I am one of the many glasses wearers in the world and the most tragic thing has happened while traveling! I broke my glasses! What do I do!
Actually the solution was quite simple, just get new ones.
My worst fear was the cost of getting new glasses, in the States processes is simple, pay a ton of money and get new glasses but what do I do since I am in Korea?
Worst of all, I broke my glasses on the worst day! A Sunday! Isn’t everything closed on Sundays?
Well here is what I’ve found. Plain and simply glasses don’t cost you anything but the price of the frame and lens.
Going to the optometrist is like going to any other shop in Korea, like waiting to get your nails done. You got need any special insurance card but it is helpful to have a Korean speaking person with you, It makes the paperwork so much easier.
They started by examining my old lens, then they did they rapid focus test on each eye giving them a rough measurement of my prescription. Then they took me to the back office, where I thought I would see the optometrist, to do the actually eye exam. But the same technician continued the exam. Very much the same exam I would get in any doctors office.
Next came the selection of the frame. The first counter they took us to had frames ranging from $10 USD to $50 USD which I thought, “WOW, they think we’re poor.” So I went to the next counter. It turns out that good frames in Korea are really not expensive. When you go for Gucci or Ray Band then you are paying for the name but I got a Korea brand which only cost me $40 USD.
The lens are made by Pentax and the typical options are available from $10 USD basic lens to the $200 USD premium, all the bells and whistles imported lens. I got some $50 Pentax, double compression for thinness, scratch resistant coated lens. They look and feel great, not heavy at all. Any fancier and they would have had to order them.
And here is the kicker: they make them while you wait. I don’t know if this is common among all glasses offices but they sent us upstairs to the cafe to enjoy some basic coffee and tea while we waited for them to put my glasses together. And in less than 30 minutes I had glasses again.
Total cost of my eye exam and glasses was $78 USD, 90,000 Korean Won. (exchange rate on 7/19/2015).
Overall it was a very pleasant experience. Very simple if you can speak Korean.
