Priest River Eye Care

12/02/2025

*HOURS UPDATE* Effective December 1, our Priest River location is now open on Wednesdays (9am-5pm) and Fridays (9am-1pm) every week. (We hope to add some Monday hours to the schedule in early 2026 - fingers crossed.) As always, our Sandpoint location is open 5 days a week, and our phone lines are live Monday-Friday for all your scheduling needs.

Also, we are getting updates from contact lens manufacturers that price increases are on the way nationwide for the opening days of 2026. We saw several companies raise their prices not once, not twice, but THREE times in 2025 -- so we know your pain. We're trying to give everyone advance notice now -- restock your contacts this month, before they get pricier.

Happy gray days! Find a heat source and snuggle up with a friend!

07/23/2025

*Upcoming changes!* Our credit card rates increased again this spring. After a few months of this (paired with tariff increases on many eyewear products), we've decided to begin implementing a 3% surcharge on all credit card transactions. This will go into effect in all our locations starting Monday, August 4. Small & partial adjustments like this will help us keep price increases at bay. We'd like to remind our awesome customers that paying with cash, checks, or other alternative methods will be easy ways around the fees. Thanks for your understanding! We will make sure we have good signage and "no surprises" when you get to the checkout desk... But we're posting warnings online as well to help everyone be prepared before their appointments.

Other important news: A few of our lilies survived the deer that forage along the highway in Priest River! We're enjoying these blooms as the weather stays cool this week. Hope you're enjoying the pleasant air too!

07/04/2025

We are getting more and more questions from our customers about how tariffs are affecting eye care pricing. Last week, we saw soft contact lenses start to creep up in price (virtually all soft contact lenses are imported). All our currently stocked frames are still the same price, but new stock is starting to come in about 5% higher (other than our American-made brands, which are holding steady pricewise!) We're also getting notices from our lens labs that base material is starting to come in at a higher price. Bottom line: July might be the best time to get glasses or stock up on contact lenses. Everything is pointing up from here.

Otherwise... Summer is officially here! If you feel you can't see those fireworks clearly tonight, or find yourself pulling the wrong plants in your garden (woops), it might be time to get your eyes checked! For the past year, we've had a handy online scheduling feature on our website, and it is so convenient for booking those back-to-school or college student appointments. Just keep in mind that if you want us to bill an insurance plan for your appointment, we NEED you to call in your appointment so we can pre-check your plan. We dislike unpleasant surprises as much as you do.

When you're ready, just hit the "Book Now" button on our website: https://priestrivereyecare.com/

Happy 4th!

12/09/2024

Changed office hours alert!

We had three months of normal clinic hours, and we are back to foggy days again. If you have noticed the dimmed lights and asked yourself, "are they here on Thursdays or not?" the unfortunate answer is, "not right now!" Currently we are in Priest River on Tuesdays from 9am-5pm, and FRIDAYS from 9am-1pm (or later Friday afternoons by appointment).

We are once again on reduced staffing levels. So, with many apologies, please bear with us and call ahead! If you can't make it in to the PR office on Tuesdays or Fridays to pick up your contact lenses, get your glasses repaired, or schedule your exam, please call us. We can arrange for you to be helped in our Sandpoint office (Pend Oreille Vision Care), ship items to your house, or come up with other creative solutions.

We hope you are embracing the clouds and precip, and settling in for a great holiday season. Best wishes to you and all your kin!

06/20/2024

Reduced office hours alert! [Don't worry, this is temporary...]

We are on slightly reduced staffing levels right now due to some unforeseen incidents (medical emergencies) combined with planned employee absences (weddings + July 4th + camping trips). While we remain OPEN on Tuesdays, for the next month or so, we simply don't have the womanpower to open our doors on Thursdays.

Please bear with us and plan accordingly! If you can't make it in to the PR office on Tuesdays to pick up your contact lenses, get your glasses repaired, or schedule your exam, please call us. We can arrange for you to be helped in our Sandpoint office, ship items to your house, or come up with other creative solutions.

