Chuck can’t see why glasses are so expensive

Sen. Charles Schumer, seeing red over the high cost of eyeglasses, demanded Sunday that federal authorities make it easier for consumers to shop for better deals.

The bespectacled Democrat (left) wants the Federal Trade Commission to require optometrists to issue easytocarry, full prescription data so patients can test the market — even online.

“The average price of a new pair is $300, and it keeps going up,” Schumer said outside a Midtown Lenscrafters store.

“When an iPad costs less than a pair of glasses, something’s wrong.”

The high price of glasses is a complicated issue, according to a tradegroup rep who said online sales are problematic.

“Buying [glasses] online is very risky,” said Andrea Thau, presidentelect of the American Optometrists Association. “Prescription frames from China are often filled incorrectly, and about a quarter of the children’s glasses aren’t shatter resistant. American standards for glasses are very high. If you go overseas, let the buyer beware.”

Increasing competition is the only fix, Schumer said.

“The eyeglasses market is broken, and consumers bear the cost of that,” he said.

“If you want to get your lenses from somewhere else than where you got your prescription, that shouldn’t be made difficult.”

Tom Wilson, David K. Li