If it’s been more than one year since you went to your Ophthalmologist or Optometrist, make an appointment to get your eyes examined. Your examining doctor will not only determine if you need a change in your spectacle prescription, but also will check for Glaucoma (nearly 3% of the population has undiagnosed Glaucoma, a dangerous condition of the eye which can threaten your vision), the health of the structures of the eye, and your ability to see at near and distant points. If you use a computer a lot or read music, etc. let the doctor know about it, so that the prescription he writes is most beneficial. 

Take your prescription from your doctor and start your shopping. (Federal statute requires your Doctor to give you your prescription upon payment for the examination. If he doesn’t do that, I suggest you remind him/her that you are paying for this service and it is required by law.) 

It is unwise to buy eyeglasses from the same professional who has examined you. You really want your doctor to be an unbiased judge of the accuracy of your eyeglasses, when you have taken delivery of them from your Optician. If your eye doctor fills the prescription he has written, he/she is no longer in a position to give you an unbiased evaluation of the accuracy and quality of fabrication, which doesn't serve your best interests.

Where to buy eyeglasses: Today there are many choices available to you when shopping for the best price, quality and selection.
Your most expensive option is generally the well-known optical chain stores located in a mall. These stores usually have fast service, large selections of product to choose from, wide variety of lens choices and very high-pressure sales people. Often these stores have no experienced opticians selling. They limit their professional Optical staff to fabricating and fitting eyewear. The "sales staff" are just that! Sales help, with little or no training in ophthalmic optics and little, if any knowledge of the effects of lenses of different types, when used with various prescriptions. Their function and mission is to rack up high ticket sales, with little real concern for your ophthalmic needs. Their education about products is usually only what the suppliers tell them. Whether true or not, they will impart the same marketing information to you as they’ve received. Your second most expensive choice for eyeglasses is the “Optical Boutique”, or private Optometrist or Optician's office. Their selection of products is much narrower in scope than the mall store, but the professional advice and concern with fitting you correctly is usually greater than at the mall stores. Their pricing is usually slightly better, but delivery times are generally longer. The pressure to buy is very great, because they usually devote one person to showing you frames, writing the order, and discussing product choices. Often the time spent in purchasing glasses from them is much longer than in the chain stores. Their selling techniques usually focus on isolating you, to make it difficult for you to leave without buying. 
The third type of store, which varies greatly in dependability and clarity of pricing, is the highly advertised "discount store". More often than not their eye examinations are very inexpensive and they spend a huge amount of money advertising their low, low prices. Sometimes they have a never ending amount of “deals” for you, ie: 2 for 1 offers, % off sales, without giving you their normal prices. Their aim is to razzel and dazzle you into spending considerably more than you planned on spending. Sometimes their deals sound so complicated you really can’t figure out what the deal is. Our advice is, run don’t walk to the nearest exit.
Our optical Outlets are your best choice, if you want quality, selection, dependability, and professional well-trained and knowledgeable Opticians. Our staff help you select the frame and lens combinations, which will best suit your life style and optical needs.
Our everyday low prices are for real, and we publish our price list and post the pricing clearly on our signs, brochures, and product booklets.
In our stores the prices are based on the premise that we would rather make our money selling quantity, rather than making a killing on every pair.
On a daily basis, we price our products as low as we can, but high enough to support a wide selection and quality product. Our discount opticals offer ten to fourteen day delivery times, so we don’t burden the buyer with the high cost of quick service (although 5 day service is available at an additional fee). The frame selections in our store are usually huge, with many of our stores displaying more than 1,000, styles and colors. Ninety percent or more of the product displayed, is sold at our low “package prices” for lenses and frame complete. Some stores have a small selection of frames at a moderate additional charge. Other than those frames, which are clearly isolated and marked, all frame product, including famous designer names are sold at our regular “package prices”.
Premium lens products are also available at a moderate additional charge, which are set to reflect nearly a 50% savings over the current average market price.
"Good Luck" with your shopping, and we hope to see you soon in one of our many stores where savings occur daily!
If you have any further questions about buying eyeglasses, or frame and lens products, please send your questions to info@eyeglassoutlets.com.