We hope to be open on Thursdays again by the end of July. Thanks SO much for your patience! We hope you too are getting outside between the rainshowers to enjoy the last spring flowers!

12/07/2023

We love it when people walk in our doors with great questions. One of the trendiest questions in eye care world over the past few years has been: what do I do about blue light exposure?
The short version of the answer is -- no one is quite sure yet. A lot of the major studies on the "benefits" of blue light blockers (better sleep; reduced eye strain when using screens/devices) have turned out to be inconsequential at best.
There's a plausible theory that high-energy blue light (being closest on the electromagnetic spectrum to UV light) could do damage to the physical structures of your eye over time. However, proving that theory is going to take time. No long-term studies on the protective effects of blue-blockers for eye health have been completed yet.
If you walk in and ask our staff if we sell blue-blocking lenses, they'll say yes, we do -- but their follow-up question will be, "why do you want one?" Rather than upselling the newest, most expensive products, we try really hard to engage our patients & customers in conversation. Our goal is to equip you to make the right choices for your health AND your wallet.

An analysis of previous trials suggests blue-light-filtering lenses may not reduce eyestrain or sleep problems

09/22/2023

There was a big scare in eye care world earlier this year when the FDA put out warnings and recalls on eye drops that had harmed their users. A few weeks ago, 8 more manufacturers were given FDA warnings for illegally making or marketing unapproved drops. Many of them are facing issues due to product sterility -- aka, increased risk of harm to users. (Your eyes don't have the same level of immuno-protective systems as your skin and digestive system -- meaning non-sterile eye drops can really, truly do you a number if they've been contaminated.)

At the same time, Addipak also put out a recall on a batch of their saline solution, which failed sterility tests. Some of our local patients use Addipak saline for scleral contact lens filling solution. If you're a scleral wearer and Addipak user, be sure to look up the manufacturer's instructions regarding Lot 3B085.

None of the affected eye drops or solutions we're mentioning here were used or sold at our clinics. We just think this is a great time to remind everyone -- things that go in your eyeballs need to be sterile! Homeopathic treatments are popular in our area. There are some amazing folks at the Dry Eye Foundation that are trying to help the public determine which eye drops are safe for use -- they have a database/website up in beta form, for you to look up your eye drops (https://alerts.eyedropsafety.org/); and, one of their board members also wrote a great blog recently on homeopathic eye care (https://www.eyedropsafety.org/news/blog/whats-going-on-with-the-fda-amp-homeopathic-eye-drops).

If you're not a clicky person and don't want to follow those links, feel free to take a look below at the recent additions to the FDA list, and make sure any products you use aren't featured.
-Boiron, Inc (Optique 1 Eye Drops);
-CVS Health (CVS Health Pink Eye Relief Drops);
-DR Vitamins, LLC (Vision Clarity Eye Drops, Life Extension Brite Eyes III, Can-C Eye Drops, Longevity Science Visual Ocuity);
-Natural Ophthalmics (Women's Tear Stimulation Dry Eye Drops, Allergy Desensitization Eye Drops,,Ortho-K Thin (Daytime) Eye Drops, Ortho-K Thick (Night) Eye Drops, Tear Stimulation Forte Dry Eye Drops, Cataract Eye Drops with Cineraria);
-OcluMed LLC (OcluMed Nutritional/Lubricant Eye Drops);
-Similasan AG (Similasan Dry Eye Relief, Similasan Complete Eye Relief, Similasan Allergy Eye Relief, Similasan Kids Allergy Eye Relief, Similasan Red Eye Relief, Similasan Pink Eye Relief, Similasan Kids Pink Eye Relief, Similasan Aging Eye Relief, Similasan Computer Eye Relief, Similasan Stye Eye Relief, Similasan Pink Eye Nighttime Gel, Similasan Dry Eye Nighttime Gel);
-TRP Company, Inc. ["Natural Eyes" brand] (Dryness Relief, Pink Eye Relief, Allergy Eyes Relief, Red Eye Relief, Eye Lid Relief, Aging Eye Relief, Blur Relief, Floaters Relief, Twitching Relief, Stye Relief);
-Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Walgreens Allergy Eye Drops, Walgreens Stye Eye Drops, Walgreens Pink Eye Drops).

