Well, Zenni Optical is joining the ranks of the high tech, and is now coating their eyeglasses lenses with the oleophobic coating. Pretty neat!!! I don’t know about you, but my eyeglasses get filthy, especially during the summer when it’s hot and humid. I am out in the garden under the hot sun, or ripping apart walls in the house and my glasses always seem spotted or speckled with fingerprints and dirt. I think having a coating that protects the lenses from dust and dirt is amazing. Zenni is offering the oleophobic coating on glasses with free shipping on orders over $50.

The oleophobic coating also helps reduce glare and reflections. My eyes are sensitive to such things, so the next pair of glasses I get from Zenni will have the new high-tech coating. It’s just another great reason to shop eyeglasses at Zennis– we all know that such a coating would cost $100 or more at the retail eyeglasses store.

I’ve had my Zenni Optical glasses for several months now. They are really terrific. I am looking forward to my next eye exam (can you believe it?! me looking forward to the exam?!) so I can get anew prescription and a new pair of fancy glasses. I’m very, very pleased with Zenni. Check them out if you need glasses.

First, a little background:

Last year, I got a pair of the store-bought eyeglasses from a local retailer. The glasses cost $250 (*faint*), some of which was paid by my health insurance (a measly $40). But the new glasses started to corrode after NINE MONTHS of use. The finish was peeling off and the metal was turning green! The frames themselves had cost me $80 there, on SALE! When I went in to get replacement glasses, the eye doctor place told me I would have to fork out another $100, to replace the frames with the exact replica of the old (so that I could keep the existing lenses without having to pay in full for them again). I was flabbergasted. It hadn’t even been a year! There’s no guarantee? And why were such expensive glasses starting to fail?! And if I had to ordered the exact same frames, they’d just fail again! The eye doctor shrugged me off and told me that these frames were not made with stainless steel but some other “cheaper” metal (stainless steel doesn’t corrode). I asked why the eye doc never told me that when I ordered them?! She didn’t know what to say.

The Old Glasses. You can see the corrosion and tinges of green on the rims. They looked even worse on my face!

So I went to Zenni. I found that I could get brand new eyeglasses and lenses for under $75. I did a little fact-checking and sifted through Zenni’s frames. I ordered totally new glasses– lenses and frames– from Zenni.

Here’s my experience:

I got my prescription and my pupillary distance from my eye doctor (from an exam from last year. I scrupulously saved the tiny paper!). You have to have both measurements to order glasses– the pupillary distance is the measurement of the space between your two pupils. Zenni has some information on how to measure yours by yourself (and I received a small ruler when I got my glasses in the mail). I guess I am glad I got it from the “expert” doctor, because like I said, I am sensitive to the tiniest alteration in my glasses.

So after sifting through tons and tons of frames, I settled on a pair of plastic frames (I’ve had the metal frames for about 10 years now, and wanted a change). They were large, very wide circles. I wondered what Zenni would do. I guess I was testing them. You see, all my eye doctors had told me that I cannot buy large frames, because my lenses are so thick that my vision would be distorted. But I actually hate those teeny-tiny frames. I want big ones. So I ordered them, seeing what Zenni would do.

Zenni emailed me the next day. They said that because of my prescription, I could not have such large frames. They gave me some suggestions for smaller frames. I was very sad but I was pleased with Zenni for taking the time to inspect my order closely and give me advice. So…. I sifted through the frames again and ordered a smaller size. I waited three weeks for the glasses (I think they come from Hong Kong!). My total cost was $71 and some change. The frames were only $25 but the lenses were pricey and I had to get the “high index” feature or the glasses would be so heavy they’d squash my nose.

When I got them, they were in a simple bubble-wrap mailer envelope. Not a box. Hm. Well, I opened the envelope and the glasses were inside a super-thick plastic shell case. They were fine and survived the shipping. Zenni does allow you to return glasses if they are broken or are not the right prescription. But it would have been awful to wait another 3 weeks for glasses if they’d been broken….

The Zenni Optical Glasses.

Anyway, I unpacked them. When I first saw them, I thought …. OK, these are funky…. It’s difficult to tell what the frames look like online versus what you eventually get. The Zenni website has an “online” facial thing where you can virtually try on glasses. You can even upload your own photo, but I had a lot of trouble getting my profile picture the right size. The glasses looked either too large or too small on my photo.

