New prescription and glasses

[taxine.livejournal.com]

Well, I ruined my glasses(not just sitting on them this time), and my prescription expired years ago, plus my eyes have changed anyhow.
Catch is, I have no insurance whatsoever. So I need the absolute cheapest place to get my eyes checked and get glasses. I have astigmatism, it that changes anything.
I did check the "eye care" tag but the closest hit was from 2009, and I feel like plenty of places have likely changed in 3 years.
Anything in Davis, Arlington, or Cambridge is ideal.

My other question is, how much can I expect this to be? The last time I got glasses I was a teenager and on my parents' insurance, so I have no idea what a fair price even is...

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[jesseh.livejournal.com]

Definitely get the glasses online -- I think Zenni is cheaper, but I liked the selection at Coastal Contacts more -- hang on to your old frames, so you know the measurements for picking new ones. I don't know how much the doctor's appt would be.

[rozasharn.livejournal.com]

I got an eye exam, prescription, and new lenses made to fit my existing glasses at Custom Eyes in Central Square. Two years ago, about $350 for the whole thing. I have astigmatism too.

[chantalzola.livejournal.com]

When I didn't have insurance as a kid, my mom would take me to the eye place at BJs, which was like Costco. Does your local BJs/Coscto have glasses? Is there a med school by you? If there is, call them and see if they have an optometry department and if they do appointments on a sliding scale, etc. A lot of schools, NYU as an example, do that.

ETA: I'm an ass, I didn't see what community this was posted in. There are definitely med schools by you, haha.

ETA2: And I know you in real life, haha. Wow. My reading comprehension is utter fail tonight.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I know contact prescriptions expire, but I didn't think you had to worry about the ones for glasses.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Most places will insist on something two years old or younger.

[taxine.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll look at both of those.

[taxine.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that's more than I thought it would be, but I guess it makes sense when you include it all, thanks!

[taxine.livejournal.com]

Ha! When I saw this pre-edit I was like..."you know where I live!"

The funny thing is, I thought of BJ's/Costco too, but there aren't any too easily accessible by T, and I need the glasses pretty much solely to drive, so I can't borrow a car to go really. Total glasses fail.

[taxine.livejournal.com]

Maybe it depends on the place? I managed to find a very old prescription from when I was 11 that had an expiration date on it(I've never been fitted for contacts in my life, so it was a glasses one)

[chantalzola.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I've even been there! Man, I need to get more sleep. We should get together soon! On the weekend though (my job often keeps me over time. God I hate it). I don't know if you work on the weekends or not?

Yeah, there's no BJs/Costco around here that I can get to. Lame. What about Target? I don't remember. They might have an eye department if it's a Super Target. I know Walmart does... In Florida. Haha. One of the bad things about living around here is that nothing cheap is T accessible. I don't get it!

With insurance, my current eye stuff came to about $200, but I have REALLY bad eyesight and had to have all of this special crap done to my glasses just to make them wearable. I vaguely remember it being $250 without insurance. I need to get a new prescription as well. With my current insurance, I might as well not have insurance, it's so bad. Boo Mass Health Bronze =(

[taxine.livejournal.com]

I work all weekend, every weekend. :( I typically only go out now when it's like 2pm on a weekday, ha. Life of a cafe worker sucks... I guess let me know if you're around a weekday afternoon though!

I think the closest Super Target is in Everett or Woburn, which isn't easy to get to either. It's ridiculous.

I would happily take Mass Health at this point, the closest thing I've got are prescription discount cards for Walgreens.

[chantalzola.livejournal.com]

Will do. i work out of Quincy (puke) some of the days and the Copley Mall the other days. I'm pretty sure you had a job at the place I currently work. And didn't like it. I can't wait until I find a new job, then I'm going to do the most dramatic 'Fuck You, I quit!' that I can, haha. I dream of this.

Yeah, I didn't think there was one that is T accessible =( Does Tufts do any sliding scale stuff? I would call their optometry department and see. They might.

Problem with Mass Health is that I pay the copay, etc. and then I get a huge bill weeks later. Also some of my prescriptions are the same price as it is without insurance. One of my meds alone is $163. It's freaking ridiculous. There's got to be a better option =( I don't get why I pay every month, only to be charged the same as if I didn't have insurance.

[taxine.livejournal.com]

BMCHP? Yeah, I hated it, but I hate all offices, so I'm not a good judge.

