Have You Ever Calculated How Much Money You’ve Spent On Glasses?
First, you need to get an eye test to ascertain your prescription. If you do not fit into one of the NHS categories that provide you with free eye tests, then you have to pay for an eye test. An eye test can cost as low as £24, but it can be considerably higher if you go to an Ophthalmologist. Either way, it’s a small price to pay considering the benefits of an eye test at least every two years (and every year if you’re 60 or over).
Because you should have an eye examination every two years, whether you have Laser Eye Surgery or wear glasses or contact lenses, this part of the cost is cancelled out.
Calculating The Cost Of Glasses
Specsavers suggest you follow three steps when deciding how much to pay for your glasses:
- 1. Choose a frame range
- 2. Choose a lens
- 3. Choose extra options
We Decided We’d Use This Calculator To Estimate The Range One Would Pay For A Pair Of Glasses In The UK.
- The options for the first step (choosing a frame range) range from from £25 (Star Price) to £169 (Rimless frames). In general, we found Specsavers to be pricing their designer single vision, bifocal and varifocal frames from £99 to £125.
- The next step (choosing a lens) ranges from £39 to £159.
- The third step involves a wide variety of options, ranging from anti-reflection coatings, extra-thin lenses, Polaroid lenses, UV filters and coloured tints ranging from the lowest extra costing £12 to the highest costing £109.
In sum, the cost of glasses can cost at couple of hundred pounds, and sometimes more.
There were no available statistics on how often people replace their glasses. However, considering changes in prescription, wear and tear, the pace of fashion, breakage and loss, we consider that every two years is not an unrealistic frequency.
Therefore, if we assume a price of £250 per pair that requires replacing every 2 years – we’re estimating the average daily cost of wearing glasses to be 34.2p a day on the low side. On the upper end, assuming a price of £500 per pair replaced every 2 years, the result is 69.4p per day. This latter number is near the lower end of the daily cost of contact lenses.
Assuming that these prices stay the same (and they likely will change due to inflation which the Office of National Statistics estimates is 4.5% per annum) the cost of wearing glasses over 10 years is between £1,250 and £2,500. With inflation, the cost in 2021 will be equivalent to £1,523.74 on the low side, and £3,047.49 on the high side (assuming a yearly inflation rate of 4.5%).
If you wear glasses, you may find that our estimates are conservative. We don’t wear glasses, so we’d appreciate it if you could enlighten us on what you spend on glasses in the comments below.
Comparing The Cost Of Glasses With Laser Eye Surgery Costs
When calculating the cost of glasses, it’s important to note that these costs continue well past 10 years and will likely increase over time. In fact, when taken over a lifetime, the actual costs of renting your vision are staggering.
The long-term cost of Laser Eye Surgery, on the other hand, is considerably less. Over the same 10-year period, the fees paid for Laser Eye Surgery at the London Vision Clinic would amount to £1.26 per day. This is about 2 to 4 times the daily cost of glasses.
However, the effects of Laser Eye Surgery last considerably longer than 10 years (they’re permanent, although you may need additional surgery when you become presbyopic – called laser blended vision). It is as this time that you will need to either upgrade your single vision specs to bifocals or varifocals, or purchase a few pairs of annoying reading glasses to keep in every room of the house.
So, in a sense, many glasses wearers are paying the considerable portion of the fees for Laser Eye Surgery every 10 years, but not enjoying the benefits that can be accrued by having Laser Eye Surgery.
There is a clear analogy here with buying v renting a flat or house. When considering long-term costs that accrue over time, why rent, when you can own?
Contact a Patient Care Coordinator at 0207 224 1005 to discuss what results you can expect to achieve.