Inspecting the new glasses, I thought the color would be lighter and the frames a little less thick. It was a radical change from the lightweight, gold-rimmed metal glasses I’d been wearing. Remember me ranting about the glasses fad toward Drew Carey goggles a while back? Yeah, these are Drew-Carey-ish. I put them on and immediately I thought “geek.” Which isn’t too bad… I AM a geek. (See my tech blog, TheOlderGeek.com about that). My husband liked them and thought they looked good. I was unsure, but I will say that I am ALWAYS unsure when I get a new pair of glasses. So I decided to just WEAR them and look radically different and see how they were for me.

Geeks R Us. lol

I am very pleasantly surprised with these glasses!!! Yeah, I look like a geek. But I can see clearly with them and I think I see better with these than the store-bought eyeglasses that cost me THREE TIMES more. I have been wearing these glasses for weeks (maybe months, by now) and I love the glasses. I think the quality is superior to the store-bought kind.

So there you have it. I am very impressed with Zenni and I will definitely be ordering from them when I need a new set. I was floored that Zenni so adeptly handled my high prescription.

Now, yeah, I’m getting small compensation to mention Zenni in this post. They did not ask me to write a review, just to mention them. They did not pay for my glasses nor did I get any discount. I paid full Zenni price for my glasses, just like you would. So know that my review and my opinions are completely mine and I am not influenced by any compensation. It was kind of scary at first, spending so much on a pair of VERY important glasses and not knowing what I’d get. I had read up on Zenni, reading some of the reviews and seeing what some people liked and disliked about their experience. You can imagine my delight that the glasses are great. I am just amazed that Zenni was able to do such a high prescription so well without ever seeing me. I am impressed. But next time, I’m not going with the Drew Carey geek glasses… I hope to choose something a bit more feminine, if I can.

Thanks for reading!

Did you know that there’s a better way? Yep, you can get inexpensive prescription eyeglasses or even sunglasses at Zenni Optical. They’re in the news all the time, because Zenni offers glasses at prices so low it gets media attention. That, an bloggers have been mentioning them so much that the media HAS to listen. :D Score another for the pajamahadeen.

Anyway, Zenni was reviewed by another columnist (this time, at the Journal News). Zenni cuts out the middle man, high shipping charges and other costs. This enables Zenni to offer eyeglasses very inexpensively. In order to get glasses from Zenni, you will need the details of your prescription, available from your eye doctor.

If you’ve been wondering about how to save some money, Zenni has some answers. Inexpensive answers! :D

I can’t remember the time we ever had insurance from an employer… oh wait, I think I remember. For about a year, my husband got a family health plan for us from one employer who offered it. That was… hm maybe 19 years ago…

We’ve been on insurance offered from New York State, on and off, for a few years. They are rather wacky the way they tabulate it, though. If you’re self-employed, they go by LAST year’s income tax return. So if you had a good year last year but this year is terrible– sorry, no insurance for the entire year.

For employed folks, the state looks at monthly pay stub data. So if you had a great month and made more than is required– sorry, no insurance for the entire year.

And don’t even GET ME GOING about customer service!! (or the lack thereof). The missing paperwork, the dropped recertification files, the terrific lack of medical professionals who take state insurance, the low-quality care, etc etc…. If even the states can’t get their insurance quality straight, I tremble should the feds take over!

Anyway… the kids need new eyeglasses, and mine just about blow off my head when I see the retail prices. $200 for a PAIR of glasses?! For FOUR children and TWO adults?? and that doesn’t include the exam?!

Well, thank God there’s an alternative. Zenni Optical sells eyeglasses. Nice ones, too! They have been featured by various news shows, Clark Howard, and a very thorough review by Eric Hammer of Examiner.com. Eric’s review is very “eye opening,” hee hee. My husband actually bought glasses from Zenni several years back, and he’s still wearing them.

Zenni Optical has incredibly low prices. Some eyeglasses are $6! The ones I like are right around $20. That is a far cry from the $200 price tag at the retailer. I have heard really good things from Zenni, so it looks like we’ll be getting our glasses there. If you need some specs and don’t want to go bankrupt, check Zenni Optical. :D

I have a frugal tip for you, even Clark Howard loves it– check out ZenniOptical for low-cost prescription glasses. You can save a ton of money. ZenniOptical is an entire eyeglasses store online, featuring top-notch frames with affordable lenses. They have recently created a new feature to make buying eyeglasses a little easier: it’s called the Try On feature. You can upload your photo and virtually try on different eyeglass frames! It’s kind of fun to play with, too, lol.

