FAQs

We will check the details you have provided and if you have supplied us with a prescription we will also compare this with the values entered. To ensure your glasses are made up correctly, we strongly suggest sending a photo of your prescription to us.

Yes, you will see these (possibly using a magnifying glass) on the arm of any current pair of glasses that you have. It will look something like this: 53[]14 143:- 53 is the lens diameter, 14 is the bridge width and 143 is the arm length.

The lens diameter is the width across the widest part of the lens in millimetres.

The bridge width is the width of the nose bridge.

The arm width is the length of the arms of the frames.

If you currently have a pair of glasses that are a comfortable fit, then read the numbers from the arm and choose a frame from our selection with the dimensions that closely match the ones that you have. You can then be confident that the glasses that you order will fit nicely! You can afford to allow a couple of mm difference and the important measurement to compare is the overall width measurement. This will ensure they are neither too tight nor too loose.

Your new glasses may need adjusting on the nose bridge by pinching the pads together so as to make them sit higher on your nose bridge, or expanding slightly to help them sit lower down. You may also want to adjust the ear pieces. These can be bent or straightened and the earpiece is usually best warmed up first before attempting to bend it. This can be done in very warm water or with the use of a hairdryer. Some opticians will adjust them for you for a small fee.

If you are having any problems understanding your prescription, please take a look at our help pages:

Understanding your prescription  

But don’t be put off, you can leave these details blank and email us:

help@glasses2you.co.uk

and we will either check them or if you have left them off, complete the details on your behalf.

Your optician may have recommended glasses for distance, reading, intermediate use or all three. If you need glasses for reading you will have a reading addition or near add. For computer use, you will have an intermediate addition or tint add. If you need glasses for just distance and reading then bifocal may be the best option. If you need glasses for distance, computer, and reading then varifocal will be for you. You do not require an intermediate or computer addition for varifocals as we work this out for you.

No, I am afraid not. You will need a different prescription for glasses.

Yes, we can. Please look at our reglaze page for more information.

Yes, you can. If you want just the demo lenses in, we can do that. We can also provide clear prescription lenses but without a prescription, if you want them just for fashion. In this case, just enter “plano” for your sphere values. The cost, however, is the same with or without prescription lenses.

Pupillary Distance is the distance between the centre of your pupils. This measurement helps us to correctly position the lens within the frame. We recommend that you ask your optician to write this measurement on your prescription. If, however, you do not have this measurement, we will use an average Pupillary Distance of 63mm for a man and 60 for a woman, which is an average we have calculated from thousands of customers. You can ask someone to measure this for you by using our guide, What Is My PD?

or we encourage you to use our online tool for doing this: Measure your PD

Do not worry if you do not have this measurement as we will contact you if we think you would benefit from this being accurately measured.

We do not use an average, however, for varifocal orders. For these orders, We will ask you to use our online pupil distance measurement tool which you can use here:

Measure your own PD

Yes, for coatings you need to select an appropriate package. The SILVER package and above will give you anti-reflection coatings UV protection coatings as well as a hard coat. You can then move on to select any sunglass options such as various tints, photochromic lenses or polarized lenses.

Yes, we do. We have always offered bifocals and we use a D28 segment which starts 3mm below the centre line of the lens. We have now developed a very accurate system for supplying customers with varifocal glasses at a staggeringly low price, including a top of the range Freeform Varifocal Lenses.

We now also offer a Premium Varifocal Lens which is unsurpassed in quality and price.

We use the same materials as the rest of the optical industry. We use CR39 plastic and in our rimless glasses, we use polycarbonate which is much stronger and impact resistant. We are one of the few online or high street suppliers to offer this in our rimless glasses at no extra charge. We do not offer lenses made of glass.

Yes, we do. You can select this option in the sunglasses section when ordering. These lenses, also known as photochromatic lenses, are gas-filled and react to the changing UV conditions so will darken in sunlight and clear indoors or under darker conditions. We now also offer the branded Essilor "TRANSITION 8" lenses which cost a little more.

Polarized lenses should not be confused with transitions. Polarized lenses are ALWAYS dark but provide the ultimate in sunlight protection. The lenses will reduce the majority of glare from horizontally polarized sunlight and only allow vertical polarized light waves to pass through, therefore greatly reducing glare. The only limitation is that they can obstruct LCD displays in dashboards and radios.

Yes, you can. We offer three levels of thinning, as does your optician. These are called a 1.6 index lens, a 1.67 lens and a 1.74 index lens. This refers to the refractive index of the lens and not the thinness of them. You will also get a thinner lens by choosing a small diameter lens as this enables us to thin the lens down more and will give you a better overall result. The bigger frames such as the aviator style lenses have big lens diameters and are not a great choice if you need very thin lenses and have a high prescription. The semi-rimless frames are also not the best choice with higher prescriptions as we do need to leave some extra thickness around the edge of the lens to accommodate the wire groove.

