Glasses
Everything You Need to Know
Glasses come in a million different types. What are you looking for? This article will tell you everything you need to know, and if you can't read it here, follow the links to many more detailed eyewear articles. The only thing you won't find is cheap glasses, because they are a terrible investment. But you will find information on the most popular eyeglasses themes, like blue light glasses, reading glasses, computer glasses, kids glasses, and of course, sunglasses. Almost all of these come under the heading of "prescription glasses".
We have divided this article into the six groups of information that most people search for online, whether you are just getting informed here, or looking for online glasses, this is a great place to start.
- How to Buy Prescription Glasses Online (avoid the store and be safe from COVID-19)
- How To Buy Prescription Glasses Lenses
- Types of Glasses
- Most Popular Glasses Categories
- Most Popular Glasses Brands
- All About Glasses Frames
How To Buy Glasses
Buying glasses can be easy, difficult, expensive, cheap, or overpriced - it all depends on how much time you want to spend learning. Follow this link to read an entire article about how to buy glasses online. In this article, we will just hit the high points. Or, read about the 5 tips for buying glasses.
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Get a prescription from your doctor
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Find a glasses frame you like
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Choose the right prescription lenses
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Buy glasses online
Sound easy, right? Well some people find it easy, and others find it difficult.
Get A Prescription From An Eye Doctor Near Me
This part is easy. Just make an appointment with an eye doctor. If you don't already have an eye doctor, read our blog article, Eye Doctor Near Me? How To Find The Right One. When you are there, be sure to ask for your pupil distance measurement. With that, you can order at any store or buy glasses online.
Find A Frame You Like
There are a million different eyeglasses frames out there. They can be divided into several groups, like frame type, frame shape, frame material, frame quality, and frame brand. At Eyeglasses.com you can shop a featured style, search for a favorite frame style, take advantage of our exclusive offers, use a gift card, or visit our store location in Westport, CT and shop all day. Once you have narrowed down your search, you can focus on frame size and frame fit.
Don't Buy Cheap Glasses
Buying prescription glasses online does require some extra effort. For that effort, you get the benefit of a massive selection (we have almost 200,000 pairs at Eyeglasses.com). There are two types of eyeglasses frames that you can buy online: 1) low quality, cheap glasses, and 2) high quality glasses that you could buy in a typical optical store, but at 50% lower prices. If you thinking to buy cheap glasses (Warby Parker, Zenni optical, etc), we strongly recommend that you first read our article, The 10 Reasons Not To Buy Cheap Glasses.
If you still want to buy cheap glasses, try Zenni Optical, Diff eyewear, Pair eyewear, Liingo eyewear, Felix Gray and other retailers. Target optical is not the cheapest though.
Try On Glasses Online
The biggest complaint we hear is, "But I want to try on eyeglasses first". At Eyeglasses.com, we have a home try on program with an easy return policy so you can order three pairs of eyeglasses frames, and return them all for a full refund. We also have a virtual try on application. Just look for the VTO icon and follow the instructions on the product detail page.
Glasses For Face Shape
Did you know that faces have shapes, and most faces fall into one of six groupings? Based on the shape of your face, you can pick out a specific frame shape to either minimize the shape of your head, or emphasize it. Read our article about glasses for face shape, to learn all about it.
How To Buy Prescription Lenses
Traditionally, people let the eye doctor or optician choose prescription lenses for them. Would you let a salesman choose a car for you? A television set? A pair of shoes? No! So don't let someone else choose your prescription eyeglasses lenses. Choosing a prescription lens is not rocket science, you just need to learn a few things. The more you learn, the less you will pay.
Of course, we offer the best progressive lens on the market today, and you can order these as polycarbonate lenses or high index.
Read Your Prescription
Your glasses prescription is designed as an aid for vision correction. It is not hard to understand. First, does your prescription you have a correction for distance, for reading, or both? If your glasses prescription is distance or reading, then you need single vision lenses. If you have a distance AND reading correction, then you should consider progressive lenses (no-line) or bifocals (with line). These are called multifocals.
Second, look at the sphere number in the prescription, which largely determines the frame material you need. the higher the number, the more you will need a thinner (and more expensive) high index material. More on that below.
Finally, be sure that your prescription includes a pupillary distance measurement. Your pupillary distance is the distance between the pupils of your left eye and right eye, and it is required in order to make a complete pair of new glasses. Especially on a new prescription for a complete pair - even if you have used virtual try on technology - the pupillary distance measurement is required. Is this your first frame or a new pair? Just ask you doctor for the full prescription and write the PD down on it if he/she/they do not.
Your Needs Determine Your Lens Type
Single vision lenses are less expensive than progressive lenses or bifocal lenses. Buying prescription eyeglasses online is not difficult. If you have a distance and reading correction in your prescription, you can consider progressive lenses for their convenience. For example, let's say you drive to the grocery store or drugstore. You need distance vision for driving, and reading vision to read the labels. With multifocals, one pair will do both. Otherwise, you would need two pairs, and then need to switch between them.
