Silicon Hydrogel contact lenses - anyone here use these? I need cheaper options

Legacy_user

Posted this in the contact lens thread a few weeks ago /no reply. Hopefully someone here can help?

I'm currently on Specsavers easyvision umere daily at £30 a month which are rebranded Sauflon Clariti 1day. (silicon hydrogels).

The average going price is £1 per pair which is quite expensive.

Anyone use these lenses and know of anywhere I can get these cheaper? thanks!

starshine1975

try one day acuvue moist these are good or go to daysoft web site :j

hotcookie101

starshine1975 wrote: »

try one day acuvue moist these are good or go to daysoft web site :j

Please don't. They are not the silicon hydrogel lenses the OP has been prescribed. They could cause damage to her eyes.

OP I wear acuvue trueye-at £40 per month I feel your pain. I may ask if I can trial those ones if they are £30 per month. AFAIK from my research when I went on the trueye, the specsavers prices are sort of on a par for these types of lenses, so you might not find them much cheaper.

You could ask your prescriber if you could try a cheaper one like acuvue moist, but am presuming you have been px the hydrogels for a reason (I got bad dry eye problems after years of lenses, daysoft for the last4 or 5, couldn't keep them in for more than 30 minutes in the end, the trueye are wonderful)

Pennywise2012

The problem that you've got is that silicone hydrogel is the most expensive material (but far and away the best) and daily replacement is the most expensive mode of wear, so added together it ain't cheap!

You'll struggle to regularly get the ones you're wearing now cheaper elsewhere. Sauflon's big sales pitch is that they won't sell to internet retailers - they're optician only. You might see them on offer, so it's worth making sure you have a written, up-to-date copy of your sight test AND contact lens fitting. That means that you won't have to fork out for any fitting fees if another optician is doing a deal on them. Specsavers should give you that without fuss.

The other way to get the price down is to try and find a different lens that still works for you - i.e. switch material or modality of wear.

Material - Silicone hydrogel (as opposed to just hydrogel, which is what the other soft lenses are) lets more oxygen through to the eye, and it holds water differently, so you can wear them for longer without discomfort or damage. Do you NEED to wear your lenses for as long as you do each day? If you're happy enough, say, to wear your lenses for work but put your glasses on when you get home, then you could maybe switch to a cheaper daily.

Modality - daily disposable is the most expensive mode of wear. Most people that wear dailies do it for convenience reasons though, rather than clinical need (some people who are particularly prone to infections and stuff have to use dailies). It sounds like you're wearing them pretty much every day, so could a monthly replacement lens work for you? You'd have to clean them each night, but that's very little time/effort. Air Optix are silicone hydrogel, and I'm pretty sure they're £13 a month all-in where you are now. If your eyes are good in terms of dryness and lens tolerance, you could also look at lenses that you sleep in. Again, the material is silicone hydrogel, and for that it's about £15 a month.

Obviously, whatever you decide to do, book a contact lens check and tell the optician that you want to try a cheaper option. You're currently wearing the Rolls Royce of lens options, so they won't be surprised by this They'll give you free trials of whatever lenses you discuss, so the whole experiment shouldn't cost you anything. Good luck!

kirtondm

Monthly Silicon Hydrogels even with solutions will work out cheaper

Biofinity is a good lens

steve124

candyflossing wrote: »

Posted this in the contact lens thread a few weeks ago /no reply. Hopefully someone here can help?

I'm currently on Specsavers easyvision umere daily at £30 a month which are rebranded Sauflon Clariti 1day. (silicon hydrogels).

The average going price is £1 per pair which is quite expensive.

Anyone use these lenses and know of anywhere I can get these cheaper? thanks![/QUOTE

yeah, i get ciba focus night and day silicon contact lenses online from smartspecs.com.au. Theyre pretty cheap, and sometimes arrive the next day, and my health fund pays for some of the cost. Its definately cheaper than buying in a store!

LouLou

I was told that the green (preservative-free) Specsavers EasyVision solution is rebranded Sauflon Synergi solution by an assistant in Specsavers, so maybe they do a lot of rebranded Sauflon items.

I just can't justify the cost of silicone hydrogel lenses...but I was lucky enough to get the free months' trial of dailies from Johnson And Johnson. I say "lucky", they seem to have got lost somewhere! Tesco still don't have them, nearly 2 months later.

