Two investigations, from two credible newspapers seven years apart, describe the same thing from two angles: an industry built to sell eyewear, not to reduce your need for it. One found near-monopoly ownership and enormous markups; the other found eye exams scored on sales targets.
One company owns much of the chain
In 2019, Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus talked to two men who built the modern eyewear business from the inside: Charles Dahan, once a leading frame supplier to LensCrafters, and E. Dean Butler, LensCrafters’ founder. Both described markups that have little to do with what glasses cost to make. Butler put it bluntly: first-quality lenses can be manufactured for about $1.25 each and designer-grade frames for a few dollars, yet the finished glasses can retail for hundreds. “It’s ridiculous,” he said. “It’s a complete rip-off.”
The reason there is little pressure to lower those prices is consolidation. EssilorLuxottica (formed by the merger of the world’s largest lens maker and the largest eyewear group) owns or licenses a long list of the brands you recognize (Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, and the eyewear lines of many fashion houses), and the stores that sell them (LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sunglass Hut, Target Optical), and a vision insurer, EyeMed. Dahan’s summary: “There is no competition in the industry, not anymore.” When one company owns the brand, the store, and the insurance, there is no competitive force whose job is to act in your interest.
And the eye exam itself is a sales funnel
In July 2026, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age reported what that profit motive looks like inside the exam room. Reporters reviewed more than 80 internal documents and messages from major chains (Specsavers, OPSM, and Bailey Nelson) and found that a key performance measure for optometrists was “conversions”: the share of eye exams that ended in a same-day sale of glasses. Another was average spend per customer.
According to the reporting, one optometrist was told by email that “failure to improve individual KPIs to an acceptable level will lead to a reduction or discontinuation of future bookings.” In a staff group chat, a head-office manager warned they would “have to cut wages even further” if conversions did not improve. Staff described “black-out periods” during peak sales windows when clinical appointments (infections, floaters, flashes, diabetic eye checks) were discouraged so the focus could stay on selling. One chain’s guidance reportedly coached staff to point out scratches on a customer’s current lenses to help close a sale, even when no prescription change was needed.
The profession’s peak body, Optometry Australia, disputed that these targets harm patients, noting optometry is a low-complaint field and that practitioners are bound by a code requiring clinical judgment free of financial influence. That is worth stating plainly: most optometrists are conscientious people doing careful work. The point is not about individuals. It is that the system they work inside is measured on sales.
So where does that leave you?
When the business is structured this way (one company owning the pricing, the product, and the insurance, and the exam itself scored on conversions), the one question nobody in the room is paid to ask is whether your prescription needs to keep getting stronger at all.
Sources
David Lazarus, “How badly are we being ripped off on eyewear? Former industry execs tell all,” Los Angeles Times, 5 March 2019.
Rachel Rasker, “Revealed: The optometrists punished for putting patients before sales,” The Sydney Morning Herald / The Age, 16 July 2026.
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