Cheapest source of contact lenses ?

[Twinklefloss]

I’d be grateful for any help. My teenage DS wears expensive astigmatism lenses and due to extreme social anxiety and low self esteem won’t even contemplate being seen wearing his glasses (which due to the astigmatism and strong prescription are very thick - like old school NHS bottle glass).

I have been hunting around and can’t find anything cheaper than specsavers subscription service which works out at £60 a month for his lenses. Has anyone found a cheaper online source?

his prescription and contact lens health check are up to date. Would be grateful for any money saving suggestions, thank you!

I use lenstore online

I use vision direct and find them pretty cheap

Feel Good Contacts are good and often have special offers on.

I have astigmatism wear lenses from specsavers and its only £42 a month?

They are daily disposables

Thanks for suggestions, I’ve found a blue light discount for lens store online which brings it down to £44/month, down from the £60 quoted. It’s a complicated prescription and very expensive daily. Much appreciated all.

Using dailies is lots more expensive than using fortnightly ones.

Feel Good Contacts are the cheapest I've found as it's not a subscription.

I have a very high prescription and I get my glasses lenses thinned. He does need glasses he is willing to wear out in case of eye infection etc. I was the same as him as a teenager and wouldn't wear my glasses until I got the thin lenses.

I also just pay to get my glasses thinned, much cheaper than contacts in the long run

I have a very complex prescription (-9.50 both eyes, severe astigmatism, varifocal, retinal issues) - monthly lenses with specsavers were £22- can he not have monthly ones?

Realistically you'll not get it down much from the £44 I reckon. Also factor in the cost of check ups etc which you need every couple of years or maybe more often. It can be a false economy.

I'm on the boots scheme so all the checks are included etc, it's £50/m for my dailies and that includes check ups, it would be £46 to buy them from lenstore.

Presumably he's tried other lenses and the dailies are the best fit etc? I tried loads and the expensive dailies were the only ones that fit me properly. And we tried them aaaaallllll!

I'm with your son on the glasses thing - can't stand them, won't wear them out of the house!

I have a similar prescription and pay about £24 for monthlies. Much cheaper and less waste than dailies.

it sounds like monthlies are much cheaper and something we should look into but the optometrists have never mentioned it and I don’t know why - what would the downsides be? I was quite clear that I was concerned about the cost at his appointment yesterday. DS is 15.

We keep his glasses prescription up to date and he understands that if he gets an infection he HAS to wear them which is probably why he’s so careful with hand hygiene and looking after his eyes that he hasn’t had a problem in 2 years. We’ve also talked about getting a job to help pay for the contacts.

If you look at the lenstore website, they give free eye tests at vision express so it works out cost-effective.

I was at Boots previously and the advantage there was that you got 50% off prescription glasses - great if you are really short sighted like me.

Be aware websites like vision direct operate from outside the UK so they don’t abide by the opticians act which states that you must have a prescription from a doctor or optometrist/contact lens optician to purchase cls. Rules for selling to under 16’s are more stringent again. Often websites will sell cl’s to anyone without requiring a prescription so essentially don’t encourage people to keep up to date with checks.

The other point to make is that the NHS doesn’t fund appointments relating to contact lenses (unless the person wears contact lenses for ‘medical purposes’) so you will need to pay for appointments. That means buying online is often a false economy over direct debit schemes as contact lens checks are often £35+

We got DS fortnightly toric lenses and he finds them so uncomfortable he won’t wear them… Daily were fine but fortnightly are thicker. Daily so expensive tho…

What about Rigid Gas Permeable lenses. They take bit of getting used to but mine cost £70 each and last 3 or 4 years if the prescription doesn't change. Cleaning stuff is about a fiver a month. They are a bit more of a faff to clean but worth it for the vision clarity and cost saving.

They are very old fashioned and many opticians don't offer them as standard. There are a few wearers of them on mumsnet.

I use a site called Alensa. It costs me around £45 for 3 pairs of 'air optix + hydraglyde - contact lenses for astigmatism'(monthly lenses). I buy a 4 month pack of 'Renu' sensitive all in one contact lense solution for £17.
So for 3 months supply of lenses/solution it works out at around £20 per month.

My toric is £19pm (one eye only, i dont wear a lense in the other eye) for dailies from Specsavers.

Monthlies are cheaper, but require more maintenance, I switched to dailies (from ones you just wore, not even monthlies) when I got my first job after uni (30 years ago!). I've tried monthlies more recently but just can't be bothered with them.

I use a local optician and pay £45 a month for daily with high astigmatism

Yes it's an ouch

Yes be cheaper with monthly's but I don't want the hassle of cleaning them

Thanks everyone for the helpful info. I think the extra cleaning could be the issue with fortnightly/monthlies or rigid gas. Prescription also changes every 6 months so it’s a moving feast. I was astounded how easy it was to buy online without confirmation of prescription or recent eye health check.

Our DD changed at 16 from daily lenses to monthly for her astigmatism. She uses Boots and gets free eye tests and contact checks and they just replace the lenses if her prescription changes. She pays about £25pm. The cost was getting too expensive and she learnt very quickly to care for the monthly lenses. She still gets a small supply of daily lenses to fall back on if going away with friends etc.