Like most people who are aware of Marie Kondo, I am also aware of the clutter in my home. There’s the obvious stuff to chuck out — last year’s birthday cards, single socks — but I’ve always stopped short at tossing my old eyeglasses. I still like the frames, and how they work on my face (no small feat, given my low bridge). It’s just that my eyesight has gotten worse and rendered their prescriptions useless.
So I Googled “how to replace prescription lenses” and landed on Lensabl, a site that will put prescription lenses in eyeglass frames you already own (they’ll send you a box to mail them in). I first tried it out with a pair of Stella McCartney frames I’d picked up on super-sale, and the process couldn’t have been easier. After entering my prescription on their site and selecting the lenses I wanted — clear, tinted, Transitions, or blue-light blocking lenses, plus options like single-vision for distance or reading, progressive standard, or enhanced, and bifocals — I received a little blue box with prepaid express shipping. The box even came with thoughtful touches like a bubble pouch and a sticker to seal it with, so you really need nothing but your glasses. I put the frames in the box, dropped the box in the mail, and about a week later (Lensabl is based in Los Angeles, and takes 1–2 business days to ship to the west coast, and 2–3 days to the east) I received my glasses back, now with perfect prescription lenses. That turnaround time, it has to be said, is faster than Warby’s 7–10 business days, and the lenses are, like Warby’s, anti-reflection and scratch-resistant, with 100 percent UV protection. Oh, and the whole thing set me back just $77, which I was later able to reimburse using my FSA.
I can’t claim to have tested the lenses in any sort of scientific manner, but I haven’t had to think about them at all either, which is about the best thing I could say here. They just work. Most of all, I just love how much time the whole thing saved me — no appointment or waiting area or skipping out of the office necessary. After such success, I’m ready to send in some vintage Lafont frames, plus an old pair of Wayfarers to be made into prescription sunglasses (Lensabl can also make your frames into prescription or non-prescription sunglasses). I’m not exactly getting rid of stuff, but I have revived some old glasses, and that certainly brings me joy.
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