Contact Lenses Discussion Area

System

I found the cheapest place to get contacts is asda optician, I don't think they offer a postal service but I currently pay £36 for 6 pairs of aucvue monthly disposables, not all Asda stores have the asda optician but I go to the big Asda when I visit my mum to collect mine, your local store will be able to tell you the nearest asda option is! The money I save is worth going to the store. They do colours, and daily disposables. They do eye tests for £10 on special offer frequently and the specs, prescription sunglasses are all better priced than specsavers. They also do eyetests in the evening, saturdays & sundays The solution I buy from supermarkets as and when I need it the all in one they are about £3 and suitable for monthly lenses most of them come with a replacement case (if not the case is about £2. to replace).

LyndaG

System

A thought and a tip...everyone who wears contact lenses must get a check up every 12 months to re order contact lenses which seems impossible to avoid

Today i went to Dollands and Atchinson and got the contacts check. They said if i sign up to their direct debit thing which incidentally is 30 quid a month (for 30) for contacts i wouldnt have to pay the £25 fee for the check.

Therefore i paid the first £30 for the first month meaning i get a free check up. Plus once I get those 30 i will cancel the direct debit and revert back to ordering from specsavers direct (for my focus dailies).

Therefore i get free check for prescription for another 12 months, and only pay an extra £10 for a months contact lenses / or a check however you look at it. (30 instead of the 20 if i were oredering off specsavers)

I couldnt think of a cheaper way of avoiding the check....i think i did ok tho!

System

A thought and a tip...everyone who wears contact lenses must get a check up every 12 months to re order contact lenses which seems impossible to avoid

Today i went to Dollands and Atchinson and got the contacts check. They said if i sign up to their direct debit thing which incidentally is 30 quid a month (for 30) for contacts i wouldnt have to pay the £25 fee for the check.

Therefore i paid the first £30 for the first month meaning i get a free check up. Plus once I get those 30 i will cancel the direct debit and revert back to ordering from specsavers direct (for my focus dailies).

Therefore i get free check for prescription for another 12 months, and only pay an extra £10 for a months contact lenses / or a check however you look at it. (30 instead of the 20 if i were oredering off specsavers)

I couldnt think of a cheaper way of getting the check up / updated prescription....i think i did ok tho!

System

I would like to buy RGP lenses but no UK based online-suppliers are offering them! As such I have to consider purchasing from the US. Does anyone know the level of tax and import duty applicable if any?

Many thanks

System

I've just bought 6 months supply of Focus Night & Day (the ones you leave in for up to 30 days and sleep in them too - so no solutions needed) They cost £87.50 including postage from lensway.com. The last time I ordered, they arrived within two days. My optician's price would have been £26 a month - Lensway works out at around £14.60 a month for exactly the same product (although I'll need to pay about £20 for an annual check now - but still a huge saving)

Andrea

I received a reply from Simplylenses.com about a week after emailing them (and after I'd rung them). The phone number takes you through to the site optometrist's mobile phone.

They say they do reduce their prices but only by a little more. I guess that means their price promise doesn't apply.

System

As a Contact Lens Optician of 16 years I am dismayed to see how many people put them selves at risk for a few quid, in some cases. The General Optical Council is a body set up to look after the interests of Public at the expense of the Opticians. I only hope they monitor chat sites like this to see the danger their legislation has put ill informed nieve members of the public in. Contact Lenses can cause serious eye complications, just ask your local casualty department.

tstockford

This week's issue of Heat magazine has a voucher for a free eye test and contact lens assessment at Dolland & Aitchison (a full-page advert).

It's intended for people who want to try contact lenses, so it's not clear whether they'd accept it for an aftercare appointment if you already wear lenses, but it's worth a try.

Typical, when I just paid £25 for a check-up at Specsavers a few days ago! (More on that later...)

By the way, another good place for D&A vouchers is the Tesco magazine and Clubcard mailouts, as D&A are a Clubcard partner.

Cheers

Tara

System

Being new to contacts and having only ever needed to wear glasses in front of a computer I'm not too clued up in this area. But now, having spent too long in front of a computer at work I'm considering contacts. The thing is it's only my right eye that is short sighted. Will an optician give the OK just to have one contact lens or will they always want you to have two?

Carl

nh

As a Contact Lens Optician of 16 years I am dismayed to see how many people put them selves at risk for a few quid, in some cases. The General Optical Council is a body set up to look after the interests of Public at the expense of the Opticians. I only hope they monitor chat sites like this to see the danger their legislation has put ill informed nieve members of the public in. Contact Lenses can cause serious eye complications, just ask your local casualty department.

Can you please explain EXACTLY what is wrong with buying exactly the same product cheaper?

As long as you have all the eye checks that are recommended (and no one is saying not to have them) what is wrong with buying your lenses through the internet rather than through your optician? You're not only interested in protecting opticians' financial interests surely?

Once you take your lenses home, you can have an accident with them whether you bought them through your optician or not. Are the legions of contact lens wearers in casualty only those who bought their lenses over the internet? Is this the reason they are in casualty? I think not.

Please explain exactly how I am naive and ill-informed.