12/26/2022

🎶'These are a few of my favorite things...'🎵
Our decorative shelves in Priest River are loads of fun. At our Sandpoint office - Pend Oreille Vision Care - we've enjoyed a new tradition recently with our "flex" shelving behind our opticians' table. It becomes a whole wall of "favorites" each December, as cards roll in from local & regional friends. Community is where it's at!!! And it's so fun to step back and see community in the absolute best light at the end of each year.
Wishing you all love, joy, and -- of course -- peace as we round out 2022 together.

11/09/2022

We made A THING! Don't take our radio silence on Facebook for inactivity - we've been busy since that last post preparing an awesome surprise!
Introducing our new Sandpoint business partner... Spec-Techs! It's like the food truck of eye care! A clinic within a clinic! And boy oh boy are we excited. As a host clinic for Spec-Techs, our Sandpoint location (known as Pend Oreille Vision Care) is now able to offer $70 eye exams to qualifying customers!!! That's right, that's an eye exam for HALF the price of our comprehensive exams with Dr. Harrell. It's not a scam. It's not an outsider business. It's owned and operated by us, the same local folks you already trust with your eye care. And not only are we offering this to try to save you money -- with Spec-Techs, we are now able to schedule folks a lot sooner. We are scheduling out to February for eye exams here in Priest River, but we can get qualifying individuals a Spec-Techs appointment in Sandpoint as soon as next week.
Want to know more? Check out the Spec-Techs website, https://spec-techs.com , to look at pricing, age qualifications, schedule an eye exam 24/7, or get any other questions answered.

08/13/2022

Is everyone finding ways to stay cool this month??
We have some happy news - we are close to completing some really crucial staff training that we've been conducting since May. That means we have some expanded appointment availability at our Sandpoint location! We are working hard to get people in as quickly as we can, especially now that we are down an eye doctor in Bonner County (with the retirement of Dr. Koch).
Related to that news, we are now shifting our open hours BACK to what they were last winter-spring. Starting this next week, our optician days are Tuesdays & Thursdays! These are the two days you'll want to swing by for glasses repairs, to pick up your contact lenses, or to see our staff members' smiling faces. 😊 As always, optician days remain really busy -- it's super helpful if you can give us a call before you drop in.
Our phone lines remain open daily! Call us any weekday to schedule appointments or present any emergencies, and we'll do our very best to help you out.
Happy dog days of summer!!!

05/09/2022

Some good things are permanent in this world... Like pretty art and snugly cats.
Other things shift about sometimes -- like our hours! We are still doing our very best to keep our little eye clinic open as many days per week as possible. Starting this week, we're shifting our optician days to Tuesdays & Wednesdays -- so these are the two days you'll want to swing by for glasses repairs, to pick up your contact lenses, or to see our staff members' smiling faces. 😊 Optician days are really busy right now, and it's super helpful if you can give us a call before you drop in.
Just like last winter, our phone lines are open daily. Call us any weekday to schedule appointments or present any emergencies, and we'll do our very best to help you out.
Happy spring!!!

10/25/2021

Thanks to high demand on our stretched-thin staff, we have made the difficult decision to limit our business hours in Priest River through the end of 2021. We are now available for appointments & glasses repairs Tuesdays & Thursdays from 9am - 5pm.
That being said, we will continue to take phone calls on our normal, all-week schedule! If you call ahead before you stop by, we can make sure we don't miss you, or we can increase your access to our services. For instance, we can arrange for your contact lenses to be mailed straight to you, or we can coordinate a way for you to pick up your glasses any day of the week in our Sandpoint office. We love to help, so don't be shy! Give us a call at (208) 448-0144.
Happy fall!