I bought prescription eye glasses off of AliExpress. They’re… surprisingly not bad.
I can’t see for shit.
You’d never know this just by looking at pictures of me, because I usually wear contact lenses. They cost me around $300 for a year’s supply, which I stretch to two years by only switching out my dailies every other day. It’s kind of pricey but it’s worth it to be able to wear sunglasses or not have to deal with eye glasses getting fogged or smudged up.
That said, sometimes something happens and I lose a contact lens or it gets damaged. I try to keep a pair of prescription glasses on hand for such incidents, because otherwise anything more than ten feet away becomes a giant blur. I keep a spare pair in my car, and another spare pair around my house, so usually I’m not too far away from a backup.
Usually.
Not too long ago I decided to take my car glasses inside and clean them. Which would have been great if it weren’t for the fact that I forgot to return them to my car afterwards, a fact I didn’t discover until a few weeks later when I was at the office and rubbed my eye the wrong way and tore my contact lens. Anyone who wears lenses knows how bad this sucks, the lens becomes uncomfortable to the point it’s unwearable. Thankfully one of my writers lives near me so I was able to get a ride home and not have to drive blind.
In the wake of that horrific tragedy, I decided maybe it was a good idea to keep a third pair of backup glasses at the office. I tried my eye doctor, but they wanted a couple hundred dollars. Screw that, I’d rather just take my backup pair from home than drop that kind of money on something I might only need once in a great while.
But then, while browsing a /csg/ thread on 4chan’s Technology board, I came across people saying they bought prescription eye glasses from AliExpress.
Say (see?) what now?
So I decided to look for myself, and lo and behold, AliExpress did in fact sell prescription eye glasses, for a fraction of the price my eye doctor wanted:
Now I know what you’re thinking, because I thought the same exact thing when I saw this. They’re prescription eye glasses ordered off of AliExpress for $20, there’s no way in hell they’re going to be any good. For $20, I was willing to take the gamble.
The shop I bought from allowed me to choose the frame color, and had me select my prescription. I’m just nearsighted (Myopia), so I didn’t need anything special. I found my exact prescription on my contact lens box (-1.75) and placed my order, not really expecting much. Honestly I was expecting them to just send me a pair of those magnifying glasses they sell at the dollar store.
Well, I was wrong.
I received my order in a week (AliExpress is definitely getting faster with deliveries). My glasses arrived intact and in a small cheap plastic case:
I also noticed a handwritten note with my prescription written on it. That’s kind of neat, I guess.
The frame itself isn’t anything special, it doesn’t feel flimsy but I’m not about to stress test it. My advice would be to try not to drop them or get punched in the face while you’re wearing them.
The lenses themselves weren’t perfect, but they were wearable. While it was definitely close to my prescription, it wasn’t exact. I could see without hurting my eyes but it seemed slightly off. The lenses were rounded in a way that was noticeable when wearing the glasses, and everything had a very slight fishbowl effect to it. As I said, it wasn’t enough to cause me problems, but it was definitely noticeable.
I don’t know that I’d feel comfortable driving while wearing these, but for $20 they’re surprisingly decent spare glasses to keep around in case of another contact lens crisis. I may actually pick up another pair just in case something happens to one of my other backups.
I also looked around AliExpress at some of the other shops selling prescription eye glasses, and some even have you send them your measurements and make the frames custom to fit. The frames from the glasses I bought fit just fine, but if you’ve got a head that’s bigger or smaller than most people you may want to look into one of the shops that takes measurements.
All in all, I’d recommend giving AliExpress prescription eye glasses a shot if you’re strapped for cash or simply need a spare pair to keep around. At about 1/10th of the price your optometrist would charge you, it’s kind of hard to beat.
Just be sure you know what your prescription is (you should be getting this checked every couple of years at least), otherwise you might screw your eyes up even more or give yourself a nasty headache. Also, if you’ve got more severe eye issues like cataracts or something you might want to stick to seeing a professional. If you’re myopic or hyperopic though, consider checking out AliExpress for your next pair of prescription eye glasses.