That fucking sucks about your Mass Health, but I'm guessing the real benefit is not getting penalized for not having insurance at all(as I will be, ugh)

[chantalzola.livejournal.com]

No, a financial company. I think they bought the offices from BMCHP. They've pretty much taken over the mall.

That's true. I do pay less than I would if I were penalized (we did the math, heh). I find the penalty so ridiculous. Most people who don't have insurance, don't have it because they can't afford it. So you're going to make them PAY????

[taxine.livejournal.com]

Oh, ugh. Even worse than BMCHP, maybe...

I got rejected for Mass Health, and I have to find out more stuff to find out if I qualify for CC instead. I've been going through that mess since December.

[chantalzola.livejournal.com]

That's another thing, insurance companies won't cover everyone. So you're going to punish people for trying and being denied???? I don't get it. I don't get why our system is supposed to be like, the 'model' for other states. It fucking sucks.

It's so horrible. I actually burst into tears on a conference call the other day.

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

I bought this groupon (http://www.groupon.com/boston/deals/new-england-eye-1) for glasses before I realized my insurance would pay for them. If you want it, I'd be happy to sell it to you! It basically amounts to $150 off one pair of glasses.

[taxine.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna try as suggested above and see what schools offer, and sliding scale payment places, but if that fails I'll see if they have anything I'd like, thanks for the offer!

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that when I bought glasses from Zenni Optical they didn't require a date on the prescription.

OP - you should be able to get yourself a pair of glasses online for under $20.

[lunarcamel.livejournal.com]

When I was insuranceless, I went to "New England Eye" (http://www.newenglandeye.org/) in Allston. They're affiliated with an optometry school (BU? Don't remember) and they operated on a sliding scale. Take a book, and expect it to take a few hours, but I had good experiences even though they're kind of slow (they're all residents).

Please avoid Brattle Square Optical. I made the mistake of not asking ahead of time what his charges were, and he ended up charging me twice what I've ever paid - $300 for a contact lens fitting (the absolute most expensive fitting I've ever had - and I wear hard lenses - was $150), and he charged me $200 PER CONTACT LENS (they're typically around $100). So heads up on that. Good luck.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

I anti-recommend BJ's -- I got glasses there once, ended up damaging my vision and had to go to my HMO's ophthalmologist to get a second, correct pair. :\

[livingadream.livejournal.com]

If you can get there, Target in Woburn has an optical service. Not sure how much it would be without insurance, but it was pretty affordable and they're always running deals for glasses.

[ckd]

The Costco in Everett is...well, not super accessible but doable. (T to Wellington, #97 bus to Gateway Center.)

[avjudge]

Depends on how well you walk. It's not a fun walk, but Costco is about a mile from Wellington, out the drive to Revere Beach Parkway, across the Malden River, then into the shopping center. There is a bus there from Wellington (I don't know its schedule, I just see it there - just checked, it's #97), but it's probably faster to walk unless your timing is really lucky.

(At least that's what I find in general, living in the middle of Somerville, a mile and a bit from Davis - definitely faster on average to walk to Davis than to fiddle with buses!)

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

ZenniOptical.com is good, as is Firmoo.com. And as a first-time buyer at Firmoo, you could get one pair for only the cost of shipping (http://www.firmoo.com/free-glasses.html) right now. The thing to remember about buying your glasses online is that you need to know your pupillary distance measurement, so be sure to ask for that when you get examined. Once you know that and your actual prescription, you can get one or more pairs of glasses for really cheap. Oh, and it'll take at least a few days for them to arrive, so it might not be a bad idea to get a pair someplace local first, then get the others from online as backup.

For Eyes (http://www.foreyes.com/) in Harvard Square is another T-accessible place to look, and they have a sale going on right now -- 1 pair for $29 and 2 for $49. Click through the link on that main page for the coupon, which you'd need to take with you to the store.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I think most brick&mortar places will want something recent, though. The online places (at least when I was buying contacts) made noises about requirements, but you could just enter info and make up a doctor's name and they never actually checked.

Or so I hear.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I just bought glasses at SEE in Harvard Square. They had lots of pairs for about $150 for frames AND lenses TOTAL, assuming you have single-vision glasses (astigmatism is still w/in single vision... that just means not progressive lenses/bi-focals). I had been looking at Perelli Optical in Porter and several others around the area, and everythign was more like $150 +++ for *just* the frames. I don't know what the exam would be though, since I do have insurance.

You don't have to get your glasses and your exam at the same place, though, which is useful.

Good luck.

