Learn Real English: Buying Glasses

hi welcome to engvid.com i'm adam in today's  video i'm going to walk you through the process of  

buying glasses okay whether prescription glasses  or regular glasses some people need to wear them  

you need to know how to go into a glass store  and buy yourself a good pair so before we do  

that we're going to look at who you should  talk to before you buy your glasses okay  

you can go to an optometrist an ophthalmologist  and a petition or any of these guys okay or women  

the first of all what's the difference  between optometrist and ophthalmologist  

an optometrist is sort of a doctor i mean i don't  want to offend anyone who's an optometrist but  

it's not a real medical doctor these people  go to university for a shorter amount of time  

and they study a very specific or very limited  amount about the eyes so they can do a vision  

test they can check your vision they can  prescribe glasses for you if you need them  

if you have certain diseases they can prescribe  medicine to correct it and drops and whatnot  

an ophthalmologist is an actual medical doctor  he or she went to full medical school and then  

specialized in the eyes okay in eye medicine this  person can also be a an eye surgeon and if you  

need any work especially if you have cataracts  things like that so if you have very serious eye  

issues you would go to an ophthalmologist if you  just need your vision tested and you need glasses  

you can go to an optometrist now an optician  is the person who makes glasses okay  

he or she gets a prescription from the optometrist  and creates your lenses and puts them on the frame  

etc some opticians some opticians also give vision  tests but it's highly recommended if you need  

glasses go see an optometrist and buy your glasses  from the optician don't get your vision test  

there necessarily so now what's going to happen  they're going to check your vision if you have  

20/20 vision then your perfect vision right you  don't need glasses everything is fine basically  

what 2020 means this is not your prescription  number this means that anything that is 20 feet  

away you can see clearly with both eyes if you're  not 20/20 if you go below this then they start  

measuring your eye the curvature of your eye  okay the curve of your eye and then they know  

where the light is going and hitting your cornea  but we won't get into all the technical stuff  

and that'll give you a prescription now  some of you might be farsighted some of  

you might be nearsighted farsighted you can see  clearly far away nearsighted you can see clearly  

something that's up close now i'm not going  to get into all the details because ronnie  

another teacher here on engVid did a very good  lesson on that you can go check that lesson out  

i'm going to concentrate on the glasses what you  need to know to buy them so first of all if you're  

buying glasses keep in mind some people call them  spectacles this is a little bit old-fashioned but  

some people still use it and you should get  a prescription let me use the blue one here

basically make sure that the doctor gave you the  exact number that you need for each eye okay now  

when you're buying glasses you have  to think about the lens and the frame  

now if you're buying contact lenses that go right  into your eye you just go by the prescription you  

put them in your eye no problem there so when  you're buying lenses now there are different  

types of lenses you can buy a bifocal a bifocal  basically let's say this is the lens you have two  

lenses in one lens and at different focuses and  that's why it's called bi trifocal will have three  

for close for middle for distance okay or you  can buy progressives now i don't know exactly  

what progressives look like but the idea is that  they work for both far and near-sighted the lens  

your eye adjusts to the lens it's built in a way  that you can see in all directions right anywhere  

you look any distance it will work and your eyes  will adjust naturally and everything will be clear  

okay these are very good a little bit expensive  but if you have different types of visions you  

can get them all fixed in one shot you can  also buy transitions now what transitions do  

they adjust the tint okay so this is a tint this  is the darkness basically the lens becomes dark  

so when you go outside and it's sunny the the  lens becomes dark naturally when you go back  

inside the darkness goes away and they become  clear again so it's basically regular glasses  

and sunglasses in one lens there's a certain  chemical inside that adjusts to the light  

or you can just buy sunglasses now be very  careful when you're buying sunglasses okay  

make sure that they have uv protection there  are a lot of cheap sunglasses that you can  

buy on the street or in the store ten dollars  twenty dollars and they say uv protection but  

be very careful most of them don't  have it it's just cheap plastic  

it's dark now what happens if you don't have  uv protection the darkness opens up your pupil

yes same word as student but pupil is the black  area the iris basically the black area of your eye  

it opens up more and more uv comes in so if you're  buying cheap sunglasses you're actually hurting  

your eyes very much okay make sure you have  the uv protection when you're buying sunglasses  

transitions are excuse me automatically come  with it now tinted glasses they just put a coat  

basically a plastic coat of like a sunglass  coat not good be very careful with those now  

you can also get some features on your lenses  for example anti-glare anti-glare they're also  

called anti-reflective what this is is a special  coating on the lens that doesn't let the light  

sit on the lens so if you're wearing glasses  and you see little spots of light from let's say  

light bulbs or the sun or whatever this coating  makes them not there so everything is very clear  

another way you might see is polarized polarized  glasses especially sunglasses basically remove the  

glare so all you see is very clear what's in front  of you without the little light spots on the lens  

now next you have to think about your  frame this is more of a fashion choice  

but it also has to be a a  question of comfort right  

you can have frameless glasses or you can  have ribbed glasses so let's say this is the

sort of let's say this is the glasses this  is the frame now you can have only the lens  

or you can have a rim that's holding the lens  in like that right both are available it's a  

matter of choice more than anything else okay so  rimmed with the frame frameless no frame only lens  

then there are different styles aviator wayfarer  etc you don't need to worry about these names when  

you go to the store to buy your glasses they will  show you all the different styles you try them on  

see which one you like etc make sure  that they are sitting comfortably  

on the bridge of your nose so this is the  bridge of your nose it looks like a bridge  

make sure your glasses are sitting comfortably  most glasses these days are made of plastic  

the lens is made of plastic glass is too heavy  it sits on the bridge and for many people it  

gives them a headache because the weight  squeezes now frames come in metal in plastic  

or titanium titanium is very very lightweight  ultra lightweight we can say i'll put it here

ultra lightweight means super light you  don't even really feel them so those are very  

comfortable but again more expensive and then you  have your contact lenses again as you need so if  

you need glasses like for example i'm getting a  bit older now i need reading glasses or i will  

soon enough i need to go and make sure  that i get the right glasses for me  

make sure you get the right glasses for you  you're gonna have to wear them every day  

make sure they're comfortable okay  if you have any questions about this  

please go to engVid.com you can ask your questions  there you can also take the quiz and test your  

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and come back for more helpful videos uh with all  kinds of topics okay i'll see you again soon bye