My Prescription Glasses

by | Aug 7, 2021 | General | 1 comment

I need serious help with my prescription glasses in Nigeria. I have never been so frustrated by what should be a very simple request.

Can someone help me find a solution to this mess?

This is the first time I will be getting my main prescription glasses in Nigeria so it is not a good experience. The only reason this is happening is, this is the longest I have ever been in Nigeria.

I never envisaged glasses would be a difficult thing to get done. I remember getting my prescription glasses cloned in Lagos island back in the days when I worked there. I never paid much attention to aesthetics then but was thrilled at the speed of delivery.

The problem is, I need my glasses to show my eyes clearly and not appear like mirrors or goggles.

My previous prescription is fine but it’s pretty scratched, so in May I went to what I considered I  was a decent optician in Lekki, Lagos. I needed to change the lenses, so I proceeded to get my eyes checked.

First of all they wre arguing with me that my glasses were single vision when I know clearly they are varifocal, covering both distance and reading. They claimed my glasses were too scratched to read my previous prescription. Alright.

They claimed all I needed was anti glare lenses which I paid for. They claimed they will send it overseas. I waited 3 weeks. I waited patiently, to my disappointment. I realised there was a problem when I looked like a bug eyed zombie in all the pictures I took wearing glasses on my daughter’s birthday.

There was so much drama at first with wrong prescription initially. Long and short, was that the service was so bad and I had to get a refund, they refused to refund me for the frames, so I was stuck with them. The experience was traumatizing.

Fast forward, last week, I saw another optician in the neighbourhood. From their conversation, they appeared to be knowledgeable. I did another eye test to avoid stories.  The optician appeared  thorough in carrying out the eye test. I explained my previous experience. They assured me. They claimed again they were going to get my prescription overseas.

This time, I ordered for progresives, anti glare, blue filter, ultra thin, you name it. I paid NGN158k for the lens alone. Infact, I couldn’t believe I would ever pay so much for a pair of glasses. I starting seriously considering laser eye surgery. I work too hard to throw good money away, I still have sleepless nights over the debit alert.

I consoled myself that at least I didn’t pay air fare. My prescriptions are nothing fancy. Infact that’s why I am in this mess, I didn’t  pay for anti scratch the last time. My old lenses cost me £100 and that’s because they are varifocals, but here in Nigeria,  I just couldn’t afford disappointment. They gave me a 3 week time line, I accepted, something, I would never do. 3 weeks? For what? I kept telling myself, as long as they get it right.

Yesterday, after one week, I got a call to pick my glasses. I picked it up today. So quick? Are you sure these glasses left Nigeria?

They looked fine when I picked them up, but I forgot to do the picture test. Then I had a speaking session this evening, turned on the video to test and,

Aaaaaarrrrrghhhh!!!

It looks like a small problem but it is not.

Because of my work, I take a lot of pictures and do a lot of videos. I cannot ‘manage’ these glasses. My eyes need to be visible. I don’t want to be looking like goggles in my sessions.

I am TAYAD!

Please, please,  is there a distinguished optician in Nigeria that can teach these other opticians in Nigeria how to do anti reflective glasses right?  Surely, this is not rocket science.

Please share, so four eyed people like me can be liberated.

Ps: The glasses on top are the new ones, while the clear glasses below are my old faithful prescription glasses.

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1 Comment

  1. David

    Here was I complaining of spending N92k on mine before seeing your post online.

    Reply

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