The inconvenience of glasses was too much for us, and it gets expensive in it's own right


Too true. I've just had my eyesight checked again, no real change (again), but I observed to the doctor that I'm getting worse computer-related eyestrain than I used to. He suggested that one of 2 things could be done. Firstly, the lenses could be marginally weakened to reduce the strain whilst hacking, but that would affect distance vision, or secondly, having 2 pairs of glasses, depending on use (I'm far-sighted BTW). Well, the first 'solution' didn't make me happy when we did a quick distence test, so he wrote up a prescription for 2 pairs.

I then went to the shop and looked at frames. In the past couple of years I've started having skin reactions to Nickel, so I need either plastic (yuck), or Stainless Steel, or Titanium frames. Needless to say, I haven't found a nice looking pair of frames for less than $200. Of course, my insurance will cover $130... of the first pair. So that's $270.

Being far-sighted, the lens is thicker at the outside edge than in the middle. That makes far-sighted lenses significantly heavier than near-sighted lenses of the same strength. So I'd need to have polycarbonate lenses - most lightweight frames will not accommodate my lenses in glass. That's going to cost me another $35 on the first pair. (And I don't know what for the second.)

And of course, my insurance won't cover the second pair of 'basic' lenses either (AFAIK). I don't know how much that is.

And that's before we've even got into anything like scratch resistance or anti-glare coatings.

I'm potentially looking at the wrong side of $400, not counting the insurance premiums that I'm already paying and the $10 copay for the visit itself.