• pagenotfound@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    30
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    15 days ago

    The most cost-effective way will always be a pair of glasses.

    I’m too poor and cowardly to have a laser fix my eyes.

    • kiterios@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      15 days ago

      Glasses usually have obscene markups. Imo, the most cost effective way is often lasik (or similar), but it’s an up front cost.

      I think I paid 4k usd for both eyes, but that was something like 10 years ago and with no assistance from insurance.

      I still get an eye exam every few years just to make sure everything is okay, but I am expecting another 10 years before I need too start thinking about vision correction again. Also, I’m fairly certain the provider that performed my lasik offered a warranty and would perform additional corrections as I age, but I don’t live anywhere near the location anymore.

      When I compare that to the combined cost of insurance, exams, glasses, contacts, and prescription sunglasses that my wife pays… lasik was a significant cost savings for me (and that’s not counting any quality of life benefits).

      • lemmyman@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        15 days ago

        I use my 14-year-old prescription to get a couple pairs of glasses from Zenni every couple years. Averages about $75/yr.

        • grue@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          15 days ago

          $75/year seems expensive for Zenni, unless you’re going all-out on the fancy features. For that budget, I think it’s worth spending some on the optometrist to update your Rx.

      • huginn@feddit.it
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        15 days ago

        I pay $100 for my eye exam and $150 for my glasses every couple years.

        It would take 30+ years for that cost to reach the Lasik levels you paid, and that’s assuming I’m not doing anything with the $3750 remaining after the first appointment.

        • metallic_z3r0@infosec.pub
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          14 days ago

          And 30 years after LASIK, you’d be incredibly lucky if your eyes hadn’t gotten worse to the point you’d need glasses anyway.

      • WolfLink@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        15 days ago

        I don’t see how lasik could possibly be a cost savings. I’ve gotten fairly nice glasses for $150 without insurance. I’ve gotten glasses for less than that with insurance.

        One pair of glasses can last a long time if you take care of them (and if your eyes don’t get worse).

        LASIK isn’t a permanent solution and eventually you’ll need glasses again.

        • BuckyVanBuren@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          14 days ago

          I didn’t need glasses for 40 years.

          My glasses were costing $500 plus in the 1980s. They needed replacing annually.

    • Justas🇱🇹@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      15 days ago

      A pair of glasses would have cost me about 350 euros every 3 years. Eye surgery cost me 980 euros and I should not require glasses for at least 20. So surgery has saved me at least 1350 euros. Failing at calculations like that is one more way for the poor to stay poor.

      • Thavron@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        15 days ago

        Your last sentence is an example of the Boots Theory

        The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. … A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. … But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

      • pagenotfound@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        15 days ago

        Doesn’t translate with Asian countries. Glasses are dirt cheap whereas lasik operations are pretty expensive af.