I am thinking of ordering a cheap pair of glasses online, it’s great deal, because all glasses are made the same way, right?
Wrong! Glasses are one of the last personalized devices handmade-to-order by skilled people (not robots). In addition to your optometrist's prescription, opticians measure your: pantoscopic tilt, vertex distance, frame wrap, pupillary distance (PD), fitting height, and base curve. All of these measurements contribute to optimizing the optical quality of your glasses. Online eyewear is analogous to ordering a suit or dress off the rack only to find the pants did not come hemmed or the dress was baggy around the shoulders but too tight around the waist. Technically it is considered a suit or dress, but in many cases, it is ill-fitting, hard to move around in, and just made wrong.
Similar to your local tailor or seamstress measuring and hand-making a suit or dress your local optician provides quality glasses by measuring the frame on your face and making your lenses to those custom specifications. Your optician also can hand-pick frame shapes that will work best for your face type. Without an optical experts input, you may end up with an ill-fitting frame.
The optical field, like many others, has accuracy standards in place to protect consumers. Online companies are poorly regulated, and many are operating overseas to avoid USA standards. In 2012, a study was conducted: 200 pairs of glasses were ordered off the internet and measured for safety and accuracy. More than half were made with the wrong prescription or had safety issues. These types of issues would be caught by your optician and would have been rejected on your behalf.
See: When Ordering Glasses Online - Buyer Beware!
Finally, online companies have no way of adjusting, repairing. or troubleshooting their own product. Your local optician is a resource for quality and a trusted advisor for your precious sight! Don’t risk your sight by purchasing a cheap pair glasses online, please leave ordering glasses and lenses to your expert opticians at iCare Family Vision.