Disposable contact lenses - how much do you pay?

[Azure]

I have monthly disposable contact lenses and pay £24.95 per month. The lenses correct for astigmatism as well as short-sightedness, which may increase the charge. The cost includes check-ups but not solutions. Could I be getting a better deal? I am interested to know what others are paying.

Funny you should post this just now, Azure - DS1 has daily disposables (£35 a month) and because our hairdresser told me this week she has just switched to monthlies (she has no astigmatism and is only paying £10 a month ALL IN from Vision Express - that's solutions, insurance, everything, she said!) we were thinking about changing him over.

But we go to a local optician and I suspect their rate would be more like what you're paying. So try Vision Express if you're not attached to your optician (we all go to ours and they do look after us!)

I think I've got this right - my dh has daily disposables (so no solutions) £18.50 per month from Specsavers. This seems quite cheap going by the others - I'll have to ask him to be sure but thats what it says on the bank statement!

Or, try Post Optics , if you don't mind getting them through the post. They do toric lenses and their solutions etc are cheap too.

I have just looked at their toric monthlies and they are £65 for 6 pairs - solutions extra of course. Non-toric are £35 for 6 pairs. If Vision Express prices are comparable then presumably their toric monthlies would be c £20 a month, but including solutions if our hairdresser's information is correct!

I pay £10 a month for monthly disposables with Specsavers and that includes all saline solutions, check ups for comfort etc etc. They are even posted to me once every three months.

Every now and again when feeling lazy I get a pack of 30 daily disposables for £24 - they are pretty handy for trips away etc.

With specsavers you can choose the number of dialy disposable, I was on the 20 pairs for £18 scheme for ages and would wear my glasses to give my eyes a break at weekends.

£10 a month at SpecSavers - for monthly disposables - and I have them delivered. I would guess that lenses for astigmatism would be more expensive, but £24.95 seems a lot. I used to pay £20 at a local optician and have to go and pick them up every couple of months so I think SpecSavers are great (despite the naffness of the name!)

£25 a month with Specsavers for daily disposables (don't need solutions)they post them to me every 3 months

I think our local Specsavers are great - the optician there found I had an eye condition (retina problem) the specialists were really impressed he picked it up - I have had laser surgery and luckily no deterioration to my sight!

£17.50 per month with Specsavers for monthly disposable toric lenses (ie for astigmatism as well as short sight). This includes solutions, cases, check-ups and posting replacement lenses to me every 3 months!

I pay £14.95 for monthly disposables which includes solutions, check-ups and no questions asked replacements from Vision Express. They are also posted to me every 3 months. But if daily disposables are that cheap I might change!

monkeygirl, one of the reasons (or main reason even) our hairdresser changed is that you can safely keep monthly ones in your eyes for a lot longer each day. Dailies are only supposed to be kept in for about 8 hours (?) - she finds her eyes get much less dry and scratchy with the monthly ones.

Yep, I couldn't use the daily lenses for the same reason. In fact I'm just switching to a silicon based monthly lens as my eyes are so dry.

BR

The optician at SpecSavers told me that dailies are designed primarily for convenience and not for comfort - that's why I decided on monthly ones. Tbh, the "technology" has advanced so much it's really no hardship to care for them. I just have one bottle of solution, and the lens case has a catalytic disc in it which neutralises the peroxide solution overnight.

When I first had contact lenses (oooh...16 years ago) I had a little bottle of cleaning stuff which I had to rub on the lenses to clean them, a bottle of peroxide soln., neutralising tablets and protein removing tablets - what a faff!

Wow, thanks for your replies. Sounds like I am paying way over the odds, and I've been paying this for years. Should have gone to Specsavers!!!

sorry to hijack but i was interested in the debate about monthlyies vs dailies with 'dry eyes'. I tried wearing contacts a couple of years ago and tried various ones out but my eyes always got dry and scratchy very quickly so gave up. I went to vision express a few months ago to see if things had got better with all the new lenses coming out but she said she thought my eyes just weren't suitable for lenses as they were reacting in the same way. I don't think she tried monthlies, though. Is it worth going back to check these out - or going somewhere else to try?

I have daily disposables (acuvue) at £35pm. I tried to switch to cheaper own brand ones (eg vision express) but my eyes are a funny shape and acuvue do the only diameter lenses that fit comfortably. I've been using them for about 10 years.
moomin, dailies are meant to be better for dry eyes as they have a higher water content than monthlies. I think there is a NEW daily one out which is meant to be for very dry eyes - launched a month or so ago - maybe you should ask. think it is by acuvue though so expect to pay about £35 pm or more for them.

that's what i thought, but a couple of posters there said that monthlies are more comfortable ?

mmm PPH, IME I found the opposite to be the case. I think it's because the daily lenses are generally thinner.

I'm picking up my new monthly lens this afternoon and am hoping this will solve my problems as at the moment I have to use comfort drops all the time. Incidentally, I only wear a lens in one eye, but have problems with dryness in both eyes so it's not actually caused by the lense, but means I have problems wearing it.

The optician explained that the silicon based lens will not dry out during the day like the water based lenses do. I'll let you know how I get on.....

BR

I have monthly disposables at £16 per month which includes two 6-monthly checkups and one full eye test - from Optical Express - they send them in the post every quarter.
BTW
I previously had the daily acuvue lenses at £35 pm, but didn't like the fit, they were very uncomfortable.

I normally go to camden contact lens centre, between, camden and mornington cresent tube stations. They charged me £148.00 for 12 pairs of lens, 12 bottles of AO sept solutions, and 6 bottles of saline. This year I went to Kingsleys optitians, told them how much I usually paid, they bought down the price to; £144.00 for the same items. I'm a diabetic so I don't pay for my eyesight test. Its worth phoneing around......

Well what do ya' know; my new lens is an acuvue lens, partial silicon apparantly....

oh and it's a two weekly lens. Wierd, never heard of these before.

I'm trying out ones called Extreme H20 at the mo, as my eyes were getting really dry with the last 2 types I had. The Ex. H20's are new on the market and they have made a difference - my eyes aren't nearly as dry. Only thing is, he hasn't told me how much they're going to be per month yet. You'll probably hear my screams of horror all over the UK!