Affordable Eyeglasses from Star Finder Optical

It has taken me probably more than 5 long years to finally say hello to a new pair of eyeglasses and a new box of contact lenses. The shopping part been long overdue considering that old pair of eyeglasses has a lower eye grade compared with my contact lens grade. So last weekend, I finally decided to give my eyes a fresh and fun bff. ^_^


Here in the Philippines, some famous optical shops include EO Executive Optical, Ideal Vision, Sarabia Optical  and Sabater Optical. I have purchased and availed service from all these optical shops in my 18 years of wearing eyeglasses. Being a member of the so called 'four-eyed' club can be really expensive as I have to buy a pair of eyeglasses every time my eye grade increases and there's contact lenses and the regular purchase of eye solution. Most of these optical shops offers lens and frames valued at Php2,500 or more. Heck, I was determined to search for the cheapest pair of eyeglasses in the Philippines, of course without sacrificing comfort. Great thing I was with a fellow 'four eyed friend' at Festival Mall in Alabang and she dragged me to what first seems to be a Korean eyewear shop.

Star Finder Optical Alabang (image from their Facebook page)

There we entered Star Finder Optical. Customers can easily feel the KPop vibe inside the store with all those posters of Korean celebrities wearing trendy eyeglasses, Korean customers and Korean owners. I immediately asked for affordable eyeglass choices and the smiling lady guided me to the right side of the shop, it's where you'll see more customers trying on some eyeglasses. Php2,000 is my benchmark and the lady showed me some really good stylish eyeglasses with frames (no lens) as affordable as Php500!

Where to buy cheap contact lenses?

Few days back, I visited Ideal Vision for my eye check up and to buy new contact lenses as well. During the eye exam, I asked the optometrist what she thinks about eye exercises and she, as expected, didn't really buy the idea. She said it may help but wouldn't really bring your 20-20 vision back. Oh well then... After the eye exam, I was a bit disappointed to find out that my eye grade got higher at -3.00 (left eye) and -2.75 (right eye). a .25 increase in each eye, but the doctor said it's still much better considering my last check up was still in 2009.  However, I also found out that I now have an astigmatism. Probably because of working long hours in front of the computer. Yup, both eyes have different eye grades which reminds me to tell you how I ended up buying a more expensive contact lens.

I chose Ideal Vision simply because I took my last eye check up with them. I wanted to keep track of my records so I opted to stick with that optical shop. Now for the contacts, I heeded the optometrist's advice to get myself a set of contacts good for one year - a 6 pairs of contacts lenses (each pair good for 2-3 months). She handed me down a Precision UV, something I also used prior to the check up.  But because I have two different eye grades, I couldn't immediately take home 3 pairs which I first opted to buy. I still need to wait for 3 days, so I have no other choice but to buy 6 pairs right on the spot. The 6 pairs of Precision UV contacts plus the Aosept plus solution is worth Php2,490.

Passing through another optical shop, I asked the Executive Optical optometrist who happens to be at the counter area and asked her how much their eye contacts are worth. She said they're selling 6 pairs of Flexwear contacts for just Php 1,200+. I was surprised! They're selling contacts here for half the price I bought from Ideal Vision. Was I ripped off? I hope not. But realizing this, I begin to ask myself if the pairing of Precision UV and Aosept plus is really of high quality standard compared to Flexwear. I haven't used Flexwear so for those who knew, you can leave a comment below and you might enlighten me more. Because if Flexwear is just as good as Precision UV, I would definitely go for the cheaper contact lens.

After the purchase, I found out from my  four-eyed friends that indeed EO Executive Optical sells more affordable eye products and services. Geez, I should have known this beforehand. Anyway, you can check them out online at http://www.eo-executiveoptical.com/home/