I know there have been other, similar posts on this forum, but all the posts seem to be only about getting simple, single-prescription glasses, and no one has asked yet about getting glasses with all the bells and whistles. I'm currently using a very good pair of glasses that I've had for nearly 6 years that I would essentially like to duplicate:

- lightweight, high-index plastic lenses

- progressive (bifocal) prescription

- anti-reflective, anti-scratch, anti-fog coatings

- photochromic ("Transitions") lenses that darken outdoors

Because the darn things are on my face all day, every day (and may be there for the next 6 years), it's important to me that I get something that's high quality, functional, comfortable, and looks decent. Has anybody out there bought anything like this in Bangkok (or elsewhere, and had it delivered) for a reasonable price?

I've ticked the boxes on all your requirements and they seem identical to a pair I purchased earlier this year from Better Vision in Emporium. The price however will depend very much on the frames you select. Mine, with Porsche Design frames cost over B30,000. However, they have many cheaper frames available, although most of these are more suitable to Asian faces.

Maybe you have been through all this, but why not contact lenses ? they are much, much better than they used to be, even for a significant vision problem, and there are many options.

Maybe you have been through all this, but why not contact lenses ? they are much, much better than they used to be, even for a significant vision problem, and there are many options.

Tim, i have also heard contact lenses have improoved over the years. An optometrist in Oz some years ago tried putting them in both eyes but with no luck.

My eyes were resisting them so badly he commented that i have the strongest eyelids he has ever come accross!

Maybe the OP and others like me have been wary because of such experiences. But yes, ive heard they are a lot softer and thinner these days?

I was always worried if i used them i'd forget to take them out in the night and wake up with a nasty suprise.

Anyway, to offer something to the OP:

I recently visited Central Chaenwattana and noticed a very wide range of both the usual more expensive chain store type optometrists and also a few smaller businesses offering glasses with different styles i had never seen anywhere else.

From memory i think there are maybe 3 or 4 on the upper floors and two or three on the basement level. Definately worth a look, since there was one business on the bottom floor that offered to custom make me some for quite a reasonable price.

I bought a pair last year with most of the listed features (not photochromic)from Top Charoen. The lenses were made by Hoya and had to come from BKK. However, they were not cheap and I concluded afterwards that I would have got a better price in the UK.

Many thanks to all the responses here. As far as the suggestion about contact lenses, I had an ophthalmologist tell me years ago that my eyes are way too dry for contact lenses, so I've been wearing glasses since then. Despite his diagnosis, I actually did try wearing both hard and soft contact lenses for awhile, and both types were very irritating, so I concluded that he was right. Of course, that was probably around 1980 or so, and maybe the new materials don't need as much in terms of tears for lubrication as the old ones, so maybe I should consider it.

On the other hand, I suppose another consideration in favor of glasses over contacts is that the glasses help hide my baggy ol' eyes.