Advanced Vision

Just had my first appointment this morning. All four people I interacted with (incl. Dr. Jalali) were quite helpful, friendly, considerate, etc. I primarily went in to get a new glasses prescription; they also checked for other eye-​related medical conditions (e.g., looked at the optic nerve and retina, did a glaucoma test, etc.; no dilation required). Dr. Jalali also had an interesting suggestion about using a rice-​sock to stimulate tear production for those long days staring at the computer screen – I’m curious to try it.
I was wondering how it would be when it came to buying frames and lenses (from them), but Kent (?) was really great. He carefully went through what my insurance (VSP) would cover for different options – different lenses (coatings) and frame prices, and what would get covered if I waited a year or two years to get a second pair (i.e., prescription sunglasses) – without any upsell pressure (to which I’m quite emotionally sensitive, even if it doesn’t change my decisions). I showed him my current frames that I like, and he found four similar options that I liked, three of which were covered fully by VSP. He was also patient as I tried on the last two pairs over and over (they were so similar, it was a tough decision). I wasn’t sure I’d get sunglasses this time (since I didn’t know prices), but he let me look at some options, and I ended up very happy with what he came up with, both frame/​lens and price-​wise.
If something goes wrong next week when the glasses come in, I’ll update this, otherwise (hopefully) everything continued to go smoothly.