contact lens discussion thread (merged)

dieselhead

Pssst wrote: »

No,they are smokescreening. The eye test is just that, an eye test. You could just as well argue that if you were having glasses,they wont give you the prescription without you buying glasses and having them fitted.

An eye test is an eye test.

dispensing and fitting is another thing.

This is not an eye test though it is a contact lens test, an prescription for glasses is different to that for contact lenses as they are closer to the eye and generally weaker and also require a different battery of tests to those for a standard eye test. Also the prescription should include a type of lens and solution this cannot be determined until they have been worn for a few days in case a reaction occurs. I don't see how an optician can confidently give a prescription until the follow up appointment has taken place.

This has been discussed on the contact lens forum.

Pssst

I have been wearing contact lenses for years. I currently use daily disposables. I get my eye test at my practitioner and pick up my script and then order them on line. I know shes frosty about it but she has no choice. The reason why i do this is that the likes of Johnson and johnson (Acuciew) have been running a protectionist cartel for years and are in cahoots with opticians. I use daysoft. They are as good as acuview at a fraction of the cost.

nedmundo

Pssst wrote: »

I have been wearing contact lenses for years. I currently use daily disposables. I get my eye test at my practitioner and pick up my script and then order them on line. I know shes frosty about it but she has no choice. The reason why i do this is that the likes of Johnson and johnson (Acuciew) have been running a protectionist cartel for years and are in cahoots with opticians. I use daysoft. They are as good as acuview at a fraction of the cost.

I disagree with that. I can buy certain Contact Lenses cheaper online than cost price direct from manufacturers. It's a quantity discount thing.

Eye tests and contact lens checks are 2 distinctly different procedures. You may be getting both combined at the same time, but will be charged for the privilege of contact lens checks.

suki1964

Pssst wrote: »

No,they are smokescreening. The eye test is just that, an eye test. You could just as well argue that if you were having glasses,they wont give you the prescription without you buying glasses and having them fitted.

An eye test is an eye test.

dispensing and fitting is another thing.

In this case the OP hasnt yet been prescribed a lens because she hasnt been for her fitting. She is a new lens wearer and she needs to have been given a sample pair to trial then go back to check the fitting and get an eye exam. If all is OK then she will be issued her script to do with as she pleases.

Lens fittings are not an exact science and although you get an eye test before hand its just a starting point because there are so many differing types of lenses around. I had to trial about 5 different types before the best make were found for me. Thats when my prescription was written

ethansmum

Does anyone know of a cheap place to get airoptics (aka o2 optics). I bought some in September £15 for 3 pairs now the cheapest I can find is £19 for 3 pairs. Thanks in advance.

Megalomaniac

What is the cheapest opticians for a contact lens check up? I went to d&a today and they wanted to charge £45! What are the prices that others charge? I just buy my lens' online and not via a direct debit cheme where often you have the checkup free of charge...

mike8152

hi, does anyone know if there are any comparitors for contact lenses that cover the uk instead of the US?

thanks
Mike

Hml898

Hi all! I was wondering if any of you can help with my query...

I recently had a free contact lense trial at my local opticians today for soft lenses, provided that I had a recent eye sight test prescription. I have been prescribed Toric lenses, but they still blur when I am trying to read or use the computer to write reports at work. The opticians said with my prescription, this is as good as my vision will get.

Anyway, he also gave me normal non-toric contact lenses to try - which matches my power (-6.00 in both eyes) because I want to buy some coloured lenses at a later date. I'm wearing them now and I find the vision is similar to the vision I get from the toric lenses.

My question is:
- Would it be ok to just wear these lenses even if I have astigmatism and not have the montly torics?
- If so, I would probably need to cancel the order I have put in with my local opticians and I guess the free trial has ended so I'm not sure if I will need to pay a fee everytime I see the optician from now, even if it means I have to spend another coupld of months in and out of the opticians with trial lenses?
-Also does anyone know where I can get coloured lenses with a darker rim that makes your pupils look bigger, I believe they are called circle lens?

Many thanks in advance!

suki1964

I had the torics - and gave up as I just couldnt get the crisp vision I needed for computer work and reading. You can have the torics for the astigmatism and then wear normal reading glasses off the shelf, but that was rather a waste of time for me seeing as I was always needing them and I wanted contacts to do away with glasses.

If you can see out of the lenses you have been given clearly enough to drive and are happy to have the blurred short sight then go ahead, not going to make the astigmatism worse

Hml898

suki1964 wrote: »

I had the torics - and gave up as I just couldnt get the crisp vision I needed for computer work and reading. You can have the torics for the astigmatism and then wear normal reading glasses off the shelf, but that was rather a waste of time for me seeing as I was always needing them and I wanted contacts to do away with glasses.

If you can see out of the lenses you have been given clearly enough to drive and are happy to have the blurred short sight then go ahead, not going to make the astigmatism worse

Hi suki1964, thanks for your reply! I understand what you mean by the crisp vision. I used to use RGP but they hurt too much and I just couldn't carry on with them after 8 years. So I've been trialling some soft lenses and despite the comfort, I do get quite irritated when my vision suddenly blurrs when I'm trying to read or use the pc.

I just want to make sure that it won't damage my vision using lenses that blur this way because your eye would work harder to try to focus in on the text and I don't know if that would cause the eye some strain and ultimately make it worse.