Considering contact lenses

ferret face

ferret face

ferret face

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22 Jan 2004
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Hi guys

I'm thinking of buying the daily contact lenses, they are just for infrequent use such as festivals, hiking etc etc.(my eyes are not that bad, just a little blurry on distance).

So I went into an optician and they said I would need to undergo a contact lense assessment before I can buy any, bearing in mind I only got my glasses prescription a week ago.

My question is...Are they pulling a fast one and can't I just buy contact lenses online with my specs prescription?

Cheers

Ferret
 
You should get an assessment then trial them before purchasing for use beyond.

Not everyone takes to contacts or is suitable for them.

Personally I wore glasses everyday (all the time) and contacts was the best thing I ever did with my eyes.
 
what do you mean are they pulling a fast one? they shouldnt be charging you for it? :confused: your eyes need checking, if you have astigmatism then you'll need toric lenses, you should also get regular eye health checks if you wear contacts because of the increased risk of eye infection
 
I got my contacts for occasional use, sports etc. They come in really usefull.

But you do need a trial, it's very important as some people are not suited to contacts. I have about 4 visits in total to get my contacts "right" and these include checks to make sure your not starving parts of your eye of oxygen.

Also my prescription for contacts has to be stronger than my glasses. They don't always match. Plus as part of the trials they teach you how to actually put them in / remove them safely.
 
Since this is your first time you're probably best off going to them. There is (or was) the possibility that your eyes could quickly reject them; not everybody can wear them. They'll also tell you "officially" about their care and use etc.

I don't wanna derail the thread, but for those that are on contact lens subscriptions with an optician - what do you get with it? I'm told that you get free eye care with it...though I'm dubious as to whether they'll keep to that. Also; do any of you fellas get e.g. drops or anything else thrown in or just the lenses?
 
I occasionally wear contacts, mainly If I go out or am driving somewhere but mostly for sports.

The problem I have with them is if I'm in a small environment (in door) I can feel the contacts in, and it's really uncomfortable, it's like I have grit in my eyes! Really horrible feeling and the opticians never know what it is :( I'd love to be able to put in contact lenses, go to work and leave them in but sitting at a desk it just isn't possible.
 
andybtsn said:
I occasionally wear contacts, mainly If I go out or am driving somewhere but mostly for sports.

The problem I have with them is if I'm in a small environment (in door) I can feel the contacts in, and it's really uncomfortable, it's like I have grit in my eyes! Really horrible feeling and the opticians never know what it is :( I'd love to be able to put in contact lenses, go to work and leave them in but sitting at a desk it just isn't possible.
Click to expand...

If you're in front of a pc these days that might explain certain strains being put on your eye. I notice it everytime I sit in front of a flat screen, whether it's brighter or what I don't know; but a CRT is the only moniter I can sit in front of for hours at a time.
 
Greenlizard0 said:
Since this is your first time you're probably best off going to them. There is (or was) the possibility that your eyes could quickly reject them; not everybody can wear them. They'll also tell you "officially" about their care and use etc.

I don't wanna derail the thread, but for those that are on contact lens subscriptions with an optician - what do you get with it? I'm told that you get free eye care with it...though I'm dubious as to whether they'll keep to that. Also; do any of you fellas get e.g. drops or anything else thrown in or just the lenses?
Click to expand...

I get my 6 monthly check ups for free and they give me different solutions and things to try every now and again
 
I just started wearing contacts, i needed 2 assessments before they would let me buy any, and you cant buy online unless you have proof of assessments.

Anyways the contacts are good, dont have to remeber to take my glasses when driving
 
Greenlizard0 said:
I don't wanna derail the thread, but for those that are on contact lens subscriptions with an optician - what do you get with it? I'm told that you get free eye care with it...though I'm dubious as to whether they'll keep to that. Also; do any of you fellas get e.g. drops or anything else thrown in or just the lenses?
Click to expand...
I get 6 month check ups, a full sight test every 2 years, more solution than I can handle, I just get vouchers now because I was stockpiling too much, and being on continuous wear I barely use any. I also get various discounts on glasses etc. and one free replacement pair within any 3 month period

and that's for the same price as buying the same lenses from www.contactlenses.co.uk, if I just bought 3 at a time, not multibuy
 
Greenlizard0 said:
Since this is your first time you're probably best off going to them. There is (or was) the possibility that your eyes could quickly reject them; not everybody can wear them. They'll also tell you "officially" about their care and use etc.

