This article and all the comments here are describing a Bizarro world I didn't know existed. Myself, I got my first eye exam a couple of years ago (with all the high-tech equipment and the blurry eyedrops, etc)... on my way out of the office they wrote down my numbers. I went home and looked around a few websites, and wound up ordering a great stylish set of glasses for $20 base ($60 after upgrades and tax+shipping). That was it.

Here people are talking about actual prescriptions, which expire? And hundreds of dollars for glasses? Bizarre.