If you’ve been a part of the growing craze of online shoppers that’s been developing the past two decades, one item you may not have seen on the market is: eyeglasses. Buying glasses online is still a fairly new trend, but boy will it save! By shopping for your next pair of eyeglasses over the Internet, you will surely save yourself time – not to mention: loads of money! Without a doubt, saving money and precious time is an invaluable luxury; however, possibly the greatest advantage of ordering online is the relief from the pressure of a salesman. One of the only downfalls or ordering online is that it can look confusing and a bit intimidating, but the info that you need is actually quite simple. Let’s explore the details a bit further, so next online shopping spree, you’ll be ready!
As long as you’re looking to order prescription eyeglasses online, the most important part of your ordering process is most likely going to be your latest prescription from you doctor. You should be able to pick up your prescription details straight from your doctor – or have them send it directly into the fax number through the online company. Be sure that your prescription also includes your PD (Pupillary Distance) number. If it’s not written on your prescription, give your doctor a call; they should be able to let you know what it is. Along with your prescription details, the only other technical part is ensuring the frames will fit.
When it comes to finding a new pair of glasses frames, the most relevant information you can use to help yourself is finding the measurements of your current frames. They should look something like 51, 17, 140. All optical measurements are made in millimeters, so all you need to do is find measurements that are fairly similar and you should be good to go! The 51 (or number in the late forty’s, or early fifty’s) represents how wide each of your lenses are; the 17 (or late teen/early twenty’s measurement) indicates the bridge width. You have a bit of wiggle room when it comes to these two measurements as your ultimate width should be within three to five millimeters of each other. The 140 measurement is the temple length. It usually only increases and decreases in increments of 5mm, so you’ll want to keep roughly the same value as your existing frames. These two technical parts of your home-shopping experience, are the most complicated part of ordering online – and they’re both simple enough, right? The rest is the fun part: choosing which frames you like! The greatest part is that most optical online stores even offer an option to virtually “try on” the glasses through something like a virtual mirror!
Let’s be honest: buying glasses online just isn’t as scary as you always thought; now is it? It can literally be described as easy as: one, two, three. So what are you waiting for? Get your credit details and prescription ready and go order glasses now!
Hillary Glaser is the Director of Marketing and Special Projects for GlassesUSA – the easiest way to buy glasses online. She over sees day-to-day operations for all marketing and promotions of eyeglasses for the company.