Prescription glasses with multifocal lenses are more convenient, but they do come with some limitations. Read this article to learn more about the problems with progressive lenses. Most people love their progressives, but it takes time to adapt to this kind of prescription lens, and some people never adapt.
Choose A Lens Material
Plastic Lenses
There are several type of lens materials that you can choose. Nowadays, almost all prescription rx glasses have plastic lenses. There are four basic material groupings, which correspond to the "Index of Refraction". The higher your prescription, the higher the index is recommended:
If your sphere is less than 4.00, you can use plastic/CR39. If it is 4.00 to 6.00, then polycarbonate is a good choice; 6.00 to 8.00 means high index 1.67, and over that, the ultra high index 1.74. The higher the index, the lens becomes thinner and more expensive. But you are able to make your own high index lens choice, based on your needs, preferences, and wallet.
Glass Lenses
Eyeglasses.com is one of the few online dealers that offers glass lenses. Historically it was the only game in town. Nowadays, most people choose some kind of plastic lens for its lower price and lightness. Although heavier and more expensive than plastic, glass lenses have the advantage of exception optical clarity. They also resist scratching must more than plastic lenses.
However, the biggest concern is its ability to shatter or break more easily than plastic, which can cause extreme harm to the eye or result in loss of vision. Glass lenses should never be used for active lifestyles or sports; you will commonly see fishermen wearing bifocal and trifocal lenses while quietly reading, fishing, or fly-tying.
Choose Lens Model
In any given category of type and material, there is a range of choices representing good, better, and best lenses. A "good" lens will get the job done at a lower price point. A better one may have a known brand name, or it may bundle some additional features. A best lens choice is the best lens available on the market today. We offer a Perfect Lenses Guarantee on everything that we sell, regardless of which model you choose.
Choose Lens Options
Once you have chosen a lens model, you can then add certain lens coatings and options. Options could include stronger coatings with a warrantee, blue light treatment, and/or tinting to make custom sunglasses. The most popular option is anti glare glasses, aka "AR glasses", which have an anti reflective coating on the lenses. Anti reflective coatings are very important and highly recommended for all glasses. More recently, blue light blocking glasses have become popular. Blue light blocking lenses can be created by adding a blue light coating to most lenses. Blue light lenses are designed to block harmful blue light, but harmful blue light is more hype than reality, so read our blog article about blue light blocking glasses.
Non-Rx glasses frames are also a choice for some people that are looking to add to their persona but do not need Rx glasses. Prescription glasses starting without a prescription are actually more popular than you might think. Look at all the movies with movie star characters that wear non prescription glasses.
Prescription Sunglasses
Another popular lens choice for lenses is tinting for prescription sunglasses. It could be full tinting for high light activities, or you could also choose Transitions, a photochromic treatment, which makes the lenses darken outside and become clear again when indoors.
Of course, you can always shop for non prescription sunglasses. Many people like to use their contact lenses underneath designer frames with custom tinted lenses that are actually non prescription glasses. Either way, sunglasses are a great way to encourage and preserve good eye health by providing UV protection against harmful UV rays of the sun.
Checkout
This process is much easier than you may think, just follow along and at the end of the process you drop your lenses into the shopping cart, and then check out. Most people find a frame on our website, and then add lenses to the frame. However, we also have a replacement lenses service: you can mail a frame to us, and we will install them for you.
How To Use Vision Insurance Benefits
Some people have vision insurance benefits and try very hard to use the benefits. The problem is that the optical stores inflate their prices in order to discount them when you try to use your in-network benefits. The best way to save money is to order eyeglasses online and then use your out-of-network benefits.
Categories Of Glasses
There are many categories of eyeglasses frames. Most people like to begin their search by gender, and look for mens or womens glasses. If you have more specific tastes, you may be looking for the most popular glasses. Many people prefer flexible glasses that have a change of withstanding an attack of buttocks. Or, something more trendy like round glasses, or retro glasses. If you are looking for computer glasses, you should read our article on computer glasses first.
For a lighter pair, you may want to shop for rimless glasses, some of which are made of titanium. But there are some special considerations regarding the lenses, so check out our article about rimless glasses first.
Or either big or small glasses, depending on your size.
Shopping for kids glasses? There are some special considerations, so check out are article to learn more about kids glasses.
Shopping for reading glasses? There are many different kinds, so you should check out this article to learn more about reading glasses. Any glasses on our website can be made into reading glasses just by adding your customer prescription, and they will work much better than drugstore readers.
We have a huge collection of prescription safety glasses for people that need them on the job.
