Contact Lens Cost Cutting article discussion

scientificbabe · 25 November 2011 at 5:17PM

I went boots for a free contact lenses assesment had numerous fittings and appointments all for FREE till found right ones [biofinity toric] Got to say they were brill.I signed up on there direct debit scheme. Cost me £23 a month!! for one pair of the monthly toric ones hohoho lol.Not that bothered initally. Eventually got my perscription after been with them for 3 months [thats what they say to you takes 3 months to see if everything is ok and checkups with them @ boots] I did know my perscription though as it was on my contacts i recieved from boots but just decided stay with them because of the free check ups etc easy appointment with them till i got my perscription. Any way ordered of tinternet from Yates & Suddell.Cost £29 for 3 pairs !!! ..Could only order though with a perscription you had to fax through. Yes i know there are places to order with out sending your perscription in but they were more expensive. I found these to be the cheapest place to order my biofinity toric's from with a dated valid perscription from the opticians . So i wasn;t that bothered that i stayed with boots for 3 months.all turned out good.

AbbieCadabra · 26 November 2011 at 12:16PM

nedmundo wrote: »

Something to bear in mind is that there is an increased risk of problems with that contact lens wearing modality. If you decide to take your specification elsewhere and run into trouble, then it's worth considering service levels as well. Would you be seen as quickly at Asdas or wherever, compared to your local Practice?

Sometimes, the best value includes factors such as service, convenience and peace of mind, so it isn't always the cheapest price.

couldn't agree more & i think this is why i opted for my optician for my trial as i've always been 100% happy with the service & care with them.

i've been doing a little 'research' into the continuous wear lenses & am thinking of perhaps wearing them for up to 2 weeks at a time. it seems the latest lenses are considered safe, but the risks of any issues are higher than with other types of lenses.

even if i only wear them for 2 weeks it doesn't make them expensive compared to dailies - over a 3 month period, focus dailies £84.06 & PureVision (what i'm using now) £68 (asda online prices).

it's still very early days yet though & i don't even know if i'll get on well with this type of lense. this is day 3, 1st day i wore them for 2 hours & yesterday for 5 (slight soreness in 1 eye by the end of that time, but no problems this morning).

at least now i have some prices/options in mind for when i go back to my opticians.

thanks again

nedmundo · 26 November 2011 at 5:39PM

All well and good for the trial, but most contact lens related complications that I encounter are experienced, long standing wearers.

Overnight wear carries the same 10x increased risk irrespective of when you change the lenses.

cherilady · 26 November 2011 at 9:33PM

hi there,

I just been to my tesco optician to get my previous prescription and thought of using the same prescription to buy toric lenses online as i thought buying it online would be cheaper. To my surprise, after a bit of research ...local shop tesco seems to offer cheaper lenses compare to online for the same brand.

The sales girl also mention that i dont have to pay for eye test (£15 at usual) as my previous eye test was done over a year ago plus i can get a month free trial pair.

I was offered air optix toric for £32.60 for 3 months supply, both eyes) and so far i have yet to find same brand online that can offer cheaper than tesco. To add, the price online doesnt include solution. So the lenses online itself are more expensive plus no solution.

I didnt ask tesco though if solution are included but my husband assured me that solution should comes with the package on what tesco has offered me ....

Just found it strange that online are more expensive or is that something ive missed out?

cherilady · 26 November 2011 at 9:48PM

Little_Vics wrote: »

hi - has anyone switched from Focus Dailies Aquacomfort plus to the Daysoft 58? I'm keen to switch because they are SO MUCH cheaper, but wondered if anyone had experience before I took the plunge?

Hi,
i am a current user of daysoft 58 for almost a year now and i must said i am quite happy with them although right now i thought about switching as i am a toric user and they dont sell toric lenses.

The delivery is very quick and of course, price is cheap.

On downside, i found the lenses gets 'dry' pretty quickly.

Hope that helps.

kez_s · 26 November 2011 at 10:57PM

Hi - don't know if anyone can help but I've tried looking through the thread and couldn't find anything.

