I had cataract surgery a couple of months ago, and it's not fully healed yet. I have worn glasses for 40 years.

I had my choice of implanting a lens that Medicare would pay for, which focuses near or far, but not both, (I've always been farsighted so I picked that one) or one that cost $3600 each and Medicare would not pay for. That one gives you normal vision and you don't need glasses at all. I also have astigmatism, and that is another added cost.

I took the farsighted Medicare-covered lens and now wear glasses only to read and work on the computer, but I can legally drive without them. I just got my Driver License renewed and passed the eye test with ease.

I was 80 before the cataracts got bad enough for surgery.

Getting Old Ain’t For Sissies!

There are three stores in Brooklyn, NY. They offer prescription lenses. Nothing fancy or elaborate at about $100 per pair!!

Here’s how they do it. They buy frames from many stores that are last year’s designs. They are organized and your can pick from a whole bunch of frames. They keep in stock all sorts of lens magnifications. You can bring in a new prescription or the one you have now! I generally pay by credit card. In about a half hour, I have a new pair. Perfect!
I generally order three pairs, one for my everyday wear and a spare to have. I also order a pair for use as sunglasses.

There are some caveats here.
First they are located in Brooklyn. Second, they are closed on Saturday since it is run by Chasidic Jews.

I don’t mind since it is about a half-hour drive from my house.

I wish I had entrepreneurial spirit to build a store like this. I’m just a happy pharmacist slinging pills to pay the bills!

I am a retired optometrist. There is no way around needing glasses, at some point in a persons life. LASIK can take care of your distance vision, they can do a mono vision where one eye sees distance and one near. I really would not recommend that because your depth perception is greatly reduced and can cause you to be a hazard while driving. They also can do that with IOLs in the cataract surgery. When I was working, I had progressive lenses, when I retired, I got lined bifocals. The optics of progressive lenses are crap!! If you enjoy reading and do a lot of close work, the lines are far superior.

I had my cataracts replaced a couple years ago in my low 80s. Wore glasses since I was about 10. It was great getting rid of them for distance but since I was nearsighted, I now have to use readers so my glasses habits have been inverted. Fortunately the implanted lenses took care of astigmatism so I can wear the basic lenses (i.e. cheap) from the hardware store (Costco is probably cheapest, with occasional sales on a package of 3). I need them for computer work or reading.

I did get some graded bifocals. They help driving because the near vision allows me to read the dash instruments. Analog instruments are fine and the speed is in a large font but some of the other stuff is fine print (particularly on the GPS). I don't usually use them except for long trips.

For most of my life I've worn glasses.

About 18 years ago I got fed up with spending the money on new glasses every year or two and had LASIK done. I loved not having to wear glasses...especially when it was lightly raining....hell even when it was normal raining. Then I noticed about 2-3 years ago I noticed that my vision was worsening. I pissed me off that I needed glasses again. It turns out that I was starting to get cataracts. I got that taken care of. Just went to the eye doctor and guess what? Yeah....I need glasses again. Yeah....I just turned 65, so this shouldn't be a huge surprise, but I guess it is.

I can't explain it...but this really bothers me. I didn't think that my vision had deteriorated. The great eye doctor told me that if I had an eye test at the DMV that they would fail me and tell me to get an exam. If it wasn't for that I might have ignored it for another year or so. I guess not.

My wife is probably right (aren't they always?) in telling me, "So you need glasses. It's not like they're amputating a limb or something."

I also know why my FIL (when he was alive) got the ugliest glasses there were. My insurance nicely covers getting some nice frames, it's the lenses that kill you. If you want lined bifocals....great! If you want progressive lenses....at least something that gives a decent near vision area....that's extra. Transitions....that's extra. Polycarbonate....that's extra too. So, if you don't read a lot (I do), want a separate set of sunglasses (non-prescription) and heavier lenses...you're fine. Everything nice is extra.

Honestly.....it's not that much worse than when I was working and had vision insurance. I'm just venting.

Thanks for listening to me vent and complain.

Resume your normal programming.