Back
in the UK before I arrived in Maldives, I thought about bringing over
a stockpile of contact lenses since I really dislike wearing glasses-
not because of the obvious fact that they're hideous- but because
they slip about when my face is dripping sweat and leave sore red
marks around the bridge of my nose. But I decided to cancel my
subscription in order to save a bit and persuaded myself that I
didn't look too bad in glasses. But then the other night, someone I
had only just met over in HIH basically told me I'd be more
attractive walking around blind than with my glasses on.
With that in
mind, just yesterday while walking home from work I popped into
EyeCare Opticals over on Fareedhee Magu (opposite Seagull Café). I
asked the girl at the front counter about getting contact lenses and
how much it would be etc, she told me to go upstairs. I go upstairs,
before I can even open my mouth the girl at the upstairs counter
hands me a slip with a number on it. Around the room are about 15
people sitting and waiting, but I check the number on the screen and
mine was just 1 away.... then before I even sit down the optician
calls me in- far better service than at home – no appointment
necessary! I was impressed.
The optician
was super friendly and very well-spoken, Indian I think, and we were able to have a bit of banter! He does
his thing with the machines and it turns out my sight has gotten
worse since the last time and so I've been putting stress on my eyes
in order to see clearly, which has been giving me these horrendous
headaches.
He gives me a prescription for contact lenses, reminds me to always wash my hands before handling them, whispering "Maldivians keep forgetting this..." and says we
ought to change the lenses in my glasses too. I head back to the
counter and hand it over. Now back home, I would have waited about a
week for that appointment- then some days waiting for the contacts to
be delivered home, maybe a day or two for the glasses with new
lenses, would have to set up a direct debit and sign a contract.
Here, she unlocks a cabinet and takes out the contacts of my
prescription, grabs a bottle of cleaning solution, takes my glasses
and goes to her computer and charges me:
6 months worth of
monthly contact lenses: 980 MVR (£37.53/$63)
Contact
cleaning solution: 95 MVR (£3.60/$6)
New lenses in
both right and left side of my glasses: 600 MVR (£23/$38)
Eye
examination: Free of charge
GST 6%: 100.50
MVR (£3.80/$6.40)
= 1,775.50 MVR
(£68/$144)
To get my
lenses changed back in England would have cost anywhere from 0 to £50
depending where, plus a fee would have applied for taking the eye examination. Contact lenses were costing me around £15 a month.
So buying the same thing, minus the GST, would have cost me about £90
for the contacts plus say £30 for the lenses, so near enough double
what it cost here. Elated, I hand her the cash and about an hour
later she calls me to tell me my glasses were ready for collection.
So the lesson folks is don't buy in bulk back home! Also I shouldn't
care so much what people think... however wearing contacts today for
the first time in about 5 months was soooo nice. No build up of
sweat around the frames, no having to keep pushing them back in place, no twat tan and no
headache!
Anyone found somewhere else around here that does it cheaper?
Labels: contacts, expat, eye sight, EyeCare Opticals, glasses, Maldives, male
