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Opticians - getting your spectacles really cheap.


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[quote user="St Amour"]Also, how do you go about getting a proper eye test done in France?  My mum had her eyes tested in a local opticians but they didn't do the colour blindness tests, or the glaucoma test, just got her to read off the old-fashioned letter board and nothing else.  Then they charged her an arm and a leg for the glasses.[/quote]

The optical industry, like many others, is very tightly regulated in France, and whereas most opticians in Britain will do eye tests, it is comparatively rare in France for opticians to do these in-house - they normally just supply specs etc to a prescription.

To get a proper eye test, or, indeed any eye test at all in many areas, you have to go to an opthalmologue. And here is yet another of those illogical things about France. You can get a hip replacement done next week, but for even a straightforward eye test many opthalmologues have very long waiting lists. Several months is not uncommon.

I have found it far quicker and much less hassle to get an eye test in Britain. A lot of French opticians will make up from a British prescription, but do make sire they understand it, because some things are, apparently, measured in a different way. I find that if I go to somewhere like Vision Express in England you get the test and the glasses on the same day. OK, you can't get a refund from the French health assurance scheme, but that tends to be so minimal anyway that, à la Catherine Tate, I'm not bothered

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Sounds like that's still the best option for me then Will.  Michael has an astymatism (sp?) so VE can never do his the same day but I suppose he could have the test and choose his glasses then get them sent on to France.
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in the course of finding out as much as possible about all things french (we hope to be living there permanently), i found myself reading all the info on this topic as posted in this forum

our position is this: my husband (oap) has glaucoma for which he is monitored 6-monthly in our local hospital.  when he needs new glasses, he goes to the optician in the normal way and pays for their services as normal

when we are french resident, who would "look after" his glaucoma, do all the necessary tests and provide the prescription for the eyedrops he uses?

i am getting very worried indeed after reading all the various comments.  if the cost of getting health care for his eyes is going to be prohibitive, it's going to have a major effect on our finances.  i don't fancy yet more belt-tightening!

anyone in the same position and has experience of what happens in cases like my husband's? [8-)]

 

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""Sounds like that's still the best option for me then Will.  Michael has an astymatism (sp?) so VE can never do his the same day but I suppose he could have the test and choose his glasses then get them sent on to France. """

 

Oh blimey, don't start me on that one... I tried that.  They would not do it under any circumstances. 

I was in England and thought I would get my glasses whilst here and went to Specsavers.  Whilst she was very apologetic she could not get the glasses done in time for me to go home.  So I said please send them to a UK address so that they can send them to me abroad.  They would not under any circumstances let me have the glasses without them personally fitting them.  Yet, when I got home I could order the glasses on line at half the price!!  I said I would sign a disclaimer but no way would they budge. Frustrating as it was, I actually saved a lot of money and the glasses I bought were absolutely fine.  I think although I agree that you must have a test, there is no reason that the same optician has to fit them. And why should they insist on this if you refuse.

Georgina

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  • 5 months later...

I have bought glasses from the internet several times now ( I tend to sit/ drop/ loose mine regulary) and I have had good experiances. I ordered my first pair from www.glassesdirect.co.uk. They were very quick to deliver and they were nice to deal with but they didn't have any in the shape I wanted so they've ended up my back up pair, the quality was fine for the price but they weren't really what I was after.

I ordered a second pair from www.nuglasses.co.uk which again arrived within a week. I was so impressed with quality of this frame, I felt as though I had got a bargain, they didn't look like cheap glasses, they were sturdy and had flexible hinges and just looked how I wanted them to look. So then I thought I'd order another pair from them and a pair for my husband. It was easy to re order because I signed in and my delievery details were all stored but I made a mistake on my husbands prescription. After falling into a blind panic I gave them a call and they were lovely and set the error straight and put my mind at rest. The glasses arrived (in France) just over a week later and were perfect. I would recommend this company.

 

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ananda says

"After falling into a blind panic ......"

weren't the glasses any good after all, ananda?

but thanks for the links.  how do you know whether the glasses will fit?  i mean the optician normally fiddles with them and puts them on you and fiddles with them some more before finally pronouncing them ok, don't they?

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  • 5 weeks later...

I have just returned from  a holiday in the Uk and whilst there had a long overdue eye exam done. I took advantage of an offer I saw on the internet offering 50% off at D &A  for an exam.  this must be the best eye exam I have ever had, I was there an hour and had so many tests that i asked if there was a problem (apart from the fact i am as blind as a bat)  Anyway I have my new prescription, but unfortunatly due to the complex prescription none of the "quickie" outlets could do anything for me in the time I was in UK.  I just had a look at some of the internet sites mentioned and they do not deal with my prescription either.