ZenniOptical just lowered prices, too, from $8 to $6.95. The frames are nice! Maybe I’m getting funky in my old age, but I loved these frames. LOL, they are so cool! I once had red ones very similar, and loved them. Of course, I’d purcahsed those at an optician where I paid through the nose for them. :-p Not anymore!

Check out ZenniOptical. You are sure to find some very beautiful and fashionable frames that are AFFORDABLE as well. Zenni offers all kinds of lenses, too– single, bifocal, etc. ZenniOptical is devoted to helping people afford eyeglasses. Check them out!

Over the weekend, I did some research for an Eye Health Guide and such, and I found a few videos showing cataract surgery. It’s totally unbelievable, totally. The videos are NOT for the weak of heart or stomach, I warn you. I won’t post the video here- it is *pretty* intense. But if you are brave, you can check it out here. I forced myself to watch it (parts 1 and 2). The surgery is amazing, but it made me feel pretty queasy every once in a while. And during the procedure, they kept squirting this saline solution or something into the eye as they worked on it. I kept wondering why they did that, and then it hit me: Oh yeah, the eye will dry out; they are simulating a person’s blinking. Apparently, they have to keep applying a special sterile saline solutions for eyes.

The doctor who did the video has snappy 80s music playing in the background. :blink: It’s a tad disconcerting. I don’t know about you, but if a surgeon was working on MY eye, I would not like him bee-bopping and Rick-Rollin’ to a punky 80s song. But the surgery is truly amazing.

In case you didn’t know, cataract surgery involves removing the lens of the eye, because it has become cloudy. It’s a common ailment among older people, they say. In order to remove the lens, the surgeon makes a slit in the cornea, inserts a tiny vacuum cleaner, and slurps up all the cloudy gunk in the lens. He then inserts an artificial lens (I have actually seen such a lens at the doctor’s office- they are tiny!). The artificial lens looks like a hurricane– it’s round with a swirling arm on the top and a swirling arm on the bottom. The doc plugs the emptied lens with the artificial lens, and patches up the corneal slit. Recovery is usually a few weeks.

EW EW EW!!!!! It’s amazing but disgusting.

I am rather sensitive to this right now. My eye has a huge Weiss ring floater that is affecting my vision. I can no longer drive at night, and looking at the computer for long periods of time is painful. My opthamologist has warned me that I may need artificial lenses in a few years or so because I am so severely myopic…. but I am not very eager to get any. What I need is new eyeballs. I don’t think any doctor can give me that. I need God to heal me. :D And I believe I will get new vision, either in this life or the one to come. Watching these videos just makes me more determined to want God to take care of my eyes. There’s just something so creepy about a stranger poking metal sticks into your eye that is very repulsive….

I’ve heard so much about Zenni Optical that I think I am finally going to go with them this time (lowest prices are $8 for glasses!!!). My main problem is getting that “PD,” or Pupillary Distance measurement. I can get my vision prescription just fine, but Zenni needs the PD, which is a little trickier to extract from reluctant optometrists (who seem to KNOW that you are going to take your business elsewhere). Some optometrists are charging for the service… and certainly that is their prerogative. But I would think that the PD would be a part of the package for the eye exam. I mean, the optometrist isn’t selling the glasses– the kiosk in his office is (for prices close to extortion, imho). What does he care where I get my glasses? Isn’t it important that I get SOMETHING since I NEED glasses and since he is concerned about my vision??

Well, some optometrists are more concerned about their bottom line (and pride). Zenni points to a forum where some eye doctors are complaining about patients asking for PDs. The doctors are ganging up together to stop this “online eyeglasses plague” that’s cutting in to their bottom line. One doctor told the story of how he dealt with such an “online eyeglasses seeking” patient: the patient came into his office, asking how much an exam was. The doc somehow just KNEW that this was an “online eyeglasses person,” and told the patient that the office doesn’t charge anything for an exam *snicker snicker this will show him*. The doc said he schemed to keep this patient in his office for as long as possible, to teach this guy a “lesson.” After the complete eye test (which lasted over 45 minutes), the patient asked for the prescription, and the doctor refused. He said that the eye exam is free, but the prescription is is not free unless the patient buys eyeglasses from the office. The patient was angry and left, empty-handed as planned, in a huff. Hoh hoh hoh, did that smart doc pull a fast one on that patient, hoh hoh! His colleagues almost “died laughing” when they heard how shrewd this doc was with those “Internet people,” YEAH!

