<p>Background: uber-prescription (-10.00 bifocals), Carl Zeiss lenses on a Nikon frame and anti-everything coating (scratch, glare…). Glasses are 3 years old and my prescription has not changed but the antiglare/anti-* coating is not good any more.</p>
<p>Has anyone sent prescription glasses out to have the anti-* coating removed, the lenses polished, then reapplied? New glasses cost a lot, even with good insurance, and my frames are rather difficult to find?</p>
<p>I had a pair of glasses a few years ago and the coating started pitting and getting scratches. I showed them to an optician and he said there was nothing that could be done for them…I took them back home and scratched all of the coating off with my thumbnail under kitchen water faucet…I got all the coating off no problem. No more pitting and scratches on my lenses, though granted, I didn’t have antiglare coating anymore either.</p>
<p>You can order replacement lenses for your existing frames.</p>
<p>I have the option to put new lenses of course but it is still a lot of money… The glasses new cost $500 and “insurance” pays 50% or so.</p>
<p>Some folks use Armour Etch to remove the coating on poly- carb lenses, but you can’t use it on glass unless you wanted your lenses “frosted”.</p>
<p>turbo93-have you priced out adding new lenses to your current frames at Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco, etc.? I would try that. Otherwise, there are several online retailers where you can get complete glasses, frames and all for under $50.</p>
<p>-10 is a very high diopter for someone very nearsighted–thick lenses. OP needs extra thin lenses that cost a lot more than $50…especially progressive/bifocals. Replacement lenses would cost at least $300 I’d guess. No kidding… try removing coating first to avoid expense of new lenses.</p>
<p>Turbo93, I sympathize as I am similarly blind as a bat! I also had a pair of lenses that had same thing happen. I was told nothing could be done. And as you know frames are the least of your problems when wearing such glasses, I bit the bullet and got new frames too. We do have a flexible spending fund so that helped some.</p>
<p>I am so happy. Prescription glasses have come so far since I was small. I feel so lucky not to have to wear the coke bottles lenses of my youth. But it comes at a price. And never cheap. I wish.</p>
<p>I wonder if the coating has a guarantee. You could check on that. I seem to remember my H’s having some sort of problem and they replaced his lenses. I had a problem with the coating with my last lenses. They had to redo the lenses 2x. But they were new. They came with scratches in the coating.</p>
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<p>Chi-Ching! Carl Zeiss no-line bifocals made out of 1.64 high index poly are around $320. The Nikon frame was another $180 (titanium). </p>
<p>The coating is a really sad story. I asked for and paid for Cruzal, which Mrs. Turbo has in her $600 Versace’s. When the scratching etc started appearing I went back to the store only to find that it was NOT Cruzal, but some local cheapie with (of course) no warranty. This at a store where I’ve had 12+ sets of glasses done over 20 years. Never again.</p>
<p>DD1 has backup glasses at Costco with a similar prescription. She is not very happy with them but only wears them when she wants the ‘architect-y’ look (half the arch students and most of the faculty have the same style). </p>
<p>Mrs. T has her glasses done at the super-expensive optical shop where we see our opthalmologist. Her (real) Cruzal has held up MUCH better than the no name used on mine. It’s one of those ‘you get what you pay for’ things. Awesome frame ($350) and Seiko bifocal lenses with Cruzal were another $250. In both cases insurance paid for 1/2. </p>
<p>Deb, while glasses are much more durable today they scratch like crazy. Glasses I got in Elbonia - real glass - were heavier but never ONCE scratched. Then in the US I switched to plastic and it’s simply one scratch after another. My prescription has not changed in 25 years and I still have to get glasses every couple years - and lenses in between sometimes)-. It’s not like I don’t know how to take care of optics as I have a bunch of Nikon lenses and so on…</p>
<p>Don’t get me started…</p>
<p>My expensive glasses have scratched much more readily than my old cheaper glasses. They are under warranty and I’ve had the lenses replaced twice, but I think the warranty is up. I feel the advertising is false for these lenses.</p>
<p>Both DH and I got anti- glare coating on glasses from BJ’s. Both had the same problem with scratching and pitting. Luckily they replaced them for free for both of us. Mine happened within three months, his after almost two years. I guess the coating is not worth getting since everyone seems to have the same problem. When we had them replaced, we decided to leave the anti-glare coating off.</p>
