Aquamarine, green, violet — delicate and sparkling — the tinted glasses gripped her attention as she walked past New Market on a sunny afternoon. Enchanted by the violet lens, 25-year-old Nina Sidhu ordered a pair. Though it cost her “a fortune”, the compliments which came her way made it worth every penny. The joy ride, however, came to an end a week later when she woke up with achy, swollen eyes one morning. A visit to the doctor put the final nail on the coffin. The doctor took a look at her glasses and advised her to throw those away. They were that defective.

Sidhu’s example is not a freak one. The desire to look good and the lack of information, are the twin sources of trouble for most buyers left to fend for themselves in a market swimming with a wide range of lenses. Old-timers may rue the lack of choice in their youth, but the variety of options does not necessarily make it easy for the buyer today. Angshuman Ghosh, an executive with GE Caps, for instance, mentions how he was fleeced over a pair of anti-glare glasses by a city shop. “It’s my fault, really,” he says, “I hadn’t checked out the market. So I paid Rs 3,000 for something that actually costs about a grand. I was totally taken in by the sales talk.”

“For a layperson, it’s a difficult choice,” admits Mehul Mehta, store manager, GKB Opticals, Park Street, “But often the prescriptions buyers walk in with are inadequate in describing the problem they have.” Doctors, however, are not ready to take full responsibility. “Our job usually ends with giving out the prescription,” Dr Subroto Rakshit of Farsight Eye Research Centre, Calcutta, “In most cases, we are not aware of the variety of lenses on the shelf. So your optician is your guide. But if the patient comes to us with a faulty pair of glasses, we will tell him to go back to the maker and get it corrected.”

The final ball, therefore, rests with the consumer. In a market where one is spoilt for choice, it’s best to remember that knowledge is power. The chart gives an idea of the different types of lenses available today to suit all types of prescriptions.