contact lens discussion thread (merged)

nedmundo

debrag wrote: »

well I have one as 45 and the other as 162.5, the nearest I've seen are 40 or 50 & 160

Does it make much a difference to be 5 & 0.25 out?

A lot will depend on how the lens sits on the cornea - the lenses quite often settle down in a rotated position and the axis has to be adjusted accordingly.

I presume you are having these professionally fitted and not self prescribing?

shauniebabe

Hi,

I currently get my lenses from Optical Express but the service is getting worse and the quality of the lenses seem to be getting worse and are certainly a poorer quality than when i first started 8 years ago. Therefor i think i will look elsewhere.
They are just basic short sighted contact lenses -4.25 both eyes, however i do want to keep checkups etc as glaucoma does run in the family.

Thanks in advance.

pmduk

Why not ask around your friends, see who they are happy with? However, this will only deal with the service side of things.

The quality of the lens is outside the control of the optometrist, but down to the manufacturer. I don't believe any of the high street chains manufacture their own lenses.

OpticalExpress_representative

shauniebabe wrote: »

Hi,

I currently get my lenses from Optical Express but the service is getting worse and the quality of the lenses seem to be getting worse and are certainly a poorer quality than when i first started 8 years ago. Therefor i think i will look elsewhere.
They are just basic short sighted contact lenses -4.25 both eyes, however i do want to keep checkups etc as glaucoma does run in the family.

Thanks in advance.

Hi shauniebabe,

Sorry to hear that you are unhappy with your recent experience. Can you drop us an email to [EMAIL="campbellprovan@opticalexpress.com"]campbellprovan@opticalexpress.com[/EMAIL] and I will look into this further for you.

petergavinblack

AbbieCadabra wrote: »

thanks i've compared some prices now - for 3 months/12 weeks/90 days:
acuvue oasys - worn 7 days/6 nights, 12 pairs = £128
focus dailies - 90 pairs = £84.06
1 day acuvue/acuvue moist - 90 pairs = £120
what i'm using now on my trial, purevision (up to 30 days continuous wear) used for 1 week, 12 pairs = £136 or used for 2 weeks, 6 pairs = £68
all prices are asda online as they appear to be the cheapest for the torics that i need. this is only the 3rd day of using lenses, 1st day i wore them for 2 hours, 2nd for 5 hours. my left eye was a little sore yesterday by the end of 5 hours but my vision had been great (it was a real novelty to be able to 'see' over to the other side of the gym & actually recognise people!). hopefully, these purevision lenses will work out ok for me...:cool:

So how did you get on? There is nothing to stop you wearing Purevision Toric as a daily wear lens taking them out each night and cleaning and disinfecting them - alternatively if you want to wear them for 6 nights and have a night off them then you can again clean and disinfect them giving the same as wearing weekly disposables without the expense. Either way you dispose of them after 30 days.

You should always discuss any change to the recommended wearing schedule with your optician as any signs and symptoms are always taken in the context of how you wear the lenses. The other concern is that you disinfect the lenses properly using a disinfecting contact lens solution and not just a rinsing agent like saline.

Also you should expect to have to buy at least 3 months supply of lenses, possibly 6 months worth, with a check up at the end, before you will be issued with a prescription to hawk around the www. If you are able to order illegally without a valid prescription then remember you will no longer be covered by your optician's professional indemnity insurance or the liability of the manufacturer if you wear the lenses outside the guidelines or recommendations of either of them.

Every time someone orders illegally (i.e. without a valid Rx) and gets a serious eye infection or whatever it provides further evidence for the people who want to outlaw the online supply of lenses. Also only order from sites you trust (ones with a phone number and postal address in the UK) as there are quite a lot of fake lenses out there which have been found in many cases not to be sterile and can cause serious infection.

Btw extended wear usually requires VERY regular check ups - say every 3-6 months - which normally means that your prescription will not be valid for online supply and the cost of care will make online not much cheaper.

AbbieCadabra

due to the xmas break & 1 or 2 other things, i'm still really at the trial stage at the moment, but i'm 99% sure i'll be going with the B&L purevision continuous wear - but only wearing them daily. due to dryness in 1 eye, they're only really comfortable for 5-6 hours anyway, but that's suiting me.

don't think i'll be doing any online ordering as Costco are a similar price for the lenses & way cheaper for the the all-in-one solutions.

Little_Vics

I currently use getlenses for my daily acuvue - paying £84 is way out of my budget now. Can anyone recommend a cheaper site or even cheaper lenses?

pmduk

You need to talk to your optometrist about cheaper lenses. Your prescription is for one particular type of lenses and needs to be changed before you buy something else

petergavinblack

AbbieCadabra wrote: »

due to the xmas break & 1 or 2 other things, i'm still really at the trial stage at the moment, but i'm 99% sure i'll be going with the B&L purevision continuous wear - but only wearing them daily. due to dryness in 1 eye, they're only really comfortable for 5-6 hours anyway, but that's suiting me.

don't think i'll be doing any online ordering as Costco are a similar price for the lenses & way cheaper for the the all-in-one solutions.

5-6 hours for PureVision seems really poor dry eye or not - this lens is quite old now in terms of its design, and even the new PureVision 2 uses the same material. Newer technology incorporates lubrication into the lens and a less stiff feel so the lenses are more comfortable for longer - I'd try another lens - Acuvue Oasys, Biofinity, Sauflon Clariti or Air Optix (opticians also have private labels too) are all more modern more comfortable materials - if the place you are going to doesn't offer a choice then try another optician. Also if 5 or 6 hours a day is all you are interested in, especially if it isn't every day, you'd be better off trying daily disposables. The key here is always to keep in touch with your optician - they can always tweak the fit (and often do) before getting to your final prescription - book in to see them - it should be free anyway?

AbbieCadabra

petergavinblack wrote: »

5-6 hours for PureVision seems really poor dry eye or not - this lens is quite old now in terms of its design, and even the new PureVision 2 uses the same material. Newer technology incorporates lubrication into the lens and a less stiff feel so the lenses are more comfortable for longer - I'd try another lens - Acuvue Oasys, Biofinity, Sauflon Clariti or Air Optix (opticians also have private labels too) are all more modern more comfortable materials - if the place you are going to doesn't offer a choice then try another optician. Also if 5 or 6 hours a day is all you are interested in, especially if it isn't every day, you'd be better off trying daily disposables. The key here is always to keep in touch with your optician - they can always tweak the fit (and often do) before getting to your final prescription - book in to see them - it should be free anyway?

i went yesterday & have gone for the purevision, i've ordered 6 months worth so i'll see how i get on with them. i will be using them every day so i think these will be better value than dailies.

it's £12.99 for a year of care/check ups etc with costco so nothing else to pay if i do have to change.

i did try biofinity but i used the ever moist solution with them, i thought it was the lenses that caused irritation but after using the same lotion with the pure vision, it's obviously the ever moist that doesn't suit me.

costco have stopped selling the biotrue lotion that i had been using with pure vision so i've got 2 more samples to try out over the next few weeks. i had no idea solution could make such a difference but after a bit of googling, seems i'm not on my own. this is some useful info i found for solution & lense compatibility http://www.staininggrid.com/

thanks for your input , all greatly received as this is still very new & a bit hit & miss to me!