Having worked at more than 30 different offices across various modalities in CA, I feel the need to reflect on observations I made from working in diverse settings. These include private practices, commercial chains, and probably one of the most unique locations was a flea market in Southern California.

Patients often ask our office why glasses or a prescription costs more here than from a commercial or online location. To properly address this question, we must delve into what entails a good set of glasses.

Just as you need a list of ingredients to bake a cake, you also need a checklist to consider when making a custom pair of glasses. There are 8 major points we must consider listed below. Some are major elements of glasses that play a key role in creating glasses, while others are more direct and technical. Together they meld into providing a patient with a tangible final product they use daily.

1.) Refraction – How good is the final prescription that you and the doctor picked out together? This is the most discussed element and we will analyze it in the most detail. Remember, this is a group effort, with the doctor guiding you based off your inputs (i.e., which is better, 1 or 2). If a pair of glasses is not working optimally, big box optical will tend to blame the doctor erroneously in many cases. This does not discriminate between their in-house doctor or an external doctor. Why is this? Maybe because the lack of experience, poor training, subpar sophistication and knowledge to troubleshoot most problems causes the workers to shift blame. It is much easier for them to blame the doctor than it is to figure out why their glasses do not provide good vision. Kicking the can down the road is faster with less paperwork and headache. Retail workers have ulterior motives for doing this also, as they are employed by the corporation and a remake rate that is too high could lead to a loss of employment.

Here at Citrus Heights Optometry, we think putting competency first and people over profit will always be the best way to treat patients. Deception and quotas do not belong in healthcare. Our sales staff has decades of experience and specialize in optometry; they do not bounce between different departments in the store. While our goal is to provide exceptional optical patient service, other stores require employees to work in multiple departments, and even lure patients in with cheap optical prices in hopes of the patient spending more money elsewhere in the big box store. Other times, only a single person at a big box store has any credentials on the sales floor. Other employees will use this person’s credentials in order to make sales, even though they are not qualified to do so. It is truly the blind leading the blind. Do you really know if the person who helped you was the credentialed one?

Online optical retailers are even worse. They may not even employ any opticians with credentials nor do they check most glasses before mailing them to patients. Studies have shown somewhere around 50% of glasses made online have major defects that would not pass an in-person inspection. We always recommend buying glasses at the same place you had your exam. What good is the best prescription in the world if the person filling it out is not skilled and does not consider the job they do an actual career?

2.) Lens designs – The cheaper the price, the more one-size-fits-all you will encounter. You will get options in this category while shopping at Citrus Heights Optometry. Many budget chains will claim they deliver the top design when the truth is their best is 20 levels below what is available to us in a private setting. Naturally, all this comes at a nominal cost. Every individual has unique needs, and this major cost-cutting and lack of variety leads to very subpar results and extreme frustration. Think of it like a school cafeteria versus a nice Michelin-star restaurant. If they were honest, they would admit they simply do not have the offerings other offices do. A patient in a high-end progressive will find difficulty in downgrading the top-shelf materials they previously enjoyed. It is hard going from a Bentley to a Hyundai.

3.) Material of lens and frames – Cheaper prices lead to optically inferior lens quality and frame material. You get what you pay for. Pay nice or pay twice.

4.) Base curve (BC) – Choosing a different base curve than what you are accustomed to in order to save money leads to visual discomfort. You would be shocked how many retail workers have no clue how to measure a BC. Oftentimes it does not matter since they don’t have access to all the product you need anyways. The only person who suffers is the patient who gets a set of glasses that sit in a drawer.

5.) Pupillary distance – This is the distance between your eyes and is a very important measurement. It is one of many measurements that need to be spot on. Online optical retailers obsess over this and have successfully duped the public into thinking it’s the main component of filling a good prescription, while ignoring all the other factors. Online retailers do not have opticians to verify measurements, troubleshoot, or provide the services needed to create a customized pair of glasses. Instead, they cut out the optician to save money, which may not be in anyone’s best interest as it then becomes guesswork by the patient.

6.) Face form – This measurement considers how glasses wrap around your face and is best measured in person. Experience, or lack thereof, shows up in this adjustment. Online glasses do not account for this at all and most discount retailers do not either.

7.) Tilt – The angle the glasses sit at promotes comfortable vision. The opposite of this is certainly true also. Many chains are reluctant to adjust this at all since their offerings are flimsy or the employees lack the experience to adjust this.

8.) Segment height – Wondering why your progressive glasses do not work? Many places have a standard segment height that they use, and this standard might not work for you. Don’t you think you deserve a perfect fit for your most precious sense? We certainly do. This is almost always measured wrong by online companies and big box optical uses an arbitrary standard which leads them to scratching their head and multiple remakes when it does not work for the patient. We think it should be done right the first time. Your time is valuable.

As you can appreciate now, there is often more than meets the eye when it comes to getting a good pair of glasses. Our office refuses to partake in omitting steps in the fitting process, as it leads to poor results and doesn’t align with our mission or vision as a company. Come see us so you can find out the difference yourself.