I got a new pair of glasses today, with progressive lenses. My eye doctor has been mentioning the possibility to me over the last few years, but I didn’t feel like I was ready to give them a try until recently. Since we got a vision plan at work this year, I though I’d use it to get a new pair of glasses, and give progressives a try.
I got them from LensCrafters, so I’m solidly in the mainstream Luxottica ecosystem now. As this article points out, Luxottica owns Lenscrafters, all of the licensed brands that are sold in LensCrafters, and even EyeMed, the vision plan that we have at work. I’m not too happy about this kind of monopoly, but there’s not much I can do about it.
A few years ago, I got a pair of glasses from Warby Parker, and they were a lot cheaper than LensCrafters, but honestly I didn’t really like the glasses, and they’ve sat in their box since then. So I guess Warby Parker is a good alternative if you like their glasses and if maybe your eyes aren’t as bad as mine are. But if you need special lenses, and you want a professional to help you pick the right frames, and get the glasses adjusted properly, maybe you need LensCrafters or something more traditional.
So far, I’m finding that these progressives aren’t as much of an adjustment as I’d thought they’d be. So that’s good. On the other hand, I’m not sure if they’re really going to help me with reading or computer work, like they’re supposed to. I’m wearing them now, and I can’t see the computer screen any better than I could with the old glasses. I’ll wear them at work this week and see how things go.