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Comment by Johnny555 | Hacker News Reader

My glasses cost $39 from one of the many online cheap glasses makers. So now I have more money to donate to the $1 glasses campaign :)

Last time I got glasses, I tried a test, I bought the $300 glasses from my eye doctor ("only" $200 after insurance), and I bought a pair of $39 glasses online. I found no difference between the two other than price (and the ones I bought online arrived by mail the day before the expensive pair was ready from my eye doctor).

And I bought a second pair of backup glasses for less than my eye doctor wanted for his "lens protection insurance".

Though admittedly, I have a simple, low-power prescription (< -3.0, no astigmatism), so your milage might vary with a more complex prescription.

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Last time I got a new prescription I asked them to include the PD number and they refused. They would only give that to me if I bought glasses through them. I couldn't even pay them for just the measurement (I suggested $10-$20).

It's easy enough to measure myself, so that's what I did.

My glasses were $45 and he said his costs were more than twice that. Where's all that money going?

To fuel the lie

>It's easy enough to measure myself

Do you have any recommendations about this? It's the kind of thing I'm a bit nervous about searching as I can see many, many ways I might accidentally read the optician equivalent of an anti-vaccination blog.

Here's a guide from one of the online glasses sellers:

http://www.zennioptical.com/measuring-pd-infographic

They sent me a free PD ruler (it has a slit in the middle so you can see your pupils and a notch in the middle to center it on your nose) with my glasses, but I just used a standard ruler the first time I measured, and got the same measurement when my glasses arrived and I used their ruler. I was off by 1 mm in one eye when I compared to my eye doctor's measurements. For my prescription, that's not very significant, but it might be for a stronger prescription.

You can buy a PD ruler for a dollar or two from eBay if you don't want to use a standard ruler.

The other comment measured the ruler that Zenni will send you. That's what I used.

> Last time I got a new prescription I asked them to include the PD number and they refused. They would only give that to me if I bought glasses through them. I couldn't even pay them for just the measurement (I suggested $10-$20).

Go to Walmart. Most have an optometrist on site (can check online) and you can take the prescription elsewhere to buy glasses online. Probably cheaper (for the "doctor" portion) than anywhere else around as well.

I presume you'll be finding a new optometrist for next time. I would have refused to pay, since they weren't giving the full service. In Australia the eye test is covered by Medicare, so if they refused to supply it you could complain to the government insurer and there would be trouble.

According to my optometrist, the PD measurement isn't part of the prescription. The prescription documents the lens, the PD is needed only for glasses.

My optometrist refused to do it. The ophthalmologist stormed out of his office, gave them a mean look, and did it for me.

If you're in the U.S. and this happens you can and should file a HIPAA complaint. Vision care providers are bound by HIPAA just like other medical providers and with few exceptions they are required to give you a copy of your protected health information (PHI) upon request, which includes your PD. The provider may require you to make the request in writing and may charge you a reasonable fee for e.g. the time it takes a worker to send you the information, and may take up to 30 days to fulfill the request. HHS.gov has a great factsheet and FAQ here: http://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/...

Edit: It turns out this varies—maybe. Here's a funny thread on an opticians' forum on the topic: http://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php/11990-Hipaa-q... They don't come up with much, but they sure don't like online retailers.

The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Optometry requires optometrists (not opticians) to enter PD on prescriptions at a patient's request, in which case it would be covered by HIPAA: http://www.mass.gov/ocabr/licensee/dpl-boards/op/regulations...

The New Jersey State Board of Optometrists, on the other hand, takes the opposite position: http://njpublicsafety.com/ca/faq/optfaqsII.htm#4b

In comments to the FTC the National Association of Optometrists and Opticians said it "agrees that patients and eyeglass consumers have the right to a copy of medical records, which will include the pupillary distance if that measurement has been taken by either the prescriber or the dispenser" (emphasis theirs) but takes no position on whether or not the measurement should be required. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_comments/2... (pp.12)

So... that settles nothing.

They didn't have my PD because they don't measure it until you are ordering glasses.

Ah, well, not much you can do about that, then.

Online glasses still come out to about $80 for me based on the requirements of my prescription, but yes, the markup that optical places charge is through the roof. Outlets like Zenni Optical are seriously giving local optometrists a run for their money, to the point where the industry is panicked over it.

"The industry" is mainly Luxottica[1], a company that controls the majority of the world glasses market - prescription and non, production and retail, and even (through a vision insurer) purchasing. There's a ton of "look at this horrible monopoly and how many damage they do!" type articles about.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica

I love to know if Luxottica has tried to buy Warby Parker.

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