Blind spot

[muckefuck]

I admit that it's my own piss-poor planning which has transformed a mere annoyance into a personal crisis.

I hate getting new glasses. Any large purchase (i.e. over $100) is a source of inordinant anxiety for me. Three things make buying eyeglasses especially detestable:

1. Ubiquity. They're the one piece of apparel I wear all the time, everywhere. If I buy a winter coat I end up disliking (and I did), well, at least it's not winter all the time and, even when it is, I'm inside more often than not anyway. But they only time I'm not wearing my glasses is when I'm in bed asleep.
2. Insurance. Medical insurance is involved. Whenever that's the case, the whole deal is at least two to three times more obnoxious than it would be otherwise.
3. Bargains. Sales offers on spectacles are all around; I'm bombarded by them on television, in the post, sometimes even just walking down the street (it's obscene how many optical shops there are around). I get the feeling that I could save a lot of money if I were willing to do a bit of research and exploration to find the best ones; moreover, the consumer baggage from my mother makes me feel like I'm being an absolute shmuck if I don't find the best deal possible.

The end result is that I'd rather get a cavity filled by the dentist than visit an optician. Any day. The corollary is that it takes an emergency to get me into a vision centre.

Today, as I was cleaning my lenses, the frame snapped in two. Right next to the lens, too, so it took me 20 minutes to electrical tape them together in a way that they wouldn't immediately fall off my face. (My steadily worsening eyes and procrastination in getting new glasses means that the old ones are (1) impossible to locate on short notice and (2) hopelessly out-of-date anyway.) I phoned into work, but no one checked the machine until twenty minutes after I arrived, so my student worker was left confused. Then we had a departmental meeting that lasted twice as long as I expected.

I called opticians about getting the frames repaired temporarily, but they all told me to see a jeweller about getting them soldered. The jewellers told me to find a jewellery repair specialist. The first specialist was closed, so I walked a mile to the next one. After waiting ten minutes for him to finish with a walk-in who had bought a watch online and was too idiotic to RTFM, I showed him the problem and he immediately said, "I can't solder this; the metal is too soft. I'd need a laser. You should talk to an optician."

I'm too big to cry. I calmly strode out, crossed the street, and surrendered myself to the healing powers of katsu don and top-notch negitoro. In a couple hours, I'll put myself in the hands of a ophthalmologist, settle for whatever lenses are in stock, and pick out a pair of frames which I don't really like but feel I can live with until they in turn break apart six years from now.

Comments

[gopower.livejournal.com]

Not exactly a recommendation since I was not happy with the eyeglasses I ended up with, but Lenscrafters does have a 30-day satisfaction guarantee period in which you can exchange glasses you are unhappy with because of either style or function.

I did notice that the staff was quite a bit less happy about the guarantee after I exercised it the second time. Had I been less indecisive (about bifocals vs. reading glasses) I would have had time to give it a third go-around.

I was surprised to see them just chuck the returned pairs into the charity bin, $300 frames and all. I thought they would just dissassemble them and re-sell.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I wish you hadn't told me this. Part of me knows that a thirty-day guarantee is simply a way of dragging out the pain longer. (Last time I took advantage of these, when buying a new mattress, I spent too much and still ended up with something I dislike.) But now part of me will feel like a dupe if I go ahead with my Pearle appointment and then don't like what I ended up with.

I'd say "Fuck it all" and get lasik, but I reflect on the up-front anxiety of picking a provider for that procedure and wonder how I'd ever survive it.

[bunj.livejournal.com]

If your eyes are anything like mine (and genetics say they might be), you won't be eligible for lasik. My corneas were too thin for the amount of correction I'd need. The helpful doctor told me to come back in two years, when the technology might be better.

If you are interested, I can dig up the doctor's card. The exam was free and the place was recommended by coworkers of -e who were able to get the surgery.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

What's your amount of correction? You started wearing glasses earlier, so I always assumed it's worse than mine, but maybe I've caught up with you.

[parisgreen.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I'm in much the same situation right now, and I similarly hate it. (I accidentally flushed my glasses down the toilet.) Fortunately, I mostly only need them for TV/movies and driving, so I've been delaying doing anything about it, but I'm starting to get headaches.

It took me nearly an hour just to figure out how to log onto the vision care website to find covered providers and figure out how the coverage works. (In the end I had to call them, because I had the wrong ID number.)

I've given up on sales. Last time, I bought what seemed to me to be an insanely expensive (designer) pair, because they were the ones that looked the best.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Same here. In the end, I just called the optometrist and asked if they took my insurance. None of the websites would tell me anything until and I registered and, when I tried to register, they rejected my number!

I guess I'll need to get this fixed soon, but, Lord, not today!

[parisgreen.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, maybe I can actually help you. I don't know which school you work for. If you're a state employee, and have EyeMed, it turns out the card does not have the ID number. It's really just your SS# (which galls me), plus a couple of digits added at the end. I don't know the code for the added digits though. Their phone service is annoying too. You have to tell them twice that yes, you really do want a live person. But once you get one, they're fine. In our part of the world, they also seem to cover just about everybody.

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

I like the eye doctor and glasses place I go to (in Lincoln Park). They did the best job on correction than anybody in my life. Other docs tend to overcorrect my nearsightedness (which is minor) and not worry enough about my astigmatism (which is worse than my nearsightedness.)

My health insurance doesn't cover eyeglasses, but the costs are reasonable.

[sconstant.livejournal.com]

I hate the optician because after twelve thousand times glancing in a mirror and saying "do I look good in these frames?" I start instead asking "why does my face look like that?" At least when I'm wearing them, I don't have to look at them.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

What I find especially perverse is that I have to pick the frames without benefit of eyesight correction. Do I look good in these? How the hell should I know? Every face looks bizarre from two fucking inches away.

[gopower.livejournal.com]

Even worse when they send you out to pick frames after dilating your pupils. I was lucky I could see the wall holding all the frames.

[mollpeartree.livejournal.com]

Yes! I basically have no idea what I bought until I go to pick them up and can put them on.

[niemandsrose.livejournal.com]

It's easier to get over the "bargain" hangup if you think of them like shoes. (Granted, I have no idea how you thing about shoes.) Just like with shoes, glasses are about finding something that's comfortable, finding a general style category you love, and *then* comparison shopping.

Honestly, if you have to wear them all the time, it's worth getting something you love, not something you'll hate every day or merely tolerate.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

And, like shoes, it's unreasonable not to have more than one good pair at a time. Obviously, it's an expense I'm going to have to be less pound-foolish about.

(Of course, I absolutely loathe shopping for shoes, too, for similar reasons.)