I don't wanna derail the thread, but for those that are on contact lens subscriptions with an optician - what do you get with it? I'm told that you get free eye care with it...though I'm dubious as to whether they'll keep to that. Also; do any of you fellas get e.g. drops or anything else thrown in or just the lenses?
Click to expand...

I'm with specsavers on montlys. On direct debit I get quarterly lenses sent to my door with all pots/solutions.

No free eyecare for me as far as I am aware :p
 
you do need a perscription, or a rough idea of where to go, different contact lenses you might find a different perscription is needed, you'll almost never have the same contact lense and glasses perscription, closer to your eye, different vision correction needed, normally less powerful by a certain amount which will change depending on the strength of your perscription in the first place.

THey'll have trial contacts to give you, dailys, monthlies, weeklies, continuous wear, whatever you like. But any good place will have a couple different versions/brands of each because you can get 3-4 different materials used for almost any type and different people get on with different ones better, also slightly different diamater lenses. Some people will get very small ones, have big eyes and have problems, some people will have bigger diameter ones and feel they are uncomftable.

Personally the material most continuous wear contacts are made of don't feel great to me, and any dailies/monthlies based on the same stuff I also don't find comftable, where as other ones I do.

In other words, get the check up, do the trial, find your perscription but don't blindly sign up to whatever "program" they have because it might be good value, it might not.

It used to be that buying online was miles and miles cheaper, these days some of the packages you get for contacts, checkup's, solutions and replacements are pretty cheap but its worth checking out various sources before you commit to one.
 
As others have said, you should see an optician if you want to get contacts for the first time. Not everyone can wear contacts and often glasses and contacts don't have the same prescription. You may not even save money buying online as you'll need to factor in the cost of solutions and checkups with an optician.
 
He does have a point about pulling a fast one though.

You can order contact online as long as you have a valid perscription from you're opticians (i believe they check when you order) so you dont need to go in and get a contact checkup as far as im aware.

But if you havent used them before at all then i would suggest going because they can be very fiddly to use and also as people have mentioned some people just dont take well to contacts in terms of irritations aswell.

End of the day you dont want to mess about with you're eyes now do you.
 
Once you have your contact lens prescription and are familiar with a brand you may be able to buy them online cheaper. I use the site listed above http://www.contactlenses.co.uk/ There is a disclaimer that you have a valid prescription but you do not have to provide any proof.

I am an infrequent user so none of the monthly plans/schemes are suitable for me. I would end up with a large stock pile otherwise.
 
you don't have to do anything, you can buy online without a perscription from LOADS of places, get them cheap, for dailies/continuous cheap/free solution is mostly completely unnecessary.

But in reality you SHOULD get regular checkups, you can develop problems later down the line from prolonged usage that won't be apparent from a 1-2 week trial. You can get bands around the eyes, damage, and problems behind the eye you couldn't see without equipment so its a VERY good idea to get regular checkups, but its not like they cost the earth anyway. Its almost certainly a good idea to get a checkup after a month or to and then at 6 months and a year, then you'll probably be fine once a year from then on mostly to keep track of your perscription and make sure if it changes you're on the most accurate perscription asap.

5 years ago buying online vs in store was a no brainer, even if you were paying £30-50 a check up. but I guess more than anything the internet stores have forced the big chain opticians to push their prices way way down so theres probably little difference.

At the moment the cheapest place I can get focus toric dailes is around £16 for 15 pairs, so £32 a month, a few years ago i think it was vision express used to charge something along the lines of £35 a box, or basically £70 a month.


Strangely, one of the cheapest places I've seen for contacts is Asda online, send them a copy of your perscription and order them online.
 
You need the test because of all the reasons above, like the shape and size of your eye (my girlfriend's contacts are like dinner plates because her eyes are enormous), how dry your eyes are and so on. I have to keep eye drops handy ideally because my eyes are quite dry and I smoke which exacerbates the problem.

Also, your contacts prescription may not be the same as your glasses prescription. Mine's not.

You can't just blag it off when it comes to sticking things in your eyes and leaving them there all day, plus I don't think I could actually get my lenses cheaper online if I tried, I go to Specsavers and it's £22 a month for daily disposables. They actually last me well over a month ordinarily because I don't wear them every day and I re-use them sometimes.
 
I've worn them for almost 20 years. They are good but they do tire your eyes very quickly. I can't wear them for more than 5 hours or so with irritation. I used to wear them virtually 24/7 but couldn't do that now.
 
Continuous wear lenses might be more suited for your needs than daily ones though.

Sticking your fingers in your eyes without access to running water is not ideal.
 
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