What to do With Your Glasses After LASIK

There was a recent contest sponsored by a LASIK practice in the DC area on YouTube. The gist of the contest was to make a video of the best way to destroy your glasses after having LASIK. The winner was to receive free LASIK surgery. Many of the videos submitted were quite funny. Originally, we thought this was great publicity for the practice, but after more reflection, we decided that there were better ways to dispose of one’s glasses following LASIK.

We at OCLI, consider the “gift of sight” as one of the most precious gifts. That’s why we encourage our patients to assist us in our ongoing efforts to donate their used glasses. Each year thousands of used eyeglasses are collected by our office and distributed to 2 worthwhile causes:

1. New Eyes for the Needy: New Eyes for the Needy purchases new eyeglasses for poor children and adults in the United States and recycles donated glasses for distribution to indigent people in developing nations worldwide. Founded in 1932, New Eyes has brought improved vision and hope for a better future to more than 7,000,000 people in the U.S. and around the world. New Eyes for the Needy is a non-profit, non-sectarian volunteer organization. Over the years, our practice has donated thousands of pairs of eyeglasses to this wonderful organization.
2. The Hillsborough Crossroads Community Church Medical Missions:

For the last four years we have teamed up with the Hillsborough Crossroads Community Church and their mission efforts in the country of Ecuador. Daniel Woo, MD a former LASIK patient is one of the many volunteers of this mission, and brought its cause to our attention. Eyeglasses that are donated through our office are cleaned, measured and then fit by their team of eye care experts and given to needy individuals in local villages. These eyeglasses make an immense improvement in their lives, allowing them to complete school or find a job or craft, not to mention the pleasure that good vision gives to all of us. The majority of these frames and lenses have primarily come from patients who have undergone the LASIK procedure at our office and no longer have a need for them. This January, another batch of glasses are currently making their worldwide journey to help those in need. We will post photos and news when the 2009 mission team returns.

It has been our pleasure here at OCLI to participate in such wonderful and beneficial causes and we thank those of you who have donated your glasses in the past. Have an old pair of glasses you’d like to donate? Contact us for more information, or stop by our office and look for our donation box.

To encourage more eyeglass donations. we will be implementing the following incentives (Please print this blog post to redeem this offer):

• Interested in LASIK? We will take $250 off the cost of LASIK for each pair of glasses donated, up to 2 pair or $500 total for a bilateral surgery. This may not apply in combination with any other offers.
• We will give a 10% discount certificate to our optical shop for a new pair of glasses or sunglasses,or our contact lens department for a new contact lens fitting for each pair of glasses donated. May not be combined.
• Had LASIK elsewhere and not know what to do with those old glasses? Mail them to our office and we will see that they are put to good use. Our address is:

OCLI
Glasses Donation
46 Eagle Rock Ave.
East Hanover, NJ 07936

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