anyone buy contact lenses online? and can anyone help out with reading my prescription?

[whitelillies]

The cost of my contact lenses is astronomical, so i m wondering about buying them online. Anyone any experience of this? i ve googled and there s lots of sites - do I just choose and hope for the best?

I need toric ones so they re a bit more expensive (one day acuvue seem to be the ones I find most tolerable)
Also my optician wrote out my script but I cant make head nor tale of it .
They wrote out base curve (8.5), diam (14.5) and power
the power has two values eg
rt - 0.001-1.75x100
Lt- 0.001-1.75x70
I cant seem to undestand where this goes on the order forms online. they look for power and cylinder values ... I dont think I have a cylinder value.
Thanks in advance if anyone can explain this!

Hello, yes, I buy my lenses online, I've generally used this company mobile.contactlenses.co.uk/ but they don't offer next day delivery ( despite being otherwise excellent ) so my last lot came from here www.lenstore.co.uk/ and I'll be using them again - faultless communication and lenses arrived next day.

Sadly, I know nothing whatsoever about all the various numbers on the prescription - it might be worth emailing the company you decide to use for advice, both the sites I've used have been very helpful.

Tesco stores with an opticians are very reasonable, and comparable to online prces, and if you buy through them you get your sight test for free.

I get mine from www.visiondirect.co.uk. They offer a good service and are pretty cheap.

Having bought contact lenses from an optician in the past, I just kept the box with the references to place my order online.

Do you have the reference of your astronomical contact lenses? Try and find them online and buy the same model.

It's dead easy, you are -1.75 for both eyes.

If you choose one day acuvue (I get mine from vision direct) the standard base and curve is the one you are and in the drop down menu you just choose -1.75 for both. I'm -1.50 for both.

I have gas permeable ones which are £150 over here and about $40 online from the states. Get them in a week. Also has the advantage that you can chose your own brand. I find opticians are keen to give you what they stock/deal with.

You do need a prescription that's in date though. I usually only go to the opticians every 5 or 6 years or so....

Base curve (8.5), diam (14.5) means that your eyes are best suited to Soflens 66 Toric which is the one I use. Those are its measurements.

Since you need Toric lenses and there is a x100 or x70 value there, I am guessing that the -1.75 are your astigmatism and not myopia (near sightedness). So those mean:

Right eye:
Cylinder: -1.75
Axe: 100

Left eye:
Cylinder: -1.75
Axe: 70

My only question would be: Do you have myopia or hypermetropia (near or far sightedness) as well as astigmatism? If you do, the "Power" value is missing (no, 0.001 is not a power value. It should be something like +1.25 or -0.75, or in any case a multiple of 0.25, plus or minus)

I use a site called daysoftlenses.com. They're around £6 per month per eye. They use their own lenses though so you put in the type that you normally use and they will give you the equivalent, I used the focus dailies and find the daysoft ones more comfortable. I don't think they do next day delivery though, possibly takes around a week??

Laurie - OP says she uses Toric lenses (that compensate for astigmatism as well as near or far sightedness) so you wouldn't be correct to assume that the "-1.75" in her post refers to myopia.

I don't know about your myopia but I buy mine from asda.

Can only tolerate acuvue ones - the tru eyes. Again v expensive but asda does them for £18 a box. So not too bad.

Asda has a customer helpline that is v good and should be able to decipher your prescription

Dont mean to hijack, but if you buy contact lenses online do you have an annual opticians eye health check somewhere?

Not necessarily. I just check a box on the website that says "I have a valid prescription for these lenses".

I get Focus Dailies Toric from Lenstore - excellent service ordered today to be delivered Friday for £2.99 p+p. If you are not sure just give them a ring and they will talk you through it. And yes I get annual check ups and use this online service just when I need some extra lenses in a hurry.

Readyforno2 - thanks so much, I am always looking for cheaper lenses and couldn't find anywhere cheaper then Asda, but will definitely order from daysoftlenses next tie, what a bargain!!