I am currently using Tesco's Focus Dailies and have done for some time, but I just don't get on with them, they split in my eyes, they fall out constantly and I just find them pretty useless, I was told by Tesco it could be a couple of dodgy packs so I tried some more and they are just as awful. Now we have moved it's also not as convenient for me to pop into my nearest Tesco opticians and pick some up like I use to. I stopped using the lenses mail as with Specsavers I ended with boxes and boxes and they never amended my requirements even though I asked.

I was for years with Specsavers and used both their monthly and daily disposables and have used dailies for the last 9 years and never had any problems with their lenses and only went with Tesco due to convenience, price and they gave me a free eye test. I am thinking of going back to them but Tesco's told me that Specsavers own brand contact lenses are exactly the same. I never had a problem with the Specsavers ones and they didn't feel anything like the Tesco one's. So is this true?

Altarf · 27 November 2011 at 10:23AM

cherilady wrote: »

I was offered air optix toric for £32.60 for 3 months supply, both eyes) and so far i have yet to find same brand online that can offer cheaper than tesco. To add, the price online doesnt include solution. So the lenses online itself are more expensive plus no solution.

I didnt ask tesco though if solution are included but my husband assured me that solution should comes with the package on what tesco has offered me ....

Air Optix Toric lenses from Tesco online are £31.34 for 3 months supply (both eyes) and doesn't include any solutions.

At ASDA, they are £36, or £40.50 with 3 months of solutions.

rwalton159 · 27 November 2011 at 11:42AM

rwalton159 wrote: »

So I'm midway through my trial.

Yesterday my eyes were tired so I dropped into SS and yes they were due to close in 10mins or so but they didn't seem that interested in having a look at my eyes.

I called them today as I realised I was almost out of solution and they said "you don't need to wear the lenses every day, wear your glasses but make sure you wear your lenses when you come in on Sunday 27th"

I am not impressed with the level of service. Another opticians said I should have started wearing them for 2-4hrs from day 1 and then increase the time. I wore them for 10hrs from Day 1.

So, I will go to SS on Sunday and see how it goes.

Following up from my post above, I went to SS this morning.

The optician is a very nice professional guy and apologised for the service as mentioned above. He has restored my faith in the place.

He checked my eyes and was happy with the placement of the lense and the movability.

I said I was experiencing a kinda of tiredness in my eyes and he has ordered some toric lenses for me to trial, saying these would be better for me to try. He said the feeling in my eyes was due to the muscles.

They will take 7-10 days as they're a special order but he asked me to carry on with my lenses and gave me some more solution without hesitation. These lenses would be £18 a month, £5 more than the ones I have on the trial.

I really hope the torics are better than the lenses I have at the moment. My intention is to get the right lenses and then order online to keep the costs down.

AbbieCadabra · 27 November 2011 at 2:43PM

nedmundo wrote: »

All well and good for the trial, but most contact lens related complications that I encounter are experienced, long standing wearers.

Overnight wear carries the same 10x increased risk irrespective of when you change the lenses.

ah ok, i hadn't realised that, i thought it was the length of time worn not just the overnight bit that increased the risk, so thanks for pointing that out

.

do you know if there are the same type/number of issues with monthly/weekly lenses that are cleaned as oppose to daily disposables? i had discounted the type of lense that needs cleaning as it seems a bit of a faff but i think i need to keep my options open.

this is all very new & a bit confusing at the moment, but i would like to persevere with lenses as i can already see (sorry!

) so many benefits over my glasses.

i'm giving them a rest today as my left eye was sore again as soon as i put the lenses in yesterday. just a niggle to start with but got worse as time went on. vision has been consistently good though.

pmduk · 27 November 2011 at 2:44PM

rwalton159 In your shoes I'd be tempted to stay on the scheme for at least 3-6 months while you get used to them. That way any follow-up after-care charges are covered by the scheme. Once you're totally happy with everything is the time to consider branching into buying online.