contact lens discussion thread (merged)

betty-boop-a-doop

Once you get your prescription - which you ARE entitled to by law go to https://www.visiondirect.co.uk. Super cheap and reliable

magichands

I gave up reading it.

Tesco offer cheap eye tests but they are very very basic. (just a chart test)
The guy who I had seen twice before within weeks thought this was my first visit, (dosen't he keep notes).

In fact, I wasn't confident at all with any of the staff there, the person who read my prescription had read it wrong and said one of my eyes had improved when in fact it had slightly deteriorated.

The Optromotist gave me a higher strength contact lense to trial than I had before and when I went to order a supply they said I couldn't have that strength as there was no note of it.

HC wrote: »

Great post, auntie c, but it would be so much easier to read if you could use paragraphs. Many people won't read the excellent stuff you've posted because it's too much like hard work.

biglad

As the title says want the cheapest contact lens assesment then a cheap solution to getting my contacts

i dont use them that often just occasionally and only use the daily ones.

anyone recomend any cheap online retailers and also where is cheapest to have assessment

thanks in advance

biglad

looking for a cheap, or even free contact lens full assessment as mine is well out of date, got a current eye test

also wanted to get the daily contacts as cheap as possible, there what i currently use and dont trust myself to not lose monthly ones lol

is it worth getting them online or just as cheap from shops??

thanks in advance

Destiny33

I get my contact lens assessment at the same time as my eye test and have never paid for either. In scotland we get free eye tests but no one has tried to charge me for the cl assessment.

Possibly online you can get cheaper lenses. I was tempted for a while with daysoft and they were a lot cheaper but i have fairly bad eyesight and they dried out my eyes terribly. Dailies apparently are not as high water content as some monthly contacts.

Nile

Hello biglad

I'll move your thread to the 'Health & Beauty' board, where it should get more responses.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

moneypooh

I've just started wearing contacts, as has my DD. We both were due eye tests and combined it with a CL consultation. I paid for a normal eye test and as she is 13 hers was free.
We both went with the opticians eventually and pay by direct debit.
My DD has monthly and daily for hols etc.. and I have daily. The direct debit deal works out brilliantly as we get replacement lenses if we loose them (monthlys only obviously) or they are damaged. My DD gets solutions included as she needs, she also gets lens holders etc..

There are many websites - most through cashback sites - that offer a great price, but as we are new to this we decided to have local support - and they have been brilliant. The teaching and after service has been far better than expected, and it works out about the same as a website company.

My optician isn't part of a massive group, so I guess they want to give a good service as Specsavers, Boots and 2 other stores are nearby.

It's really worth shopping around as there are so many options now.

Phirefly

nedmundo wrote: »

Contact lens aftercares are just as expensive to operate. Because it is purely private work, we have more control over pricing. If the practioner knows that you are going elsewhere for your Contact Lenses, they are naturally going tgo charge more to cover the chair time costs. Taking overheads into account, £35 probably just about covers everything, so anyone offering them for less is in practice going to be making a loss.

Sounds unbelievable and even daft, but true!!!

Useful to hear it from (what seems to be) the insider's view. Seems the likes of Asda can afford to have contact lens aftercare as a loss leader. The frustrating thing is, I'd get my lenses from Asda too online if they'd only supply them in 3 rather than 6 month packs :rolleyes:

sillyvixen

eye tests alone are not cost effective to the practice but the true cost is recovered from sales of glasses, with deregulation of contact lens supply it is now common place for a person to have a check to validate a contact lens prescription they intend to purchase on line (contact lens scheemes offered in practice cover their costs in the lens prices they offer in their complete supply package to their own customers) internet purchasers of lenses have to be cost effective to a practice and hense the introduction of a more realistic charge. it would be unfair of a practice to expect its regular customers to subisidse cheap aftercare for your checks when you are going elsewhere. performing a check and validating a prescription also means proffesional responsibility being undertaken for your lens wear for the lenth of the validation of the prescription (typically a year but if you have signs or symptoms that could lead to problems in the future you will be given a shorter time scale for the valid time on your specification - and only be able to purchase lenses to last that length of time). the person responsible for performing the check is considered liable for any problems that may occur as a result of your lens wear in the time that the spec is valid!! that quite some responsibility for a customer that has only just paid for the time they were in the chair - also take into account that if someone is saving money on their contact lenses in this way they are less likely to go and pay another 35 pounds in 6 months if they are having problems!!

35 pounds is not a lot to pay yearly for the health of your eyes!!

nedmundo

wannabe_a_mum wrote: »

I'd be interested to learn more as well...

My situation is that I suffer from Keratoconus and after not wearing the prescribed lens I got (free whilst I was a student!), the condition worsened to the extent that I lost all confidence and independance.
In Jan 2006 I went to specialist optician after being discharged from hospital out patients eye dept and was given hard lenses for both eyes, and also due to corneal scratching constantly, I also wear monthly soft lenses under the hard ones.

TOTAL I pay for lenses and aftercare is around £54 per month!

Now I know my eyesight is valuable, and I wouldn't be without the lenses ever again, is there any way I can get the same treatment cheaper??

Hubby asked me this question and I dismissed it saying I'd pay £millions for my eyesight, but to be honest I'm keen to reduce the cost to as little as possible

Any ideas?

Don't you just love it when people specifically ask for advice and then disappear!