Guide to Buying Glasses Online

Why Buy Eyeglasses Online

Here’s a familiar scenario: You go to the eye doctor. Your prescription changes or your glasses look so scratched they’re just sad (and useless). It’s time for a new pair of prescription eyeglasses.

Before, you’d look around the optometrist’s office or another brick-and-mortar store. You’d find the pair you like. You’d ignore the insanely expensive price tag. It’s a lot of money, you may reason, but seeing (in style) is worth it. You’d settle.

Say hello to buying glasses online. Unlike their brick-and-mortar counterparts, glasses stores online give you a huge selection for a pinch of the cost. Eyeglasses that run for $350 or more at a brick-and-mortar store could easily cost $50 online. That’s $300 in savings—enough to buy eyeglasses for every day of the week!

So why buy glasses online? Well, GEE, let’s see . . .

G – Guaranteed Quality—These are high-quality, durable glasses that often come with a satisfaction guarantee; in fact, they’re the same quality of glasses you find at brick-and-mortar stores, but they are . . .

E – Economic—Buying eyeglasses online saves you literally hundreds of dollars; same quality of product, less money—do we even need another reason to buy online? Well, for kicks . . .

E – Efficient—You have our official permission to shop for eyeglasses online in your underwear. We won’t tell (or know, thank goodness). Online you can shop anytime, anywhere—just find your frame and enter your information. It’s that easy.

How to Buy Glasses Online

By now you know buying eyeglasses online is Guaranteed, Economic, and Efficient. But like going in to plant your first real kiss (or anything new and exciting), buying your first pair of glasses online may still seem daunting.

Never fear, our online guide to buying glasses is here, more helpful than a horde of experienced older sisters. So pucker up, pull up the monitor, and follow my lead. I'm guiding you to glasses bliss.

Simply follow the three "knows" of buying glasses online:

1. Know Your Frame—Look inside an existing frame, usually on the temple, for a series of numbers like 50-18-140. These are the lens width, bridge size, and temple length, respectively. Then, you can search for a frame according to style, with the measurements to know how the glasses will fit. These measurements are in millimeters, so they only need to be close, not exact. When you find the frames you love, it’s time to personalize the lenses.

2. Know Your Prescription—Have your glasses prescription ready (yes, this is different than your contact prescription). Simply ask your eye doctor for it at your next visit, or have your doctor fax it to you. Your eyeglasses prescription includes many numbers and parts. Don’t feel overwhelmed by this. Understanding is just a mouse click away.

3. Know Your Pupillary Distance (PD)—This is the distance between your pupils. Ask your eye doctor for this measurement. You can also take it yourself. Having your PD ensures your lenses will align to your eyes properly.

That's it.  Now you can confidently buy glasses online. Feeling pumped?

Share some of that giddy-like-a-first-kiss-without-the-awkwardness-or-bad-breath joy—