How long do glasses take to make in Nepal?

People ask how long glasses take to make expecting one number, and there is not one. The honest answer is that it depends on your power, your lens choice and your frame, and a good shop will tell you the real date at the counter rather than the one you want to hear.

How long do glasses take at Blurkart

For most people the answer is one to three working days. That covers a standard single vision lens in a common power, fitted into a normal full-rim frame. If your prescription is mild and the lens blank is already in our tray, we cut it, edge it to your frame, fit it and check it. That is not a long job.

Progressive lenses take three to five working days. Bifocals sit in between. High index lenses for strong prescriptions can take up to a week, because those are ordered in rather than kept in stock for every power.

What actually adds days

Four things push the date out, and none of them are the shop being slow.

A strong power. Past about minus 4, a standard lens starts looking thick at the edge. A high index lens fixes that, but we have to order the right index for your exact number rather than pull one from stock.

A progressive design. Three zones ground into a single surface is precision work. Rushing it is how you end up with a lens that swims when you turn your head.

A rimless or half-rim frame. On a full-rim frame the lens sits inside a groove. On rimless, each lens is drilled and mounted to that specific frame, and on half-rim it is grooved for nylon wire. Both are slower and both are easier to ruin if hurried.

A coating you asked for. A blue coat lens at NPR 750 is quicker than the fully digital blue filter at NPR 2,990, because the digital lens is surfaced to your prescription rather than coated over a stock blank.

Can it be done the same day?

Sometimes, and we will say so honestly rather than promise it and call you later. Same-day works when three things line up: a common power, a stock lens, and a full-rim frame. Walk in during the morning rather than at closing time and the odds are better.

What we will not do is rush a progressive or a rimless job to hit a deadline. A pair you cannot wear comfortably is not faster, it is just a second visit.

Ordering online instead

If you order through the site, add the same lens time on top of delivery. Delivery inside Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur is NPR 90 with cash on delivery, and we courier to the rest of Nepal. The clock starts when we have a readable prescription, so send the slip photo with your order rather than after it.

One thing worth checking before you order: a complete prescription needs SPH, CYL, AXIS and your PD. Many hospital and eye camp slips leave the PD out. If yours does, we can measure it free in about a minute at either showroom, but posting the frame back and forth costs more days than that visit does.

What to ask before you pay

Ask for the collection date, not a range. Ask whether your lens is in stock or being ordered. Ask what happens if the finished pair does not feel right, because the answer should be that we recheck and remake rather than shrug. Our frames can be exchanged at any point before the lenses are cut, which is the moment the job becomes yours rather than ours.

If you are still choosing between lens types, our guide to single vision or progressive lenses covers which one your eyes actually need, and high index lenses explains when the thinner option is worth the extra days. Browse prescription frames from NPR 999 and we will quote the honest date when you bring the slip in.

What to do while you wait

If this is your only pair and it broke, say so when you order. We can sometimes fit a temporary lens in a cheap frame to get you through the week, which costs less than rushing the real job badly. If you are replacing a working pair, keep wearing the old one rather than going without, even if the power is out of date. Straining through a week of nothing is how people end up with headaches they then blame on the new glasses.