contact lens discussion thread (merged)

petergavinblack

@ Lifeforms - have you seen the tragic people on the news (one of whom posted above) who have lost an eye due to serious eye infections? You are heading in that direction if you continually fail to take the advice of your optician or follow the instructions for the products you are using - you may feel your eyes are knackered but stop and think what it would be like without them.

1. You should only sleep in lenses regularly if you are wearing a lens that is LICENCED for overnight wear AND your contact lens optician or optometrist has assessd your eyes as suitable for continuous wear lenses.
2. If you are wearing lenses continually for 3 to 4 weeks at a time you should be having regular contact lens eye health checks - typically at day 1, week 1, month 1, month 3 and then every 3 months for the first year and assuming all is good this might stretch out to a maximum interval of 6 months.
3. Some extended wear lenses are licenced for 30 days and nights after which they are discarded others are licenced for 7 days and nights and again should be discarded after this time. It is important to follow the correct regime as licences are granted for a reason. If you ever have an issue you will only ever have recourse in law to the manufacturer and or optician if you have complied fully with all the instructions you have been given.
4. Some multipurpose solutions are OK for 90 days from opening but you should always check and obey the instructions - if you have a backlog of solutions whatever you use then ask about a smaller pack size - you can get "Flight packs" with 100ml bottles which would be more appropriate in your case.
5. If you buy solutions by direct debit with lenses and get a backlog ask if you can change to have solutions less frequently (say every 6 weeks or 2 months) or put the solutions part of your contract on hold while you catch up.

What lenses to you wear btw?

babysonia

I apologise if I’m repeating an old question. Had a quick look through the last few pages and I haven’t really seen anything regarding my situation.

I have only just trialled specsavers lenses and today I signed the direct debit and easy care scheme and been given my first 3 months lenses and solution.

I was told the my lenses will be £10 a month and should be good for 10hours in the eyes- I thought solution but I have to pay £3 extra for solution which comes up to £13 a month. I’m only going to wear these lenses about 6hours a day or even less but my optician said this was the best so I should choose these.

However I have just had a look around and have found that they have slightly cheaper lenses for £7 a month which last 8hours.

Can I just pop in and tell them to downgrade my plan to the £7 lenses the next time my lenses come through the mail?

Will I have to go through the hassle of trialling the new type of lenses again?

petergavinblack

babysonia wrote: »

I apologise if I’m repeating an old question. Had a quick look through the last few pages and I haven’t really seen anything regarding my situation.

I have only just trialled specsavers lenses and today I signed the direct debit and easy care scheme and been given my first 3 months lenses and solution.

I was told the my lenses will be £10 a month and should be good for 10hours in the eyes- I thought solution but I have to pay £3 extra for solution which comes up to £13 a month. I’m only going to wear these lenses about 6hours a day or even less but my optician said this was the best so I should choose these.

However I have just had a look around and have found that they have slightly cheaper lenses for £7 a month which last 8hours.

Can I just pop in and tell them to downgrade my plan to the £7 lenses the next time my lenses come through the mail?

Will I have to go through the hassle of trialling the new type of lenses again?

You will need to be refitted - why not wait till near the end of 3 months and see how you get on - in my experience most people end up wearing lenses longer rather than shorter periods once they are used to them. Do you wear lenses every day? If less than 4 days a week you will be probably better off with daily disposables cost wise (and convenience and hygiene wise too).

corum_uk67

Hi,

I've never worn contacts and wanted to get a prescription to buy online.
Two separate sales staff at Specsavers in Plymouth told me they could do a contact lens assessment for £20 which would include a prescription, so I booked.
I arrived to be given the hard sell by the optometrist and was told that they would not give me a prescription without a trial, lasting three months, cost £40. Even then apparently, the prescription they would give me would only be good for one particular brand and type of contact and so would be useless for me when it came to buying my 'surevue monthlies' online.
A bit peeved at being given duff information by the sales staff and can't help wondering about the reliability of the info the optometrist gave me. I ended up leaving without an assessment.
Any advice would be welcomed regarding whether a prescription is valid across brands and between rigid/soft lenses.
I have a cylinder of -0.75 so am also wondering whether I need toric lenses or whether spherical would be safe to use (power of +1.00 and +1.75).
Thanks.

nedmundo

Legally - the supplier must provide lenses that are reproduced exactly as specified.

There's good reason for this, as different brands/types can perform very differently on the eyes, both in terms of fit/health and visually.

The original fitting Opticians are correct in only issueing a specification, once they are satisfied that the lenses are suitable for your eyes. The only way to tell this is to review after a period of wear.

Out of curiosity, why on earth are you intent on getting Surevue monthlies?

nedmundo

corum_uk67 wrote: »

I have a cylinder of -0.75 so am also wondering whether I need toric lenses or whether spherical would be safe to use (power of +1.00 and +1.75).
Thanks.

And this is exactly the sort of question the fitting Optician would be able to answer for you.

corum_uk67

nedmundo wrote: »

Out of curiosity, why on earth are you intent on getting Surevue monthlies?

6 pairs for £26, that's reason enough for me.

weeklies or dailies on a direct debit scheme just aren't affordable.

corum_uk67

nedmundo wrote: »

And this is exactly the sort of question the fitting Optician would be able to answer for you.

Yes but if it was a borderline case, where toric or non toric were optional, I wouldn't necessarily trust a high street optometrist to recommend the cheaper option.

I was speaking to a colleague in work yesterday who has been wearing contacts for years. she was telling me about conflicting advice given to her from the same store, different optometrist, several weeks apart (although that was more to do with cleaning solutions).

pmduk

There are optometirsts who will assess you for contact lenses and allow you to buy on a "pay as you go basis", incl buying online. However, as you've been told the prescription issued will be for one specific brand and strength. NB Unlike many other products contact lenses aren't interchangeable.

Any online site suggesting otherwise should be avoided like the plague. They just want your money, it's your eyesight at risk.

nedmundo

corum_uk67 wrote: »

6 pairs for £26, that's reason enough for me.

weeklies or dailies on a direct debit scheme just aren't affordable.

TBH - they are pretty old hat in technology terms. There are much better, healthier options which wouldn't necessarily cost much more.