Lens coatings (anti-reflective, blue light) are marked up 1,000%+ with dubious clinical value

When you buy glasses at a retail optical shop, the frame price is just the beginning. The upsell cascade starts: anti-reflective coating ($75-$150), blue-light filtering ($50-$100), scratch-resistant coating ($25-$50), UV protection ($20-$40), photochromic transition ($100-$200). A basic single-vision lens that costs the lab $3-$8 to produce becomes a $200-$400 lens after coatings. Anti-reflective coating, the most commonly pushed add-on, costs the lab $1-$3 to apply in bulk but retails for $75-$150 -- a markup of 2,500-15,000%. The optician presents these as medical necessities: 'You really need AR coating for computer work' or 'Blue light is damaging your retinas.' The clinical evidence for many of these coatings is weak to nonexistent. A 2023 Cochrane systematic review found no evidence that blue-light-filtering lenses reduce eye strain, improve sleep quality, or protect retinal health. Yet blue-light lenses are a multi-billion-dollar product category sold with implied medical authority. Consumers trust their optician the way they trust their doctor, so when the person in the white coat says 'I'd really recommend the blue light coating,' they add $100 to their order without questioning it. Over 160 million corrective lens wearers in the US, this adds up to billions in spending on coatings of questionable value. This persists because coatings are the highest-margin product in optical retail. Frame margins are 60-70%, but coating margins can exceed 90%. Optical shops that lose frame sales to online retailers compensate by pushing more coatings. Lens manufacturers like Essilor build coating packages into their lens tiers (Crizal, Varilux), creating bundles that make it difficult to compare or decline individual coatings. The optician's incentive structure -- often commission-based -- rewards upselling. And the consumer has no way to independently verify whether the coating was actually applied or what it cost the shop, since there is no visible difference between a coated and uncoated lens to the naked eye.