Where can I get contact lenses before lunchtime tomorrow?

[Startuplife]

Just arrived at a hotel 5 hours away from home to discover I’ve packed two sets of the same contact lenses! My eyes are quite different strengths and it’s the strong ones I’m missing so there’s no way I’ll get away without wearing them.

I usually order them online but do have my eye tests done at Specsavers so will they sell me some? Or anywhere else I can get them urgently? I’m in a pretty big city so easy access to most places.

I have just been to an optician who gave me some before

But if you get them from a chain then you can go into any.

Plus if you put a disposable in a glass of water overnight you can wear it again tomorrow.

Plus if you put a disposable in a glass of water overnight you can wear it again tomorrow.

Don't do this if you like having eyes.

Try vision direct! If I order the night before they come via Royal Mail the following morning. Have used them for years. Good luck!

Sadly I’d already put the ones I was wearing into the hotel room bin before I realised or otherwise I’d have tried sleeping in them overnight

I do usually order from VisionDirect but even if they could deliver to the hotel tomorrow morning it would need to be before we leave at 12 so probably cutting it a bit fine.

Specsavers can sell you them if they have your prescription. In fact, if you have a copy of your prescription any optician can sell you them.

Absolutely do not do this, you will get an eye parasite and possibly go blind!!!

Vision direct are next day delivery? Would that work?

Just checked and there’s a Specsavers just down the road. They keep sending me reminders to bill my eye test so they must have my prescription on file. Thank you for the suggestions!

Hahahahaha, exactly what I would suggest, doing that would be madness.

I laughed hard at your post though!

Well it's more "might" than "will" but why take the risk of getting something so catastrophic? Acanthamoeba keratitis, which you can get from doing that kind of thing, is rare but horrible and very hard to treat, and you can go blind. Even without that risk, water can also distort the lens, meaning it can cause damage to the surface of your eye.

It's also not a great idea to wear a disposable content lens overnight and through the next day.

Thankfully neither of these options are available to OP any more 😂

Depending on the circumstances, just having good correction in one eye can be manageable for short periods; any chance you'd be able to adjust to that @Startuplife ? Or do you have to drive or something?

And good luck with Specsavers!

Spec savers will probably have some trial lenses available

Depends on the prescription. I always have to have trial lenses ordered in.

If you had your eye test with Specsavers and they have your prescription on file, they could probably give/sell you some contacts. If your prescription is high or they don't have the same lenses in stock then they can't give you a different brand even if it the same prescription.

I work for a chain optician and if you rocked up tomorrow morning and explained the situation in your OP, and were a current customer I would do everything within the law to help you out. Good luck.

No I don’t need to drive so could possibly manage with wearing the wrong lens in that eye but I’m going to the wedding alone and don’t know a soul apart from the groom so I’m quite nervous anyway without not having full eyesight as well!

Try specsavers. They gave me some for free when I'd forgotten to bring them for my wedding. So nice and I'll always remember it

Yeah I get what you mean, it can feel oddly vulnerable when you can't see properly. I'm always bloody neurotic about having multiple vision options even if I'm travelling light cause my sight is so shit but even the most obsessive of people can end up in a situation like yours occasionally! I hope you manage to get some lenses, but if you can't, then good vision in one eye can be surprisingly useful once you've had a couple of hours to get used to it. And I hope you manage to enjoy the wedding either way — it'll certainly be a memorable one for you, I guess…

Any luck? Enjoy the wedding :)

Sadly not, Specsavers and Boots both said no. Something about my prescription not being the same for contact lenses (although that’s what I’ve been using to order them online for the last 10 years!)
I’m going to try wearing the weaker one in both eyes or otherwise I’m just going to have to go without and try not to squint at anyone 😂

The weaker one will partly correct the vision in your worse eye, you will be fine.

Do you have your glasses with you as back up? If you find the weaker lens too annoying, just switch to glasses.

Do not do this!
contact lenses must not be put anywhere near water as there is a protazoa called acanthomeba which causes a visually devastating and disfiguring corneal keratitis.

go into specsavers and they can call the practice you went to previously and get your rx.

Yeah technically you need a different prescription for contact lenses than you need for glasses (it matters more the stronger the prescription is, but there's also stuff like the base curve of the contract lens), so if what they have for you is labelled as a glasses prescription, then I can see why they refused. Doesn't help you, though :( I honestly think you'll cope better than you think with good vision in one eye; your brain can be very quick at learning how to make the best of what it's got access to.

Vision direct

Sorry, I didn’t see that you didn’t have a contact lens prescription. We can’t sell them without one. You should have a check up anyway. Just pay for a check and they’ll give you a few.