Filling US prescriptions for eyeglasses

Hello All,

Does anyone know if prescriptions for eyeglasses written in the US can be filled in Germany? I'm back in The States for Thanksgiving, but not for long enough time to get my lenses ground and set into my frames before I return to Munich.

The convenient thing to do would be to take my frames and prescription to an optician in Munich. (Hey, maybe Karl Zeiss lenses are worth it!) But do German opticians use the same notation and units for eyeglasses as Americans?

An esoteric question, I know. Anyone have any experience? Any recommendations for good opticians?

Thanks in advance,
Raj

As far as I know, they won't care about your US prescription. Pretty much every place that sells glasses or contact lenses has an optician (Optiker) on site who will test your eyes in about 5 minutes. They don't specifically charge for it, but they'll only do the test if you are buying glasses.

This is not the same as a US optometrist who checks for medical problems too. Here, that is done separately by an Augenarzt (eye doctor).

Id forget the idea of getting your glasses in Germany.. They can be very (300-500 Eur) expensive.. If you don't have much time back in the US, why not go to lenscrafters or one of the places that can make your glasses in 24hrs or less. Some do it while you wait...

These places are usually located in Super Walmarts in the front of the store, and the best part is that you can usually get 2 pair for 1 price...

Hit the Walmart web site and see whats in the area you'll be in...

They can be expensive but they don't have to be, try here Apollo

@Allershausen
Apollo, is cheap for Germany.. But not for the US, where the stores mentioned above will run you anywhere from 50-180 USD which is cheaper than getting them in EuroLand..

Thanks for the input. (And I now realize that the mail digest does not include new responses!)

I tried the LensCrafters route, but my prescription is one so strong that no one could guarantee that I would get them back before returning to Munich.

So if having them measure me again is not going to cost any, and is pretty much the normal way, I guess that's what I'll do.

Thanks again!

Allot of places will do free tests if you buy the glasses there. Cost ranges from 50€ for cheap frames to several hundred for plastic lenses top quality frames.

Mine were under 50€ with the test and the wifes were over 500€. Bought the frames in Paris and had the local guy fit top quality plastic lenses.

Problem more is getting someone that will do the test in English.

I had great, and very cheap, service in Fieldmann, just above the Giselestrasse U3/6 stop. Eye test, cheap frames and lenses for 60E, ready in a week. No need for an appointment, and the guy spoke excellent English as soon as he realized my German wasn't up to scratch.

Unfortunatly, with specs you tend to get what you pay for. I've got some beauties from the UK which are a fraction of the weight and a bit more trendy (not that that really matters to me, but there you go) - but they tipped the scales at well over 300E... possibly even more here.

I wish I could use my American prescription here - it's so hard to get it just right when you have an astigmatism correction, even when you and the optometrist have the same mother-tongue. This last script was the first one that caught it, and WOW, what a difference! I don't want to give up my optometrist back in Texas (but am more than happy to give up slap-dash LensCrafters, who always mess up in some fashion)

If you have your prescription, take it in. I'm pretty sure they'll be able to make something of it, it's not too hard to read lens powers and astigmatisms.

So I ended up going to Optik Hartogs (Leopoldstr 27 in Schwabing, a few streets north of the U3/U6 at Giselastr) . The took the American prescription, and spoke fine English. We were even able to converse about anti-glare coatings. I've not had good experience with those from Pearl Vision Express in the US. (So Texmandie, the slap-dashery is to be avoided; though to be fair, PVE did remake my lenses at no cost twice and their people were really customer-oriented.) For some reason the ant-glare coating made things look entirely as if my pupils were dialated.

As for price, the lenses alone were about 160EUR each, and I'm using my current frames.

Mine is a wicked astigmatism. We'll see how this goes when I get them back this week.