 

So, I have my new prescription(although it doesn't resemble the A4 one that the opthalmists give out here) it is on the D&A card, when I go to buy my new glasses at the Opticians here , I know i won't be remboursed for the test, but will I be remboursed for part of the prescription..?.....I do hope so as we will be talking around the 350 euro mark.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

Hi

New to the site, hope to be living in France early next year.

Yes I can second this post I just have my specs supplied by them, arrived in 7 days, vari focals with transition lenses, they cost £130.

Spec4less.

My wife had new lenses in her old frames after an eye op, £230, 3 weeks delivery, they were wrong when they arrived and had to go back this was from a local shop.

 

ColinE

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[quote user="opas"]

So, I have my new prescription(although it doesn't resemble the A4 one that the opthalmists give out here) it is on the D&A card, when I go to buy my new glasses at the Opticians here , I know i won't be remboursed for the test, but will I be remboursed for part of the prescription..?.....I do hope so as we will be talking around the 350 euro mark.

[/quote]

I had a UK prescription when I had my varificals made up last year. Excellent service & price (40% off total cost + free second pair - offer is currently being repeated) but not a cent was reimbursed by CPAM, as it wasn't a french prescription. I actually had a letter from them telling me this.

In November, I'm off to an opthalmologiste (sp?) over here for an eye test as I know my reading vision has deteriorated again. I only had a 5 month wait for an appointment......

 

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  • 5 months later...
I've looked at some of these sites & the ones I've seen have various ways of making sure the alignment etc is correct for you, including sending an old pair of specs for reference. Due to problems caused by 2 retinal surgeries I have to wear contact lenses most of the time so that the sight in the 'bad' eye can be balanced properly (can'e do it with specs). However, I hav e to have specs for early morning/evening wear to rest my eyes. The problem I have is that I have to have the thinnest lenses possible in order to accomodate the strength of the 'bad' lens (so that they stay on the bridge of my nose!). At a large chain of UK opticians the prices of thin lenses are reasonable for the step below the thinnest at around £65 but..... for the thinnest it suddenly rises to £350! Ergo my interest in getting through the internet where the lenses are about £69! The problem is that you can't see what they look like on before buying.

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  • 2 months later...
So glad Iceni can give expert advice. In the UK all opticians, small, big, supermarket or otherwise will always check for damage to the back of the eye (diabetes) and check the pressure in the eyes too, but in France or Switzerland not all do. My mother's sight was geting worse, so I ask my dad to take her to an optician (I live in the UK, they live just over the French border in the Jura). Dad took her to Pontarlier (France) x 3- and the guy just sold her new glasses. By the time I realised that the pressure in her eyes had NOT been checked- I took her to the ophtamologist at the local hospital. She had very raised pressure and advanced glaucoma - he prescribed drops, but it was too late. She is now blind. I expressed my dismay that the optician had not checked, but the specialist explained that they don;t all have the equipment. I felt dreadful, as I had taken it for granted that the excellent care we get in the UK would also be the norm in France. She was an avid reader, and since she lost her sight, depression has set in. Just not worth the few quid saved, really.

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  • 1 month later...

Spexmaniacs appear to be no more! Having had a new prescription I went to order new specs but their web site is dead.

I now use www.glassesforless.co.uk and the first pair were fine so I have now ordered my bulk supplies.

If ordering more than one pair e mail them and they will give you a 10% discount. Also the delivery charge is only £3.50 per order (not per pair)

Andy

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[quote user="odile"]So glad Iceni can give expert advice. In the UK all opticians, small, big, supermarket or otherwise will always check for damage to the back of the eye (diabetes) and check the pressure in the eyes too, but in France or Switzerland not all do. My mother's sight was geting worse, so I ask my dad to take her to an optician (I live in the UK, they live just over the French border in the Jura). Dad took her to Pontarlier (France) x 3- and the guy just sold her new glasses. By the time I realised that the pressure in her eyes had NOT been checked- I took her to the ophtamologist at the local hospital. She had very raised pressure and advanced glaucoma - he prescribed drops, but it was too late. She is now blind. I expressed my dismay that the optician had not checked, but the specialist explained that they don;t all have the equipment. I felt dreadful, as I had taken it for granted that the excellent care we get in the UK would also be the norm in France. She was an avid reader, and since she lost her sight, depression has set in. Just not worth the few quid saved, really.

[/quote]

Sorry to hear that. The French optician service is extremely strange to the say the least.

My wife went to a French ophtamologist today. After the big "France has wonderful health care system" etc, we were expecting something quite special and a through going over. We couldn't believe how primitive everything was. She was referred there by our gp as her eyes have been getting slowly worse over the past year or so, just a natural progression I guess, to the normal long sightedness most people get in middle age.

