The value of your glasses doesn’t only come from the materials they’re made out of. It’s easy to seek out discount options, don’t discount your optometrist and optician too quickly, though. It can feel like a lot when you look at the price tag at your local eye doctor’s office, and that’s because you are buying so much more than hunks of plastic.
Optometrists and opticians are doing more than you realize to provide you with the best vision solutions. What you get isn’t just a prescription, it’s a vision solution that takes into account fit, style, lifestyle, and your vision needs to keep your eyes healthy and your vision clear.
Below, we’ll break down all of the extra value your eye doctor gives you that you will miss out on if you seek out a discount pair of glasses.
Beyond the Prescription – Choosing Glasses
Your prescription tells you what type of correction your eyes need, which informs how your lenses are shaped. It does not take into account your lifestyle, however. Your lifestyle greatly determines the type of lens you need, the material, and any special features.
Beyond lifestyle, your optometrist and optician will also work with your budget, insurance, frame fit, and style that works with your face.
Adding Value Through Customer Service
We get it; taking your prescription to a discount option feels good. Yet, those options lose the expertise and support your local eye care practice offers. The entire staff starts working with patients from the moment they walk into the practice until they leave.
Lifestyle
Your optometrist and optician will work as a dynamic duo, similar to Adam West and Burt Ward in the 1960s, to find the best solutions for your lifestyle. If you spend a lot of time outdoors, they are going to recommend a completely different solution than if you sit at a computer all day, even if your prescriptions are the same. A great optometrist will start with a lifestyle questionnaire to help inform your exam.
Fit, Fashion, and Function
As one part of their role, opticians work with you to find the best fit and frame for your face. There are a lot of frame options out there, and they don’t all perform the same. For example, did you know that if you are in a progressive lens that you need a taller frame? Or that certain frames don’t fit certain face shapes and will constantly fall down, no matter the adjustments? Opticians are trained to work with you to make recommendations that will keep you loving your glasses until they need to be replaced.
Education from the Chair to Optical
You might hear optometrists talking about educating from the chair. This means they work with you to explain what lenses do, what they are recommending, and why. The difficult part about lenses is that the technology is invisible. Every year Apple makes tiny changes to how their phones appear so they look new, we can’t do that with lenses. A good lens is clear whether it costs $5 or $500, even though the visual acuity can be radically different.
An optometrist helps you navigate your complex options so that you understand the decisions they are making and prescribing. You should walk out feeling comfortable about your lens decision, something you can’t get online.
Expertise
We may have saved the most important one for last. Optometrists and opticians add value to your glasses through their expertise. They’ve spent their lives dedicated to the profession of helping people see their world better. They know how to take subtle nuances of your lifestyle and prescription and make a custom recommendation for you. These are things that took years to master, and you can’t get anywhere else.
This expertise is the true value, and it’s what means you see and experience your world better. It’s also what helps you sleep at night, knowing that the premium pair of glasses you just bought was well worth it.
Lean on Your Optometrist and Optician Team
Vision is a complex system, and you deserve the absolute best vision solutions. So next time it’s time to choose a new pair of glasses, consider the extra value your optometrist and optician offers you and work with them to find the best solution. There’s the added bonus of shopping local helps your community more than you might know.