I use dailies, so got a bit confused by the posts on here; I assume Sauflon Clarti are monthly, daily use lenses? What is the equivalent Specsavers' version called? (Can't see it on here: http://www.contactlenses.co.uk/page?id=16)

Currently using Crystal 1 Day from contactlenses.co.uk which are very cheap. Used to use Daysoft but they do make my eyes dry; haven't tried the new Silk version yet.

My eyes get very dry (use drops with contacts) and the silicone hydrogel I trialled was Johnson And Johnson's TruEye. Hopefully the price will go down over time.

System

LouLou wrote: »

I was told that the green (preservative-free) Specsavers EasyVision solution is rebranded Sauflon Synergi solution by an assistant in Specsavers, so maybe they do a lot of rebranded Sauflon items.

I just can't justify the cost of silicone hydrogel lenses...but I was lucky enough to get the free months' trial of dailies from Johnson And Johnson. I say "lucky", they seem to have got lost somewhere! Tesco still don't have them, nearly 2 months later.

I use dailies, so got a bit confused by the posts on here; I assume Sauflon Clarti are monthly, daily use lenses? What is the equivalent Specsavers' version called? (Can't see it on here: http://www.contactlenses.co.uk/page?id=16)

Currently using Crystal 1 Day from contactlenses.co.uk which are very cheap. Used to use Daysoft but they do make my eyes dry; haven't tried the new Silk version yet.

My eyes get very dry (use drops with contacts) and the silicone hydrogel I trialled was Johnson And Johnson's TruEye. Hopefully the price will go down over time.

Most contact lenses are rebranded at high street opticians. However if you ask the optician for the brand name they usually give it to you (or just search online). Sauflon also do a monthly silicon hydrogel lens, I am unsure of the rebrand name.

They say that eventually silicon hydrogels will be the lens of choice, and as more brands switch to them the price will inevitably go down.

hotcookie101 is correct I was prescribed these lenses for a reason (dry eye, prone to eye infections). However it seems Sauflon is now the contact lens of choice amongst opticians as they ONLY sell to opticians (not online retailers) so obviously prescribing them benefits the opticians as you have to go back to them for more! This makes me question whether I was actually prescribed them because they are better for my eye (I've read that some people with dry eye actually benefit more from low water or even low oxygen permeability because they act as a 'bandage' on the eye). Honestly, I used to wear cheaper acuvue moist and to me the difference is minimal.

Anyhow after a LOT of online searching I found the Sauflon Clariti Daily slightly cheaper if I bulk order from Yates and Suddell or Eyesite-Direct (these are both high street opticians with online sales). e.g. If you get a years worth of lenses you save £80-90. Still, it's cheaper than Specsavers.

Cherie48

Hi. I did a lot of online searching yesterday to find the equivalent to Specsavers' Easyvision Umere Dailies. I came up with Clariti 1 Day. I ordered these yesterday afternoon from eyesiteopt.co.uk and they arrived this morning! It cost me £88 for 90 pairs (3 months' supply) and when I opened the box they were identical to my Specsavers ones! (Obviously rebranded as even the box was identical apart from the colour/branding). Hope this helps :wave:

satchef1

I got prescribed the Clariti One-Day lenses from Vision Express, £32/month for 90 lenses a quarter. Before that, I was on the cheapest Specsavers-branded lenses at £20/month. My optician at VE went mad, apparently those lenses were damaging my eyes (dry eyes, almost always bloodshot and I could only wear the lenses for about 8 hours without discomfort). The Clariti were SO much better, but at 90 lenses a quarter I quickly found myself with a backlog of lenses. Reducing the quantity really isn't worth it; £27/month for 60 pairs a quarter, £22/month for 30 pairs a quarter. I did gleam one thing from my trip in store though - I can buy in bulk from the store and get 30% student discount, so around £70 for 90 pairs. Bargain!

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Funny story... my optician wanted me to try some of these lenses quite a while ago.

When they arrived, I made an appointment for a fitting. I arrived with my dailies lenses in. The optician asked me to put the silicon hydro lenses in so she could see how they were in my eyes.

As soon as I put one in, it felt extremely uncomfortable. So I immediately took it out. However, I soon realized that I had forgotten to take the daily lens out before putting the hydrogel one in.

Completely embarrassed, I never told the optician what I had done. She just assumed that they weren't suitable. I couldn't bring myself to tell her my mistake.

However, recently I have been trialing RGP lenses & am not getting away with them. So, I am going to have to over come the embarrassment & tell her what happened lol.