be the worse? 9/10 Vision. don't take it for granted

I think I'd be more likely to see my optometrist more often if glasses didn't cost so much.