Contact lens- warning

igolenses

There is another option for

swimmers who wear contact lenses

other than to daily disposables and tight fitting goggles. Overnight contact lenses specially designed for sleeping which reshape your eyes during the night so that you don't need to wear anything during the day mean that you can swim and see without the need for contact lenses. This is a more convenient and safer option for swimming and lots of other things too. It means you can see when you first get up, remove your contact lenses take a shower without worrying about the issues surrounding contact lenses and water.

nedmundo

Orthokeratology is an option, but is very expensive and still has the increased risks of overnight wear.

sophlowe45

Do opticians not tell people to not wear their contact lenses while swimming apart from daily disposables?

they also tell you to wash your hands before taking them out, to dry your hands on lint free paper, not towels, to not take them out on the tube, the optician told me people do this.

change your lens case frequently, regular check ups.

if you do all this, surely you minimise any risk of infection.

FLA27

I've always used Hydrogen Peroxide solutions to clean mine and won't use some of the cheaper cleaners as I don't think they do a good enough job.

That aside, maybe it's time the manufacturers started putting warnings on the packaging, not a lot of space for it mind!

I'm not sure what others think about that.

pmduk

I'm not sure it would be worth putting warnings on the packaging, who reads them, beyond checking which lens is which (in my case)?

C_Mababejive

To digress slightly,it is nothing short of scandalous that HM Government charges VAT on Contact lenses as if they are a luxury and the high prices are further controlled by the virtual cartels run by the big manufacturers in connivance with some optometrists.

nedmundo

C_Mababejive wrote: »

To digress slightly,it is nothing short of scandalous that HM Government charges VAT on Contact lenses as if they are a luxury and the high prices are further controlled by the virtual cartels run by the big manufacturers in connivance with some optometrists.

Would you care to provide some evidence to support that claim?

Also, it is rare that they are a medical necessity when glasses would suffice, so yes, in the majority of cases, they are a luxury. VAT can have little impact however, as in some cases, the majority of the cost is service, which is VAT exempt.

C_Mababejive

nedmundo wrote: »

Would you care to provide some evidence to support that claim?

Also, it is rare that they are a medical necessity when glasses would suffice, so yes, in the majority of cases, they are a luxury. VAT can have little impact however, as in some cases, the majority of the cost is service, which is VAT exempt.

Well Ned i appreciate that you are in the profession and there have been discussions on similar themes over at the Optom where it seems those not in the profession are not particularly welcome.

I have often stated and will reiterate that i respect the Optom profession as i would any other comparable profession eg doctor,dentist,Engineer etc.. I appreciate that there are real threats to the profession from competition and it must be increasingly difficult to operate an independent practice.

One cannot sit like king Canute and pretend that the tide will not really come in and envelope you. To survive one has to have the speed and agility to recognise the need to change,what changes are needed and to change to keep ahead of the competition.

In my humble opinion the best way to do this is to work with your customers whilst maintaining professional standards.

Now i know that the income from NHS tests will never pay the bills and i used to pay extra for my CL consultations because i appreciated that.

What i dont appreciate is the hard sell of CL monthly supply contracts.

Why is it for eg that Daysoft can operate a plant in Scotland(?) and produce standard CLs for much less than the standard lenses produced by J&J?

I wouldnt really class CLs as a luxury. For higher myopes they provide a much enhanced visual experience without the disadvantages of higher index specs.

I remember when i was a kid, if a child was deaf he would wear what looked like a big walkie talkie strapped to his chest with a harness and two ear pieces on twirly bits of wires. Should these be what are provided now instead of the more discrete and effective inner ear devices?

At -8.50 i know which works best for me optically,as a quality of life experience and financially..

Of course i only wear dailies and i have some specs to give my eyes a break.

My choice as a consumer is that i would prefer to deal with an indepedent optom who i respect and trust, i would accept a higher charge for his professional time and in return, i would like a more competitive CL product and distribution chain. Instead, optoms are cornered into fixed fee nhs charges and only make money by selling over priced CL packages and so called designer frames and over priced lenses.



The competition should be more skewed toward the CL production and distribution end ,not put upon optoms.

tidus

Daysoft are based in Jersey (or the other one!) allowing them to take advantage of tax breaks. It may also be why they are able to claim that their very basic lenses are a proper subsitute for the much more abvanced ones on the market...... they are not.

nedmundo

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Why is it for eg that Daysoft can operate a plant in Scotland(?) and produce standard CLs for much less than the standard lenses produced by J&J?

If I produced contact lenses using technology developed when wheels were square and sold them directly to the public (which I would have to do, as very few practices would fit my product for the above reason) with the false claim that they were equivalent or superior to other brands and had my offices out of UK law jurisdiction and VAT, then my lenses would be cheap as well:rotfl:

Anyway - you were going to provide some evidence to support your accusation of colusion and cartels between manufacturers and opticians............