contact lens discussion thread (merged)

JennyW_2

what do you mean by an aftercare appointment? I have monthly disposables and visit my optician once a year for an eye sight test and contact lens check. The eye sight test cost £20 and the contact lens check is free as I purchase my lenses from them. I did look into purchasing lenses online but if I then went back to the optician I would be charged for the contact lens check.

Perhaps you should just shop around for more competitive priced lenses from other opticians?

moontree

Yep, it's the contact lens check I'm referring to - I'd like to know how much it would cost if I wasn't getting my lenses from the optician.

I currently pay £150 a year for the whole lot, and no optician I've looked into has been significantly cheaper than that, but if I bought the lenses online they'd only be about £55 for a year's supply, plus maybe £40 a year at most for soultions. So if the contact lens check isn't too expensive it would be a substantial saving.

Does anyone know how much they cost?

JennyW_2

moontree wrote:

Does anyone know how much they cost?

why not ring a few opticians to see what they say?

dora37

Not read all replies - so apologies if this is duplicated.

Tesco charge an annual £25 after care which includes both glasses and contact lenses.

I usually have a 12 month check, however the last time Tesco Optician wanted to see me after 6 months for a follow up contact lens check. So I have had a glasses check and 2 contact lens checks for £25 - I thought that was good value.

Penny_Watcher

I used to wear contact lenses and faff about with all the solutions etc. Then my prescription changed and I didn't need them anymore.

Now a couple of years later my prescription has changed again and I'm considering using the continuous wear type (change every 30 days).

Does anyone have any experience of this type or know of any pros/cons please.

Thanks in advance.

wishiwasarichgirl

I'm an optician and I wear them, I can't stand faffing about with cleaning solutions either and daily disposables dry out quicker and don't allow as much oxygen to your eyes.

Continuous Wear do have slightly higher infection rates than daily wear lenses, but the only patients I have seen with serious problems are stupid ones who have worn the same pair of lenses for months, and not taken them out or sought professional advice when they started to hurt :rolleyes:

Some people get on better with them than others, I normally advise patients to take them out a few times during the month to clean the lenses and give their eyes a "night off", this appears to prevent many problems.

If you want to try them ask your optician if they'll do a free trial (I happen to know that Specsavers have a free contact lens trial starting in March, but we tend to do free trials year round for new wearers anyway;) )

If you do decide to go ahead with them I would advise having a package deal with your optician which includes CL aftercare (checkups) as these tend to be fairly frequent for new wearers, and it means if you have any problems with them you know you can see your optician without worrying about how much it will cost.

twinklybev

Hello fellow money savers,

I pay £22 per month, have done as long as I can remember, which includes:- 2 pairs of contact lenses (Acuvue Advance with Hydraclear) per month; solution; replacement torn/damaged lenses as required; plus check up & eye tests.

What do others pay, do you think this is reasonable? Don't fancy swapping to an on-line only firm as I prefer seeing(!) a qualified Optician face-to-face. Has anyone else used these on-line firms, what do you think of them?

Thanks in advance

webkami

Take a look at this
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=91430

Also the right place for this post is http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=81

Can some mod move this please.....

beca

twinklybev wrote:

Hello fellow money savers,

I pay £22 per month, have done as long as I can remember, which includes:- 2 pairs of contact lenses (Acuvue Advance with Hydraclear) per month; solution; replacement torn/damaged lenses as required; plus check up & eye tests.

What do others pay, do you think this is reasonable? Don't fancy swapping to an on-line only firm as I prefer seeing(!) a qualified Optician face-to-face. Has anyone else used these on-line firms, what do you think of them?

Thanks in advance

I use an online firm and have been extremely pleased with them. I was paying £25 per month for my monthly toric lenses. I now pay £64.00 for six months worth of lenses. The solution works out about £12 - £15 for the same period so I am saving a huge amount. I know some will say it is safer to buy through an optician and they may be right but I have been doing this form a number of years now and have had no problems (touch wood).

I get the delivery usually within a couple of days of placing the order. Once, when they knew they would be a few days late sending the whole lot they sent me one pair to keep me going on with and did not charge me for them. Excellent service.

twinklybev

Hello fellow money savers,

I pay £22 per month, have done as long as I can remember, which includes:- 2 pairs of contact lenses (Acuvue Advance with Hydraclear) per month; solution; replacement torn/damaged lenses as required; plus check up & eye tests.

What do others pay, do you think this is reasonable? Don't fancy swapping to an on-line only firm as I prefer seeing(!) a qualified Optician face-to-face. Has anyone else used these on-line firms, what do you think of them?

Thanks in advance