[molyflogs.livejournal.com]

Cohen's (there's one in the Galleria) has $29 eye exams with a coupon you print off their website. Here's the link: http://www.cohensfashionoptical.com/coupons.php

Their glasses tend to be pricey, and you can't use a coupon on those if you use one on an eye exam, but they have to give you your prescription, so you can just take that elsewhere for a good deal. It looks like For Eyes has the best deal going on now, with $29 for one pair or $49 for 2: http://www.foreyes.com/onsale/coupons.html

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

people will yell at me for this suggestion, but Walmart and Target both have really reasonable priced glasses that are reasonable quality, my last pair was around 180 and I have astigmatism (which doesn't change the price on glasses, just contacts). Their in house eye doctors are also not bad (And independent) The eye appointment generally is around 80 dollars most places. And I certainly could have gotten cheaper glasses there, but I wanted a pair I liked.

Online there are some great deals as well, eyebuydirect.com is reputable, I get my prescription sunglasses from there for 35 dollars.

Do not go to lenscrafter or one of those sort of places, they are super over priced.

Edit: Also, in terms of eye insurance, it's generally not worth it, the one my company offers (which is a big name one) only allows 1 pair of glasses every 2 years up to 150 dollars reimbursed, but it costs around 200 to pay for that insurance for those 2 years, and the eye appointment is covered through health insurance, so it's really dumb unless you have something really complicated going on with your eyes. I refused to take the coverage.

[madrigal.livejournal.com]

Another vote for For Eyes. There is a coupon on their website - $29 for 1 pair, $49 for 2.

[taerowyn.livejournal.com]

Zenni doesn't even need any doctor info, just the actual prescription. Bought my first pair from them last month and I'm a huge fan.

[trtls.livejournal.com]

Love zennioptical! This doesn't help with the appointment, however. Just don't get sucked in to crazy expensive glasses that are just like the ones on line. The only downside is you can't try them on. You can upload a picture of yourself, though. :)

[contradictacat.livejournal.com]

FWIW, in my experience, SEE hasn't been that good- I was looking for a place to get a pair of contacts, and while other eye doctors told me what the contact fitting was going to be, they didn't and it ended up running me 140$- 30$ more than the highest fee of another place. They also didn't have any sample contacts in stock (fine), told me it would take a week (fine), and two months later, I'm still waiting. Thank goodness I only wanted them for variety's sake, and not to actually see on a regular basis.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

http://www.cohensfashionoptical.com/coupons.php

its this sort of never ending $29 for a full eye exam thing with no obligation to buy anything else deal. There is a Cohens in Cambridgeside Galleria.

I then took that prescription, and bought things at zenni optical, firmoo and coastal contacts. You have been told about the others, but coastal will do a very nice high quality pair for shipping: http://www.coastal.com/firstpairfree

In addition, firmoo offers a first pair free. https://www.facebook.com/FirmooGlasses?sk=app_190322544333196

And if you are on facebook, they have a program (I want it free) that will let you get subsequent glasses for just shipping ($6.95); you select a pair of glasses, share it through their program app, and if enough of your friends *like* the shared pair, you get them for free. You can do it once a week, and my first pair gotten through this program arrived yesterday.

[ron_newman]

If the OP has a bicycle, this is a pretty short ride from Davis.

[artguychris.livejournal.com]

I'll second the cheap online places. I've bought several pairs at Zenni & eyebuydirect.com. Zenni is cheaper, but I liked the frames from EyeBuyDirect better. Anywhere from $30 for plastic frames to $75 for sunglasses. I figured I could mess up several times and still come out ahead compared to a local place.

Only bad experience I had was with photogrey/transitions style sunglasses from EyeBuyDirect. They didn't work at all in hot weather, but fine in cold weather.

You'll need a friend to measure your pupil distance. I'd also recommend measuring your current frames and comparing to frames you like on the websites to get an idea of how big they are.

Chris

[ionicaq.livejournal.com]

There is a BJs down the street from the Quincy Adams T station. Bit of a hike on the train, and a couple minute walk, but definitely accessible.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/bjs-wholesale-club-quincy

[sd210.livejournal.com]

Just make sure you don't buy your frames from this guy....this is a cautionary tale that makes you want to buy local!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/business/28borker.html?pagewanted=all (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/business/28borker.html?pagewanted=all)

[pipigao.livejournal.com]

I vote for Zenni Optical. From them I can always get what I need at very low prices. And do not have to worry about the quality. It will definitely surprise you.