Boots Opticians - Contact Lens

Hi

The contact lens regulations changed in June 2005.
They will only supply a perscription once the fitting is
completed. If you check out the following link, it will point
out the new rules.

hope this helpshttp://www.bcla.org.uk/regulations.asp

Just to to the website giving the best price and fill in the details. Give the contact details for Boots and in the very unlikely case that a check is made, it's even more unlikely that boots would refuse to cooperate. Most suppliers don't make any (or very few) checks.

Altarf wrote:

Obviously the optician does not consider that the fitting has been completed until the 6 month check has been carried out.

Yeah right! So if you extend that dubious logic to its obvious conclusion, why stop at six months? Why not allow the optician to claim that the 'fitting has not been completed' until two years have past and the prescription is out of date and another one is required? That would kill the Internet market for contact lenses stone dead! You wouldn't have your own hands in the proverbial cookie jar by any chance, now would you?

Altarf wrote:

Given the complications that can occur with a first time contact lens wearer and the implications if something does go wrong this seems quite sensible.

Sensible to the High Street opticians, yes............sensible to the average consumer, no. It's very touching how concerned the High Street opticians are about consumer health when the consumer chooses to consume elsewhere! I was one of the first people in the UK to wear daily disposable contact lenses. My own experience of High Street opticians over a period of 15 years is largely of contradictory advice based on commercial considerations rather than professional objectivness. Most of them have the same respect for scientific and medical principles as a 'beauty advisor' in the cosmetics department of Boots. I have no idea what's involved in qualifying as a dispensing optician in the UK but it can't be much. In my experience of chatting to them over 15 years, I wouldn't trust any of them to pass a GCSE Biology exam.

Altarf wrote:

Reputable suppliers do check with the original optician otherwise they could be in deep trouble if anything went wrong.

It depends on what you mean by 'reputable'. In your definition you presumably mean suppliers who support the nanny state principle that consumers should be denied the chance to make up their own minds if they want to take 'professional' advice OR NOT before putting pieces of plastic in their OWN eyes. As I understand it, the law states that contact lenses can't be dispensed unless the customer has a prescription. The law is silent on how the supplier is supposed to confirm this. Most to them, who want to survive in a market that allows a consumer to import lenses from abroad (without any prescription), will accept the customer's word for it and rarely use the provided optician details.

The law is an a*ss when it tries to prevent the supply of any goods or service to particular classes of consumer. The Internet is very good at penalising so called 'reputable' suppliers where it hurts most..........in their sanctimonious pockets!

If your OH still wants the lenses via the internet then I would suggest returning to boots and booking a check up appointment making it clear you wish to leave with a contact lens prescription, they will charge for this appointment (usually around £20)


As for previous comments, you need a certain grade GCSE in maths and science OR 10 years working in practice AND 3 years of study to become a dispensing optican with a further year to become a contact lens fitter.

It also amazes me how someone feels they can use a product for several years and become an expert in that field.


mishka

Except the point that you failed to see was that martin didnt go into a rant about all opticians and label them as near idiots, he produced a well researched piece of information that shows, as with any field, that there can be differing medical opinions.
Personally i think its much better to listen to the advice given by an expert than take it with a pinch of salt and form my own opinion, this is a medical appliance we are talking about. It doesnt equate to the same as which lipstick suits me best or shall i have highlights or all over colour.

If you had ever witnessed somebody who thought they knew better over contact lenses and ended up blind, or worse, you wouldnt be so flippant about the advice you were given. Aside from all the medical implications if a contact lens fitter were to give out a prescription that wasnt stable ie they had only seen the patient wearing them once, and that person was to have an accident they would be legally responsible.

The OP wasnt requesting information about the purchase of lenses or which brand is best to save money, they were asking about the first and most important stage of getting the right lens to start with.


mishka