Everyone I have ordered from check your prescription by ringing up the optician you have had your eye test with to confirm. You can also scan in your prescription and email it to them. I have never had a company give me contacts if my prescription has been out of date.

i used to be an dispensing optician type person without the exams.....10 years.

you are are toric lens - which means you have a cyl only prescription. no sphere. this is because you have an astigmatism. my lens rx is the same actually - no sphere - cyl only rx - sadly i just cannot get on with cl no matter what i do.

do you want me to be totally totally honest with you?

do not buy your rx online without checking your CL rx first. your contact lens RX will be different from you spec RX, because the lens is worn closer to the eye.

also - your after care will no longer be covered by your optom. you will pay more for after care so weigh it all up and work out the real costs because you should have a cl check every 6 months and a proper sight test every year.

i never advocated getting lenses or glasses online personally. you have no comeback and no cover for things going wrong - and we did numerous experiments at my old place of work to see if the wackiest prescriptions would be made up knowing they would cause the wearer problems - they always made them and never questioned our figures which is asking for trouble.

i worked for 10 years in an independent opticians. all in all - i would find a decently priced opticians and get your lenses and your after care from them. forget online sales.
sales is all they are. no eye care what so ever.

you should always always always get your cl checks and aftercare done at an otpicians - those of you who just tick the box are risking the health of your eyes - seriously.

i saw too many things go wrong to be complacent.

"you are are toric lens - which means you have a cyl only prescription. no sphere. this is because you have an astigmatism. "

I don't doubt your experience and knowledge, but that doesn't sound right.

Toric lenses don't only correct for astigmatism. My toric lenses correct for astigmatism and myopia (near sightedness), so they definitely have "sphere" i.e. optical power. You can also get toric lenses that correct for hypermetropia (far sightedness), and they would also have sphere values.

These are my toric lenses. You can clearly see the option to select for "puissance" (power) from +6.00 to -9.00 as well as cylinder from -0.75 to -2.75.

Why do you think our health would be compromised by ordering contact lenses online? The same contact lenses that the optician would order anyway.

No problem. Although I do agree with the other posts.. Make sure you have a valid prescription. Hope they work out for you

i was referring only to the OP in this instance cotes - your rx may well be different.

but i reiterate - in the ops case she has a cyl only rx with an axis

I use getlenses.co.uk who will check your order against your prescription if you mail them a scan/photo of your prescription. Much cheaper than my optician, even when I factored in the cost of 6monthly checkups. Use discount code LENSES24 for 20% off.

vicar - What does the 0.001 mean in OP's prescription? I'm curious.

normally RX are measured to the second decimal point - so the 0.001 means absolutely nothing in my experience.

i would need to actually see the prescription as it is from the optician to give a 100% accurate reading but she is a plano lens with a cyl and axis to correct her astigmatism only as far as i can see from what she has written on her original post. Therefore she needs a toric lens to correct the astigmatism only.

i was training to be a dispensing optician then had a rethink and joined the police.
but i had 10 years in optics.

but i would not advise her to order CL based on what people on here are saying. thats risky and she could end up with the wrong RX altogether.

Vicar
Asda wouldn't dispense my contacts without my opticians approval. I had to go and get a check up and she had to ring asda opticians to confirm my prescription.

For this alone, I would use them. It means my lens are approved by my optician and I know they are right for me when I order them.

thanks everyone for the advice. I do appreciate it. I went back to the opticians and asked them to write out the prescription as i needed it for ordering online. I didnt tell them In was ordering online but they asked. I go there for my glasses and CL but the CL I use are so expensive andwhen I googled I got some cheaper quotes. I asked the optician if they could compete with t he online price and they said they couldnt lower their prices.
I ll chec out those sites - and phone them prior to ordering.
I get a yearly eye test to check my prescription etc. My most recent was last september. SO my prescription is in date. I just cant afford to keep paying 70E a month for lenses! It s crazy. thanks again for all the info.

oh and thanks vicar for the explaination of the prescription! It realy helped me to understand it, I do appreciate it. I know what you re saying too about the health of your eyes that s why i still have a yearly check, and I mostly order from the optiaian, but at the moemnt financially i need to find cheaper options.