The acetate frames (plastics) are also very good at hiding the thicker lenses especially if you choose the ones with a wide arm.

The anti-reflective coating on your lenses serves several purposes. The coating is clear but it will reflect the light and is very good for driving or continued computer use. It also stops strong light reflections from your lenses and makes them more attractive to look at as other people do not get the glare from your lenses.

It can be selected by choosing the SILVER lens package which also includes an anti-UV coating and a hard coating on the lenses.

Absolutely! We recommend that everyone choose this option. The UV coating is completely clear so you will not know it is there. However, it is very important to protect your eyes from the UV light that exists even in the winter months. UV light can contribute to many eye problems such as macular degeneration and the sooner you protect your eyes the better.

This can be selected by choosing the SILVER package.

We can dispense glasses online to a +8.00 or a -8.00 sphere value. We cap our prescription range at this level as any stronger would require more personalised fitting. Customers with this strength of prescription are advised to use their local optician.

We offer such low prices because we do not run expensive high street shops which enables us to keep our running costs to a minimum. We also only make a small profit per pair of glasses that we sell and we work very hard with our suppliers to source the best frames at the best prices. This allows us to pass on our savings to our customers!

Without question! We offer the same frames and lenses that are on offer on the high street, sometimes of even better quality, but at vastly reduced prices! Our partner laboratory is also very experienced and one of the best in the country, so you can be sure that your lenses are carefully crafted and expertly glazed. The processes are exactly the same that all opticians use, so there really are no differences between the products you purchase from us and products you'll get from your local optician.

We are now in our 18th year, which is almost forever for an online company, and we have no intentions of going anywhere. Unlike many companies, we do have a number you can use to speak to us and we do reply to your emails within 30 minutes during working hours. We also understand your concerns if you are a first-time buyer, which is why we offer our great guarantees and are always here for any advice whether you want to buy from us or not! Furthermore, you can speak to any of our company directors directly if you have any complaints – highly unlikely though that is.

Ordering is very easy, but you will need a valid prescription that has been issued within the last two years. If you do not have a current prescription, you will need to go for an eye test (free in certain large supermarkets) and ensure that the optician gives you a copy of your prescription. You must then decline their kind offer to buy expensive frames as you are under no obligation to buy from them. Next, simply key your prescription information into our online ordering system. If you do not understand any of it, please email us or place your order and leave your prescription details blank. We can add the relevant details for you.

The frames and lenses fitted to your prescription are cut, assembled, and checked by qualified staff, and undergo the same process online in exactly the same way as if you ordered from your optician. There are, however, more complex prescriptions that we would not dispense, such as very high prescriptions and some prism adjustments. The main reason why your optician will discourage you from buying online, however, is because they want you to buy your glasses from them and pay their high prices!

We will endeavour to get your glasses out to you within 5-7 WORKING days (we don't count weekends). Some more complex lenses and coatings will take longer so we do ask you to allow up to 14 days. We will always email you when your glasses are ready.

Please advise us of any problems within 7 days and return the glasses to us within 30 days of receipt, stating what is wrong with them. We will change the glasses to a more suitable pair or we will rectify any problems with the product we have supplied to you or change it to a different frame if you prefer. Our aim is that you will come back again and again, so we want you to wear our glasses and be pleased with what you are wearing, so please, buy with confidence. Any issues or problems, although highly unlikely, WILL be resolved to your satisfaction. If we cannot resolve the issue or you are still unhappy with your purchase then we will refund you in full. Read more about our guarantee.

Yes, absolutely. We guarantee it. We use state-of-the-art 128-bit encryption at the source so that none of the information that you send to us can be deciphered by anyone but us. We do not store any of your payment information and this is not seen by anyone including us, so you can shop with us with confidence.

We offer free postage but if you want a tracked service we do offer tracked24 for £3.95 or Special delivery for £7.95.

Once your order is ready, you will receive them the next day once postage by selecting either of these.

This does include all packing and please remember your glasses come with a very high-quality hard case for the protection of your glasses.

To keep costs down we use the Royal Mail 2nd Class post as our FREE option which usually will take 2-5 days.

With our paid for postage (tracked2 and Special delivery), they will arrive the next day. - Special delivery is guaranteed to arrive the following day before 12:00 noon.

You can order by post by enclosing your requirements and a cheque made payable to Glasses2You Ltd. You can also email us your requirements at help@glasses2you.co.uk and we can raise the order for you and contact you for payment. We will do whatever is easiest for you.

I am afraid that we do not accept NHS vouchers due to the administration process imposed on us to do so.