<p>DH also found some on site recommendations for using an etching product found at craft stores that is supposed to work for removing the coating. He would have tried it, since the glasses were useless as they were anyway, so no real risk in trying. We never thought to ask BJ’s to replace them after so long, but the craft store happened to be next to BJ’s so we decided to go in and ask about it. It took some doing, and some manager involvement, but they did finally agree to replace them.</p>
<p>I just replaced two pair of glasses after six years or so because my prescription had changed a bit. There was not one single scratch or blemish on the lenses of either pair. They still are perfect, although the frames have seen better days.</p>
<p>One pair had Zeiss lenses with the Zeiss Carat coating. The other pair was Crizal lenses with the Crizal coating. I thought the Crizal coating was better, but both held up fine.</p>
<p>The secret? Those glasses were NEVER wiped with a shirt or a paper towel or a glasses cleaner. They were only cleaned one way. Run under the faucet. Sprayed with the pump bottle of cleaner. Rubbed with my wet finger tips. Rinsed under the faucet. Dried with a microfiber cloth. And, finished with a second microfiber cloth. I kept the two cloths and the spray cleaner in a little pouch next to the sink. That was the only way those glasses were cleaned for six years and they were pristine when I replaced them.</p>
<p>I went with all Crizal coatings/lenses this time around.</p>
<p>I also have an antiglare coating as it seems to help me see at night.
But my glasses collect all knds of stuff and realistically, I am never going to be as good to them as interesteddad, even if my current pair cost more than my first car.
( french handmade frames, :rolleyes: high index, progressive lenses, extra for edge polish & coating - unfortunately, my prescription is too high to get progressives @ Costco, or get glass lenses, as it is I have to get plastic frames because wire frames just dig into my nose & my lenses are too thick even with high index)</p>
<p>I mostly wear my contacts with over the counter readers, but I should go in & get the coating redone.</p>
<p>It’s really not that big a deal. Takes under a minute to clean the glasses. Maybe once a day. I just keep a cleaning “kit” by the kitchen sink and another by the bathroom sink.</p>
<p>The really important step is running them under the faucet to flush away all the gritty dust before you wipe them with anything. You can buy the spray bottles of cleaner at any drug store or make your own with water and some dishwashing soap.</p>
<p>The old “blow on the glasses and wipe them with you shirt” trick is absolutely guaranteed to scratch them because you are grinding all the grit into the lenses.</p>
<p>My glasses have to be cleaned much more than once a day.
My eyelashes hit them, and even if I am not wearing eye makeup ( which I usually don’t), they just get filthy.</p>
<p>Ive thought about cutting them
My daughter did, when hers interfered with putting her contacts in.
( they grew back, but now she just wears glasses)</p>
<p>I have microfiber cloths, I carry around to clean my glasses & my screens, but after a few years, my glasses do get scratched, although I have had these for about 4 years.</p>
<p>A few years from now when you first develop cataracts, eye doctors can pop in some intraocular lens that will help correct myopia too–you might not even need glasses then for your nearsightedness.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Im more likely to have macular degeneration than cataracts, but my mom who did have lens replacement( she was farsighted), thought it was great!</p>
<p>All my cleaning was done with a camera store microfiber, the exact same model that Mrs. T uses, and water. Krizal 1, No-name 0.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to pay an arm and two legs plus your firstborn for glasses, go to Zenni Optical online-they have all the coatings, bifocals, wire and plastic frames and they start at $6.95 a pair. Really. After the optician’s front office person insisted that I needed THREE different pair of glasses, ONLY with expensive designer frames and specialized lenses due to the strong prescription, I went home and got online. Since my insurance only covers up to $100 a pair and the optician’s started at $300, I knew I could do better. I pay out pocket now, don’t need special frames or lenses, and if they get scratched I buy a new pair. And when I get bored, I get some more. I tell everyone I know about the Zenni site because I have always been pleased with anything I’ve bought there. Lots of my friends are converts too.</p>
<p>My mother taught me to never blow and wipe, to run glasses under the faucet ot use a spray bottle years ago. It works wonders.</p>
<p>My old dad went around and after being told 400 bucks for glasses finally found an old optician (semi-retired) who made him glasses for 80 dollars. And that he’d replace them free if my dad’s eyes changed prescription any further after his recent cataract operation. He said the coatings were a rip-off, they don’t last and that he has removed them plenty of times for people. He refused to sell them.</p>