On Friday morning I got up and put on my glasses and one of the lenses fell out. The frame had broken.
I went to my optician in Cluny and they have made a temporary repair and tested my eyesight, which hasn’t changed since my last test nearly two years ago.
I was given the name of an opthamologist, as it now appears that doctors cannot give prescriptions for new pairs of glasses.
Eventually someone answered the 'phone and I explained the situation.
My appointment is for the 3rd January.
I now have two options, pay for the glasses myself, hope they don’t break again and have an NHS sight test when, or if, I go to UK.
Wait until the 3rd January.
We are waiting for the date of a wedding next year in Warwick and hope that all the Brexit problems will have been sorted out, we don’t fancy waiting on the M20 for the tunnel.
Why has France such a dearth of opthamologists? Why have they not recognised this problem and done something about it?
I’m slightly confused but that is probably because I don’t actually live in France so don’t know all the subtleties of the French health system.
I assume that you need a prescription to get a new pair out of the French health service without paying for them yourself?
If you are stuck with (or resigned to) paying for them, and have the details for your prescription, it might be useful to know that Glasses Direct deliver to Europe.
Is there an equivalent service in France?
This thread may help.
I was reading this just the other day,
If you have your old prescription I think they are valid for a number of years
Answering my own question there seem to be no end of outfits online selling specs.
Oh no! I will have to pay, but my mutuelle will pay up a significant part if I have a prescription for the monture and two verres.
I do want to try out the frames before I buy them, so buying online is out of the question.
Hello Jane… what a nuisance… (I am lost without my glasses)… perhaps it was because your optician could mend the frames, that they did not suggest another course of action…
I have had broken glasses replaced with no problem… giving me like for like on the lenses and (of course) new frames… This is the sort of situation which transcends all the normal guidelines… 
Let’s face it… broken glasses must be replaced… (or are we meant to blindly, fumble our way around while waiting for an Opthamo appointment…).
If your optician is unwilling to go ahead… your doctor could give you a prescription authorising the broken glasses to be replaced… now…before the mended-frames fall apart again… 
It might be worth having a word… 
This is fine, but I have got to have the prescription.
My optician took the last one when I had my new glasses two years ago.
If your getting €300. refunded it’s not so much per person really, just harsh when it’s all in one go.
I always pay at least £120 in the UK for my bog standard specs, I usually get another pair free but I can’t pay less for just one pair.
I suppose I could get them cheaper if I had awful frames but as I wear them all the time I like something stylish.
In the UK I get free eye checks because my mum has glaucoma, would that happen in France?
Hi Jane… if you talk with the Secretary at your Opthamo… your last prescription can be zapped to you (and/or the optician)…
Although, your optician should have a note of what you were given last time…
You have to pay to visit the opthalmologist in France but some of that will be reimbursed. No idea how much as I only went once about 10 years ago but had to pay more than 70€ and it was not all reimbursed. He also got my eyes mixed up on the prescription! 
I now have an eye test when I visit the UK. The glasses are so much cheaper as well as I have very basic mutuelle cover and get almost nothing reimbursed.
Are the specs more chic though?
Hi Jane
If your prescription is less than 2 years old and your eyesight hasn’t changed then the optician will have to honour this, they should also have a record/copy of what your prescription was when they provided the glasses.
Also they normally have a range of ‘budget frames’ that they don’t display. Worth asking to see these are they are sometimes a lot cheaper (nothing like the old NHS wired ones of years ago) and quite good too.
I know all of this through what a local optician has told my French partner.
Hope it helps … 
We’re like many others and get our eyes tested in the UK even though we have to pay, in fact we’ve got appointments with Specsavers next week which we booked on-line, glasses are also cheaper.
At lunettes pour tous you don’t need the prescription to get it refunded by the SÉCU - they prescribe and give you the feuille de soins for the refund. You just need to be able to get to one of the stores!
If you have any need for glasses and can’t get back to the UK regularly enough to do it there (and who knows what might happen post Brexshit - we may all be stuck at Dover for years to come ) - I strongly recommend getting @fabien to sort you out with the appropriate mutuelle cover. I didn’t pay anything for my optho visit as it was all covered. And having discovered Lunettes pour Tous, I won’t be paying anything for my glasses in future either.
I know you say you don’t want online - but I’m about to re suggest online. As a short term fix and emergency spare - they start at 10’ish Euros plus a bit in post depending who you buy from. I understand why have a full eye test and being in the “system”- but a cheap pair or two as spares in case of breakage or to do dirty jobs in - you may be surprised how cheap glasses are online if you skip all the coatings and fluff. Especially if you’re eyes are stable and not needing a different script every year.
They do nicer and more expensive ones - but a cheap pair as a short term fix is a gentle way to see if online glasses are as hard to choose as you think. May surprise you.
The only bit you need on the site we use is the distance between eyes - tape measure was enough and they do fit - the rest is just copy from your existing prescription…
Jane,
as it happens this afternoon I was in the waiting room of my optician when I replied, after I found this on the table in the waiting room.
I have just found it and it is still valid.
It doesn’t alter the fact that if you have an accident with your glasses you can wait for months for an appointment for an opthamologist.
It seems that the UK is well ahead in this regard.
I will keep the appointment to have the health check.