contact lens discussion thread (merged)

mollypuss

I've just contacted Tesco. They do free sight tests. The contact lens check is normally £15 but there's a special offer and it's free at the moment. They do monthly disposables from £10.50 a month. You get clubcard points too, I'm going to give it a go tomorrow :money:

missdemeanour

I've just come back from my Tesco follow-up appointment - I had a sight test and contact lens fitting (I've been wearing contact lenses pretty much every day for the last 20 years, but apparently they wanted to check...) which cost me nothing.
As I got up to go, I asked for a copy of my prescription. I was told that I didn't need one. When I pressed the issue, she gave me a copy of my glasses prescription but not my contact lens prescription.
I have just got home and on to Google to discover that in fact they are obliged to give a copy of the contact lens prescription.
Since Daysoft daily disposable lenses cost £10 a month per pair as opposed to the £18 for Focus Dailies that Tesco offer, I need a copy of that prescription and will now have to go back to Tesco and kick off.
So be warned; if you get your free test from Tesco, demand a paper copy of the prescription.

GlasweJen

Actually, if it was a "first fit" appointment at Tesco they may with hold the prescription until your first aftercare appointment to ensure the lenses they've prescribed are suitable. This is regardless of previous wear with other opticians.

eira

Have just been daignosed with Type 2 diabetes (

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) so will have to have a specialist eye test.I need a contact lens check so contacted one of the opticians on the 'diabetes list' as thought I could have it all done in one place. I was told the check would be £30-then there was a pause-followed by 'and you'll have to order 3 months supply of lenses from us as well' .Does this sound somewhat extortionate to anyone else ?

pmduk

eira, yes, seems high to me. I use specsavers which doesn't charge for any check-ups if you join their direct debit lensmail scheme. I've always used different opticians for the retinopathy check and my normal optical needs and it works for me.

ellie43

At my last eye test I was told I need varifocal glasses and that the lenses alone will cost in the region of £450. I am -14 sph in one eye and -11 sph in the other. Plus astigmistism and I need an adjustment for reading. Not only that I like to have photo chromatic lenses as my eyes are sensitive to light due to illness and photo chromatic varifocals are not sold in my prescription.

So I have been looking into contact lenses. Spec savers have offered me a free trial of mono vision contact lenses. They have been fiddling with the prescription and I am now on my third pair. Distance vision is great, but I can't seem to get acceptable vision for reading or using a pc. The problem does not seem to be a matter of my eyes and brain adjusting, rather that the near vision is just not there in the first place, even with closing one eye, squinting and a following wind!

The optician is optimistic that we will get the prescription right but I am wondering if I am wasting my time. I would be interested in the experience of others with mono vision contact lenses.

Johnny_B_good

Seems to be a lot of recommendations on these forums for glasses websites, I wonder how many of them are actually from customers who have bought from them?!!

I bought a pair of glasses from an online glasses company after one of the moderators on these boards mentioned them. I must say, however, that the delivery time took a little longer than I expected (7 days) as most high street opticians can turn them around within a couple of days. Apart from that, I did save quite a substantial amount of money on my Varilux lenses as they only charged me £129 as opposed to the £235 I was quoted from Specsavers.

I think that if you are willing to wait a little longer than normal then I personally believe you can make some great savings but just don't expect them to arrive a couple of days later. I've read stories of some customers having to wait up to 6 weeks for theirs!! One company in particular seems to have a bit of a reputation for this on theses boards.

I was very happy with the overall service I recieved from a highly recommended company called https://www.onlineglassesdirect.co.uk (not glasses direct) ,but don't just go on my recommendation as there are other good online retailers out their that might offer a similar service for the same price or even lower. I've also read some good things about glassesUK although their website looks a bit dodgy to me but they sell glasses for £14.90! I always judge online retailers by the way they deal with me over the phone, I know this may sound a little weird but it at the end of the day if they can give good service over the phone then they are worth looking at. You can also get a good idea if the company is some dodgy overseas website claiming to be in the UK and then ripping you off (trust me, there are many dodgy online retailers out there)

msskmy

I have just been given a pair of specasvers easyvision elite monthly lenses to trial. Does anyone know what brand of lenses these are? They had to be ordered in to pick up so I could try them at home. They are made of filcon II 3 and BC 8.8 Dia 14.1 which is not my usual size of 8.6 but I' m sure I tried on these same lenses with a BC of 8.8 when prior I went into the store and they did not fit because they were too steep for my eyes hence they ordered these lenses for me.

petergavinblack

The optician is optimistic that we will get the prescription right but I am wondering if I am wasting my time. I would be interested in the experience of others with mono vision contact lenses.[/QUOTE]

As an optician I can tell you we have pretty good success with Monovision and with a prescription as high as yours it can often take three or four refinements to get the optimum vision and fit so no you're not wasting your time - stick with it!

Monovision is a compromise though - having one eye for distance and one for close work is difficult for some people to get used to. Its main advantage is that is about half the price of multifocal lenses.

There are however now two multifocal monthly diposable lenses that also correct astigmatism - Coopervision Proclear Toric Multifocal and Mark Ennovy Saphir Rx - the latter being high oxygen silicone hydrogel too. So if you don't get on with monovision and can afford to pay more then why not give them a try.

ellie43

Thanks Peter, that's very helpful. :T Will persist with the mono vision for now, and see if some further tweaks to the prescription improve my near vision. I suspect that part of the problem maybe my illness (I have ME) and as a result my eyes tire very quickly so that with contact lenses my vision deteriorates within a couple of hours of putting the lenses in.

I will also ask about the multifocal lenses that you mention although I have been quoted about £22 a month for the ones I am trialling so £44 is a bit beyond my price range atm (could always win the lottery!).