Where to Buy Contact Lenses
| searches
on this page include advert links |
Your Eye Test and Contact Lens Fitting
You can't have an eye test online, so visit your local
opticians, this usually costs around £20. Until you are used to contact
lenses you'll want to have a fitting at an opticians to explain how to put them
in (a bit scary at first) and clean them if you are going to reuse them
(necessary for hard lenses). You will want to find out the cost of a
contact lens fitting from the local opticians you are considering as some
opticians offer a discount on contact lenses if you have a fitting with them.
Where to Buy Contact Lenses
The best deals can be had for people with relatively simple
contact prescriptions who can wear soft lenses. Several high street brands
are competing in the marketplace for contact lenses by post. Places to
look include:
Keeping the Costs Down if you have a Complicated Prescription
If you have a complex prescription and your optician is
recommending expensive toric lenses (for perhaps £25 per month), you may want
to consider rigid gas permeable lenses. They cost a good amount less as
you will only need to buy solutions to maintain them. They are less
comfortable than soft lenses, but my some opticians claim they can offer better
vision than soft lenses. If buying Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) lenses,
Dolland and Aitchison offer a service that includes solutions and provides new
lenses every 6 months. So, after 6 months you will have two sets of lenses,
one of which can be used as a spare, and have had solutions for 6 months. You might then want to
cancel the contract, keep your lenses and buy solutions over the counter from a
chemist.
Bear in mind, that if you buy rigid gas permeable contact
lenses, you will probably lose several in your first few years of wearing them,
so having a spare pair or two is a good thing.
Moneysavingexpert.com
on contact lenses - some research on how to save when buying mail order
contact lenses.
| 
