The Eye Doc

So today we went to the eye doctor. Josh's and my eyes definitely needed some love. He's been wearing the same contacts for WAY too long and my glasses got stepped on the other day and nearly broke.

The girls also needed some eye attention. They are both getting readers that I pray they grow out of over time. Pictures will come after their new glasses get here.

We had a HUGE bill by the end of the day, but as ridiculous as it was, I was forced to consider how ridiculous the entire situation was.

I'm pretty sure eye doctors have a bit of a scam going on....

We walk in and agree to get a full check up because, hey, it's our eyes. We need to see. I remember the first pair of glasses I got. I was a sophomore in high school. I needed them to see the chalkboard. I hated wearing them, but I remember looking up into the night sky (standing still because otherwise I'd fall over with my new depth perception) and seeing stars. I hadn't realized until that moment that I hadn't seen stars in a long, long time. They were beautiful.

So, being able to see is important. We get the full check up, including the drops to dilate our eyes. We know Josh and I need new glasses, but now so do Emma and Abby.

By the time we are ready to pick out all our frames, our eyes are so dilated that we can't see clearly. Here's where the scam begins.

First, if you need glasses, but you're looking through clear lenses, you can't truly see what you look like. I think this is why so many people that wear glasses don't like to see themselves wearing them: they couldn't see what they looked like when they bought them. Hence, ensuring another trip in the future to buy a new pair of glasses.

The second part of the scam is the darn dilation. After trying on a few frames, you look at the price and notice that you can't see the price. It's in small print on the tag on the arm of the frame and you can't even read the LARGE print on the posters in the waiting room. You have no idea what you're about to pay. You have to say something along the lines of, "Matt, tell Mommy what these numbers are one at a time."

And then the final part is the "insurance" trick. After all the tallying, we actually saved about 50%. Doesn't mean we didn't spend an arm and a leg anyway. I'm soooo nervous for the girls to have glasses, especially glasses they don't have to wear all the time.

Maybe I can win back some of the money we spent today if I start a pool on who will lose or break their glasses first. Any takers?