:blink: Um, who cheated who? That patient lost 45 minutes of time for an extended appointment, but the eye doctor lost 45 minutes of his precious professional time AND exam office space. Not to mention that his forum post was riddled with spelling errors (it’s “colleagues” not “collegues,” Dr. Smarty, and it’s “laughing,” not “laughting”) and his story has suspicious errors in it (he called the patient a man at the beginning of the story, but then said that “she” complained that her 45 minutes has been wasted). Hmmm.

Anyway, I don’t care if I have to pay for a PD. $30 isn’t bad, especially in light of $250 for glasses! Sheesh!

I don’t see why this who situation needs to become a war between doctors and patients. SOME patients DON’T HAVE insurance, and SOME patients can’t or won’t pay extorting prices for necessary eyeglasses! Is that so hard to understand?!

I think what I will probably do is go ahead and do the insurance musical chairs– get the prescription from the one doc, go to the local eyeglasses place and get eyeglasses, and then save the prescription and PD measuring information for ordering eyeglasses at Zenni’s. I will then give a full-fledged review of Zenni Optical and the eyeglasses. My vision is a sensitive 20/1000, so I’m obviously VERY fussy about my eyeglasses. I’m going to take a very “hard look” and compare the store-bought with Zenni’s.

I went to the eye doctor last week. My main purpose was to get a new pair of prescription eyeglasses. I’ve had my current ones for about 6 years now, and they are all beat up and scratched. I have a pretty strong prescription, so I know they are expensive… but my insurance has always been able to pay for them. Until this last visit.

??? My eye doctor takes my insurance, but then the eye glasses folks in his office tell me that they do NOT take my insurance. What the?! I thought this whole thing is a package deal, ykwim? I don’t just *love* going to doctors, you know. It’s pretty much a means to an end– the end being new glasses, in this case.

So the lady at the desk looked at my prescription and said, “That’ll be $170 for the lenses, and you can choose the frames. They are anywhere from $80 to $150 dollars.”

$250 for glasses?!
:Jawdrop:
That’s INSANE! Every year?! And with my lifestyle, these expensive new glasses would only be scratched and busted up in a few months! I find it unconscionable that eye glasses are so expensive. What a racket. What kind of profit do these places make, 2000% return?!

OK, rant over. I have an answer. Zenni Optical. I have heard about them everywhere. My husband tried them a few years ago, but I haven’t yet (because I had to get a prescription from an eye doctor first). I think I am going to try them out. I’ll do a full-fledged review when I do.

Zenni Optical’s glasses are so cheap because they eliminate the middle men and do everything themselves. The catch is that you have to a.) get your prescription, and b.) get your eyes measured for glasses (called the Pupillary Distance). The prices are SO low– $8 in many cases– that it’s no problem if the insurance doesn’t cover it. And I’m very tired of the constant hassle with insurance issues, anyway….

I don’t understand why retail eyeglasses are charging so, so much money for eyeglasses! And who would pay $250 for glasses when you can get them for $8?! In our increasingly Do-It-Yourself economy, it’s really a smart thing to do. Check out Zenni Optical, read their Information pages, and tell me what you think.

Zenni Optical is able to keep the costs low by eliminating the expensive middle man. They also don’t offer the pricey and expensive designer frames (always a bane of mine– I want to SEE with my glasses, not wear the same glasses as Sophia Loren, grrrr!), just the basic, hardy, simple frames. Nice. I’m a simple gal with simple tastes and I do like Zenni’s selection of frames. They do have “Leading Edge” designs and Women’s and Men’s fashions, but they are not extravagant. And you cannot beat the price.

With Zenni, you must have your prescription, and you must know your pupilary distance number, which can be obtained by asking your optician. I think the eyeglasses are incredibly priced, and Zenni offers extra features such as anti-glare coating, bifocals, goggles, and etc. You really don’t have anything to lose– the glasses are so inexpensive and shipping is $4.95, flat fee. If you’re looking to save some money in these frugal times, take a peek at Zenni Optical.