Contact Lenses

[KinkyAfro]

Thinking of dumping my specs for contact lenses.

Got an eye test at Boots on saturday but its an extra £35 for a 2 week trial for contacts.

Anyone know of anywhere cheaper for a trial? And wheres cheap to buy them after the trial?

Cheers

 

[deco]

alrite mate. i get mine £13 a month from specsavers and thats for the best type of contact lense as well. if they could only match their service to that deal i would be chuffed.

 

[Matty]

Just get some daily disposable ones, mine come in packs of 30 (so 15 pairs, unless you're Gordon Brown) and cost less than a quid a pair, got them from Vision Express (Contact Dailies they're called). I'd recommend NOT going for the ones you've got to keep for any length of time, it's far too much messing about, and it's a nightmare when you come in from a night our pissed and have then got to take them out, clean them and put them away safely. My dailies just get chucked down the loo!

 

[Pearcey]

Just get some daily disposable ones, mine come in packs of 30 (so 15 pairs, unless you're Gordon Brown) and cost less than a quid a pair, got them from Vision Express (Contact Dailies they're called). I'd recommend NOT going for the ones you've got to keep for any length of time, it's far too much messing about, and it's a nightmare when you come in from a night our pissed and have then got to take them out, clean them and put them away safely. My dailies just get chucked down the loo!

I wear glasses, but I really didn't like putting contacts in, and they made my eyes feel tired and dry, I do wear them, but only for football,. Specsavers is your best bet, and like Matty says the daily ones are a lot less messing about and IMO are easier to put in / take out.

 

[urmston]

Get a years contract from an internet optician to provide you with a new pair every month. Take the cheapest you can get. Cancel after one year. The 12 sets will last about 4 years.

You can get lenses cheap off the internet if you provide a prescription to the sellers. Either get one emailed to you from your optician or scan a paper one in.

Don't believe all the hype about fancy types of lenses. Unless you are unlucky the cheapest ones will be OK however long you wear them each day. Never buy the solutions at the opticians. Always go to Tescos or Superdrug for low prices.

And keep a few pairs of daily disposable around for emergencies or when you want to do something like play football when there is a reasonable chance you could lose a more expensive normal lens. Daily disposables are great but they are a very expensive way to have contact lenses if you wear them every day.

 

[merty-b-]

Ive got the monthly ones. you can wear them for 2 weeks at a time constant. You can sleep with them in a few rubs of the eyes in the morning and off you go. £15.50 from specsavers. Think they give you a free 2 week trial of the daily ones as well.

 

[moomba]

I've got the monthly ones. Keep them in day or night for a month (you can use them a bit longer if you're desperate), I think they cost about £15 a month, from memory it was a free trial.

None of the hassle of taking them out and putting them in each day, that was what stopped me wearing contacts in the first place.

 

[Hez]

Opticians will probably charge you for your prescription if you buy your lenses on line. I would really not take Urmstons advice. You always need a pair of back up specs and should have at least one day a week without wearing them. They need checking every 12 months.

I work in an Opticians and it never ceases to amaze me the short cuts people take with their eyes to save money. When the day inevitably comes that their eyes are shot from all the overwearing of CL's they have done they cry like babies. I have to say I have zilch sympathy.

 

[merty-b-]

I have been told by my optician that I need to take mines out at least once every 14 days.

It is class not having to use specs. My confidance has gone through the roof. If my head gets any bigger they are going to have to call the joiners in to make the doors bigger

 

[urmston]

I've worn contacts since 1987 when soft ones first became quite cheap. I've worn them all day every day and always taken them out at night and I've never had any problems whatsoever. Opticians always try to sell you more expensive contacts by telling you of all the potential pitfalls of cheaper lenses, but they are really only in it for the money. That's why they push daily lenses so much - they are easily the most expensive way to wear lenses and have no advantages at all except for the optician's bank balance.

If you pay an optician for an eye test you are entitled to your prescription to take it anywhere you like to get your contacts or glasses, although of course lots of opticians will offer cheap or even free eye tests on the condition you buy from them.