Between my last post on the subject and now we decided to order some glasses for both me and Maggie from zennioptical.com. It seemed pretty risky since they’re made and shipped from overseas, but after reading the reviews and paying over $100 for Maggie’s first pair that were scratched within the month, we decided to try it out. We really needed to find a way to get her inexpensive enough glasses that we wouldn’t all panic and/or yell every time she acts her age and takes her glasses off and leaves them on the floor. I ordered a pair of $8 glasses (all of the glasses include the bullet-proof polycarbonate lenses) for me and a pair of $20 glasses for Maggie. Hers were the memory titanium type, where you can bend them and they don’t need to be re-adjusted (). They combine shipping for however many glasses you order, so it cost me $5 in shipping for both of us. About three weeks later (they say to expect them to arrive in no less than four weeks) the glasses arrived. Maggie likes the purple zennioptical glasses even more than her pink Lenscrafters ones, and they seemed to stay on better, and all the adults in the house have stopped flinching every time she gets mad and threatens to throw her glasses. Yay! Mine are also perfect and I like them better than my old ones–they’re lighter, thinner, and a better shape.

All that said, I think it was important that we went in person to stores and tried on real glasses and wrote down the measurements of the ones we liked. I wrote down the general shapes that looked good, the frame width (apparently the most important number), bridge length, the lens height and width, and the arm length. I got the optician in the store we’d already bought glasses at to give me our pupilary distances so we’d get that just right (especially important for Maggie with her lazy eye). Then I used those numbers to find frames on zennioptical that were similar to the ones we knew we liked, which we could do because zennioptical gives you all those measurements for their glasses. So, if you’re considering buying glasses online, I definitely recommend you go through that process first.

Anyway, I was still a little worried this morning before going to the doctor that we hadn’t gotten the right frames or that they’d turn out to be the wrong prescription. But the doctor confirmed that both pairs of glasses were just the right prescription. Later when we went to have them fitted by the optician, the optician (who was a 20-year specialist in fitting children’s glasses) commented that the frames I’d chosen for Maggie were practically indestructible, that they were great quality frames, and perfect for a two-year-old. When I told him I’d gotten both the frames and the lenses for $20 plus shipping, his jaw practically dropped to the floor and he ran around telling all the other opticians in the room. He told me that they sell similar frames in his office for less than other local places and they charge over $100 for the frames alone, plus over $100 for the lenses! Which means I got them for about 90% off. I’m okay with that.

Now that I have the endorsement of the ophthamologist and the optician, I’m ready to order about three more pairs of glasses for her from zennioptical just as backups. And since you can buy prescription sunglasses from them in any of their frames for an extra $5, maybe I’ll get some of those (for her or for me?). But probably in a few months when my wallet has recovered from her expensive glasses…

Oh, while I’m praising people, can I just say that our San Rafael Kaiser ophthamologist, Dr. Claiborne, is lovely and worked wonderfully well with my sometimes excitable two-year-old?  And our awesome child-friendly and impressively experienced optician’s name was George, so ask for him if you need to have your child’s glasses adjusted in the San Rafael Kaiser glasses store.

Sunday morning we had a mini-late-birthday party for Maggie with the presents Phoebe and Jon brought for her and we had pancakes for breakfast.  We watched Conference again at the stake center and then attended our ward potluck between sessions until Phoebe and Jon had to head for home.  I wish we lived closer together because it's so fun to hang out with them.

I neglected to mention that we did all this with my broken glasses.  I broke them myself, no kids involved, by picking them up.  I tried wearing my contacts again, but by Saturday afternoon my eyes were getting red and itchy and by the evening they were really red and burning.  So, I taped the pieces back together and wore my embarrassingly messy glasses the rest of the weekend.  This morning I took them to a jeweler to have them repaired, and they said they'll make an attempt to have them finished sometime this evening.  I don't like to be semi-blind.

We have used it and it's totally saved us several times.  Colin is diabetic, so he has to have his eyes checked often to make sure he's not having problems, so he goes several times a year (normally that costs $70ish per exam).  I've been a couple times a year, and we've both been to see the doctor for eye infections and irritation without appointments and without bringing any money several times, and we still have a year on our memberships. 

Now, if your prescription never changes or you only go once every couple years to buy new glasses or if there's no America's Best near you, then it's probably not a good deal for you.  I wouldn't get it just for the glasses and contacts discount, either.  But since we go a couple times a year (two to five times each) and there's a store right down the street from us, it's been great.