We were in there for about 90 minutes, with approx 75 mins of that spent waiting. She went in and she did the normal eye chart thing with a couple of different lenses. Then she was told to read something and then had drops put into her eyes which opened the pupils up. That was it. No colour blindness check, none of the other normal thorough checks that we were used to getting from our opticians in Australia. The ophtamologist prescribed some glasses, but how she could prescribe the correct ones I don't know as she only put a couple of different lenses in and asked which one is the best.

Now I don't know if I'm missing something here, but to me that is not an eye test. Or is there some other person who does the full eye test and an ophtamologist just looks at something specific? Or is this particular ophtamologist just rubbish?

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[quote user="LyndaandRichard"] Or is this particular ophtamologist just rubbish? [/quote]

I don't know where you live in France, but compared to the serious eye examinations my OH and I underwent last year - him, as a bloke with a male opthalmologist and me with a female - your wife's examination seems a tad on the light side. Perhaps a change of opthalmo might be the order of the day?

Sue 

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This optha was based in Chateauroux, (36). My wife is hyperglycemic and all this optician kept going on about is that it's diabetes, which it isn't. So any confidence was not instilled from the start.

Think we'll pop into the local supermarket and just get her some stronger reading glasses. That's all she needs.

If you want something done properly, do it yourself.

Thinking of popping over to the uk sometime soon so will make an appointment to visit a real opticians then. Get us both sorted.

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  • 3 months later...

 I bought some varifocals to replace the expensive set I purchased in France and broke just after guarantee was up from a specs for less place in UK.

Under half the price and very helpful phoned me to check prescription and to confirm delivery.

My only minor gripes  fit as the nose supports were twisted and  I found big scratches within a week even though I am very careful with my specs. I had paid for anti-scratch protection but have no way of knowing if it was applied.

On the whole I was satisfied but will ask direct questions about the coatings in future.

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  • 7 months later...

[quote user="LyndaandRichard"][quote user="odile"]So glad Iceni can give expert advice. In the UK all opticians, small, big, supermarket or otherwise will always check for damage to the back of the eye (diabetes) and check the pressure in the eyes too, but in France or Switzerland not all do. My mother's sight was geting worse, so I ask my dad to take her to an optician (I live in the UK, they live just over the French border in the Jura). Dad took her to Pontarlier (France) x 3- and the guy just sold her new glasses. By the time I realised that the pressure in her eyes had NOT been checked- I took her to the ophtamologist at the local hospital. She had very raised pressure and advanced glaucoma - he prescribed drops, but it was too late. She is now blind. I expressed my dismay that the optician had not checked, but the specialist explained that they don;t all have the equipment. I felt dreadful, as I had taken it for granted that the excellent care we get in the UK would also be the norm in France. She was an avid reader, and since she lost her sight, depression has set in. Just not worth the few quid saved, really.
[/quote]

Sorry to hear that. The French optician service is extremely strange to the say the least.

My wife went to a French ophtamologist today. After the big "France has wonderful health care system" etc, we were expecting something quite special and a through going over. We couldn't believe how primitive everything was. She was referred there by our gp as her eyes have been getting slowly worse over the past year or so, just a natural progression I guess, to the normal long sightedness most people get in middle age.

We were in there for about 90 minutes, with approx 75 mins of that spent waiting. She went in and she did the normal eye chart thing with a couple of different lenses. Then she was told to read something and then had drops put into her eyes which opened the pupils up. That was it. No colour blindness check, none of the other normal thorough checks that we were used to getting from our opticians in Australia. The ophtamologist prescribed some glasses, but how she could prescribe the correct ones I don't know as she only put a couple of different lenses in and asked which one is the best.

Now I don't know if I'm missing something here, but to me that is not an eye test. Or is there some other person who does the full eye test and an ophtamologist just looks at something specific? Or is this particular ophtamologist just rubbish?
[/quote]

Unfortunately, your experience with ophtalmologists and opticians in France is not uncommon. (Even French people are complaining about quality and delay)

In France, only an optometrist ( working as an optician ) can offer an extensive eye exam like the one you are used to in UK, Canada, US and Australia.

In Paris, I got a full examination (50 eye tests including the eye pressure and others) from Exavue www.exavue.fr in Paris where the optometrist is speaking fluent English.
If some disease (glaucoma, cataract, keratoconus ,  ...) would have been found during his comprehensive exam, the optometrist would refer you to the right specialist ophtalmologist  in a specialised hospital.


If Paris is too far away from your place, he will provide you with the address of other trusted optometrists near you.

Hope it will help.


 

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