Anyone who can help with contact lenses?

[Pigsmummy]

Mumsnet has really helped me in other areas and I hadn't thought to ask this before. Sorry that it is first world.

Can anyone recommend a specialist contact lense provider?

Science bit; very short sighted, -7 plus astigmatism in one eye. I have had corneal ulcers, scarring and hay fever so my optician won't consider anything other than dailies. Need a contact lense company that can do -6.25 and -6.75 Toric.

I am not wearing lenses purely for vanity, laser treatment at £3250 is an option but need top up treatment and commitment of result very vague, lense replacement v expensive and quite scary.

What do you mean by specialist ? I am confused, surely you would have been advised by your opthamologist if you have had your eyes tested for contacts ?

I have similar eyes to you -10 both eyes, astigmatism and also retinal scarring and hay fever and I wear monthly disposables from specsavers for £13 a month with no problems at all. You also get a free pair of glasses every two years on their plan and all aftercare included. Works for me!

I used to get mine from Specsavers and had no issues. However, I switched to Costco as (at the time) they were the only place that did acuvue true eye dailies. A 3 month supply costs £107.

They do great offers and I've bought my last batch at 4mths for the price of 3.

I have astigmatism and just use focus dailies torics. All the major brands do these toric lenses so unless i am missing something you can get them from any bog standard place.

I presume you have been given a contacts prescription - it will be different to your glasses script

I order mine online from lens direct, should be easy enough to check if they do them. Cheaper than opticians you just need the prescription.

Surely the optician who examined you is the best person to advise on the most appropriate lenses for you?

I have had clients with scripts of -10 with contacts due to glasses causing pressure sores so it is definately possible - the hospital prescribed them though so don't know where you can get them x

OK have no idea about your condition but generally find most opticians promote dailies despite them being (in my 30+ years of wearing, "a bit shit"). They are a money making easy option.
Now that I know what I need(gas permeable) I just get a prescription from from Vision Express practice and buy my lenses online from the states for half the price.
This guy was amazing though - www.matheson-optometrists.com/practices/petersfield.html# .Really knew his stuff -talked through option/lenses and let me keep some free of charge to see how I got on.

Oh and these were monthlys that stayed in for a week at a time as the lady was nursed at home and couldn't get an optician out to insert/remove them

I get my prescription at my yearly check up and buy my lenses from get lenses every few months. I have a strong myopic prescription with astigmatism and I pay less than £30 for 3 months supply of biofinity topic lenses.

why not get dailies? that's what I have (-7 and astigmatism)

Sorry- that came out wrong.
I have always had gas permeable lenses (since the 80's) and then suddenly since high street chains appeared "dailies" were all I was offered. However if you ask further hard lenses are actually much better.It's just that you don't need so much "maintenance" ie constant supplies, fluid and check ups. Also apparently people can't cope with a few days of discomfort whilst they get used o them. Dailies are easy from day one but are so much more hard work.

Thank you for responses, the issue seems to be that beyond -6 the mainstream manufacturers won't do .25 corrections in dailies.
Not sure if optician is being overly cautious about insisting on dailies. Had 9 week ulcer May 2013, scarring as a result.

I have used websites (lensbase, contactlenses.co.uk) and registered with a few different opticians over the years, they are constrained by commercial agreements, they cant just prescribe what they want.

I visit an excellent specialist contact lens practice and get treated very well- have terrible dry eyes. Pm me if you like the details. West mids

Don't want to hijack your thread OP, but I'm curious. I've worn soft lenses for a number of years and have been told that with my prescription -8 and severe astigmatism - I couldn't wear disposables of any kind as it's not possible to achieve the required level of sight correction with disposables.

I haven't bought new lenses for about 5 years now so is my information out of date? Would love to be able to get disposables.

Wow, I hadn't thought about "hard" lenses, thank you!!!. I am about an hour from Petersfield so I could even try your man.

Lens replacement surgery seems scary so I want to carry on with contact lenses.

Pigs, if you are even -8 with about .75 prism then you might find disposable an option. Maybe weeklies, prob not dailies. Try boots or vision express? Let me know?

Oh thanks Pigsmummy. I'll do that. The optician I'm with now is new to me as I moved a couple of years ago, but it's a Boots branch, and he was a bit dismissive when I mentioned any kind of contact lenses - said they were a lot of bother, which I thought was a bit odd tbh. I'm in my mid 60s so don't know if that makes a difference.

Yes, I was thinking weeklies. Definitely don't think dailies would be an option.

Will definitely try Vision Express. My son goes to them and is very satisfied with his contact lenses - also has awful sight and has been wearing weeklies for some time. Just paid over £500 for new glasses so don't really want to pay out a large lump sum for regular soft lenses.

Pigsdofly

I get lenses from'getlenses'.

I've just had a quick look and the one brand I looked at (biomedics0 do up to -10 in daily disposables with 0.25 increments

Mine are 6.50 and 5.50 with astigmatism, I 've just changed to some new lenses which are really comfortable (I get dry eyes) from vision express, £23 a month. Used to be £15. Was always told I couldn't have dailies, never really understood why!

My optician (at Specsavers) told me monthly disposables were more healthy for eyes than dailies and she would only recommend dailies for part-time users - they let in less oxygen I think?

My prescription is -8 on both eyes with slight astigmatism. I have hay fever although never considered that relevant.

I am always the most short sighted person I know so it is good to be among my own kind here.

My prescription is - 11.25 (Blind as a bat), with astigmatism in both eyes and retinal scarring in one.

I'm with Specsavers and wear the Night and Day lenses (ie one pair a month but you sleep in them too so only take them out every 30 days).

My high prescription and other issues have never caused an issue tbh.

You won't get a full choice of all the lenses available from Boots, or any of the multiples (Specsavers, Vision Express, etc).

The best option for you is to find a good independent optician near you and go there. They will usually be able to get whatever they think is the best lens for you and not be constrained by the arrangements their head office has made with the big lens manufacturers.

As well as the 0.25 steps business, more important is the amount of astigmatism as this is the more limiting factor in dailies. How much astigmatism do you have?

There is a lens company called mark ennovy who do monthly and quarterly lenses in a vast range of prescriptions and fittings. I used to work for boots until very recently, and this is the company we'd use for more complicated fits.

Like previous posters I am pretty blind with -7.25 / -7.5 astigmatism. I wear monthly toric disposables. Love them. My optician is fabulous - based in Essex. Please pm if you need the details.