Face Shapes
We are often asked about the right shape of rx glasses for a particular face shape. In general, eyeglass shape either balances or accentuates your facial features. For example, square faces or heart shaped faces wearing round eyewear helps to provide balance. But the round shape is different and can work for round faces. The round shape brings in very powerful cultural implications - the first impression is one of intelligence and self-confidence, and the relationship to face shape is minor compared to that. That explains the Steve Jobs and Harry Potter glasses choices, because they are both intelligent and visionary mavericks.
Most Popular Brands
The most popular brands vary, but the two most popular brands, Oakley and Ray Ban, have been at the top since their eyeglasses lines were launched. Following them come Silhouette, which is known for its hingeless, rimless titanium frames - super light and comfortable to wear. Next comes the iconic brand Gucci, closely followed by Tom Ford which has been rising steadily since the brand was born. People often ask for "John Lennon ", "Harry Potter", or "Circle" glasses, and what they are really looking for is perfectly round frames. The top tier is rounded out by Dolomiti Eyewear, which offers a classic design, handmade in Italy, without the designer price point.
After these, come the long-standing favorites of Versace (bold and stylized), Nike (sporty, light, and durable) , and Kate Spade (colorful and trendy). Burberry, Prada, Coach, and Michael Kors round out the top 15 brands that people are always buying.
How To Clean Glasses
Learning how to clean glasses has recently taken on a new importance, since the arrival of the Covid-19 coronavirus. Research has shown that the virus can stay active on hard and shiny surface (like glasses frames) for up to 72 hours. Glasses are a good barrier for the virus, as it will stick to your glasses as well as your face. But cleaning your glasses has now become important in the fight against the spread of the virus. The CDC, the World Health Organization and others health authorities, have emphasized that both washing your hands and cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces daily are key in preventing Covid-19's spread. However, you can ruin your glasses if you use the wrong disinfectant on them.
How To Buy Glasses Online
Eyeglasses.com has the largest selection of glasses on the planet. Shopping online for a pair of glasses from one of the top brands like Ray Ban, Kate Spade has never been easier. Why visit a Lenscrafters store when you can you can get massive selection and much lower prices at this website? Why pay full price when you can get the perfect pair right here? We have more frames styles than any other store, and you can compare frame styles before you buy. Sure, get your comprehensive eye exam at any eye doctor
We offer free shipping, prescription lenses or clear lenses, frames only or as plano sunglasses. We also offer the largest lens selection online, including blue blocking lenses, with every possible variation of lenses options, lenses brands, lenses coatings and lenses features. In fact, we offer so many different lenses and service that customer often call us to help them decide, and then we do the checkout for them. All you need to do is contact us by phone, or contact by email, or even by live chat. Whether you purchase online or by phone, we have a full refund policy - if you want a refund, just send them back in original condition within 30 days. We offer many different payment options, including our partner Affirm loan services so you can finance your purchase as well, possibly with interest free installments, but your payment method is up to you.
We offer free shipping to most places in the continental United States, and also to the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Italy and some other countries. For further information, check our shipping page. Top brands are all over the internet, but we are one of the few authorized retailers of the full Versace glasses line, where you can shop for the newest glasses styles, get the best service on all brands, and even shop at our store located in Westport, CT.
Vision Insurance Companies
For prescription eyewear brands and accessories, we accept vision insurance plans from many of the leading providers such as United Health Care, VSP, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Eyemed and many more. The same goes for your HSA/FSA dollars, which you can use to reduce the costs of your glasses. Your personal benefits information can be determined by calling your insurer; California residents can meet additional eligibility criteria.
How to Use Your Vision Insurance Benefits
Insurance providers for glasses brands range from supplemental plans offered by your employer, to independent plans that you can purchase outside of your employer's plan. In most cases, you can get your eye exam in- network, and your insurance provider will offer an out of network benefit. Once you have confirmed your insurance eligibility, you can submit the claim form directly to your insurance provider. To obtain insurance benefits after your eye exam, there will be a valid prescription required, your birth date, and a valid zip code required. Unfortunately, when you try to use your vision insurance at most optical stores, you will never have zero hidden fees, because prescription eyewear is how they make their profit.
Getting an annual eye exam is important for anyone, but especialy for people with visual impairment, tunnel vision, a vision impaired profile, eye care needs, and for blind users. You can find a stylish frame with Rx lenses and your favorite lens coating online, and you can order a frame with nose pads or a saddle bridge. All of the essential elements are here except contact lens supplies. Check out a consumer report before you visit an eye doctor. 
Out of Network Benefits
Contact your insurance company to find out how to use your out of network benefits for your eyeglass purchase. Most vision insurance plans offered by insurance company have an out of network benefit. Eyeglasses.com does not have a California finance lender license. Also we do not sell contact lenses, because contact lenses are a completely different type of vision aid. We do however offer a free shipping service on all our orders to most places in the United States. If you have special needs, just contact our customer service team for help.
