Questions about Contact Lenses

Just wondering if there are any fellow contact wearers on the board?  I use Bausch and Lomb 30 day contacts and need to have an eye appointment and order some new contacts this month.  I'd really like to be able to get the same brand of contacts that I had in the states because I've never had any problems with them.  Also, where is the best place to get your eyes checked?  Should I just make an appointment at Specsavers?

I used to order from 1 800 Contacts when I lived in the states and liked how low the prices were, is there an equivalent to this in the UK?  Thanks in advance!

So glad you asked this. I was going to go to Specsavers, but maybe someone will have better ideas.

I just went to Specsavers a few weeks ago and was pleased with the service and test itself, but  the doc is adamant that I wear daily disposables which I have never worn before and never wanted to wear. She gave me a sample, which I hated, so I went back and got another sample which isnt great either, so I will have to go back again for another sample.. what a pain!  I assumed she was doing this because the brand I wore in the states is not available, but I've just found out that it is, so I'm going to order them online from http://www.contactlenses.co.uk/.  It looks comparable to 1800Contacts. 

I get my exams & contacts at ASDA. It was £15 for the exam & contact lens fitting (even though I have been a lifer with contacts they still require it) and I got 6 months worth of lenses for £27 (I wear Accuvue Advance now and use 1 pair per month, I had to switch from original Accuvue because they've been discontinued by the manufacturer). Quite reasonable IMO.

I've got an astigmatism and I've had a few really bad experiences with getting a proper contact lens prescription to fit my eyes here in the UK. Most high street shops know glasses really well, but IMHO, very few can do a good job on contact lenses, and you really are better off going to a contact lens specialist if you can. After my bad experiences, someone told me to try 20/20 on Tottenham Court Road and I've been RIDICULOUSLY happy with them in the 5+ years I've been going there. One of their opticians even saved my live, which is pretty sweet. If you're anywhere near London, I highly recommend visiting them, and they've got a huge room full of the high-tech glaucoma and eye health testing machines that a lot of places don't have, too.

But don't buy your lenses from them, as they're over twice the price of postoptics.co.uk, which is where I buy all my lenses from, and have done for years.

I've yet to find anywhere that stocks contact lens solution in anything approaching US prices (if anyone has a good supplier, speak up!) so I get friends to bring over a couple of bottles of ReNu for me every time anyone visits. The tiny bottles here seem to cost the same as the giant bottles in the US!

I've got an astigmatism and I've had a few really bad experiences with getting a proper contact lens prescription to fit my eyes here in the UK. Most high street shops know glasses really well, but IMHO, very few can do a good job on contact lenses, and you really are better off going to a contact lens specialist if you can. After my bad experiences, someone told me to try 20/20 on Tottenham Court Road and I've been RIDICULOUSLY happy with them in the 5+ years I've been going there. One of their opticians even saved my live, which is pretty sweet. If you're anywhere near London, I highly recommend visiting them, and they've got a huge room full of the high-tech glaucoma and eye health testing machines that a lot of places don't have, too.

Based on squirrely's suggestion (I have ridic hard to fit eyes as well) I went to 20/20 also and have been very happy for the past 2 years -- as has my husband.  We've probably sent another 20 people there -- with no bad reports. 

I just went to Boots Opticians - have had no problems with them at all on the contact lens fitting front- I am now on Accuve Oyasis- yay, thank goodness these are made for astigmatisms now.  I get my lenses through work though.   

I get also get yearly checkups there-thanks to an eye condition.  I have no complaints. 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!  I found my lenses on one of the websites posted here so that's a relief.  I'm sure you can all understand that once you find a brand of contacts that works you want to stick with it!

If you know exactly what contacts you need and don't want to pay for an exam or fitting, you can try ordering online from http://www.getlenses.nl. They are a Dutch subsidiary of http://www.getlenses.co.uk and apparently the laws in the Netherlands don't require that you have a prescription to buy contacts. I used them for my wife's contacts and service was prompt and the product delivered exactly as expected.

Having said that, if you already have a prescription there are loads of UK based sites that I'm sure are good as well, so you could just do a price comparison between a few of those and see what comes up tops. Skip the high street and save your money!

I second finding someone who specialized in contacts. My vision is appalling and when I lived in the UK only ordered lenses once through a specialist. The other times I went back to the US to get them.

If you live in the southwest, I can recommend a good specialist in Exeter.

A friend of mine at work goes to our University Optometry school for her contacts. The exams take...well, ages...as you get examined by a student and then double checked by a optician, but it's cheap, and they do a great job with the contacts. Maybe check around for a school near you?