Hi All,
I am going to be fitted for contact lenses for the first time. I use Kaiser and their fitting is $99 for a regular fitting. I'm not sure the price of the contacts. I was wondering if anyone has advice about going to Costco or Walmart for the fitting and the contacts, and if it's worth it? I tried googling it but came up with very little. Any thoughts?
Do you have Vision Insurance?
Costco is good if you get them on sale there. Otherwise go on line once you have you contact prescription, which is different from glasses, and 1-800-contacts or other on line places are better priced. just compare once you have your prescription.
KP
+11tby.
don't order through your eye care professional.
call 1-800-contacts after your fitting and order from them directly.
my ECP marked up my biofinity lenses 150%
it pissed me off so much, that i called him and told him he will never have my business again, and i will need a paper copy of my prescription.
get your prescription in paper form so you can get contacts from the cheaper source you can find.
I have the prescription. Thanks for your advice. I'll swing by a Costco and ask about fittings and cost. Kaiser gives me $150 off glasses/frames but even with that they are more expensive than some of the alternatives. I had no idea about contacts.
I got my eyes checked at Costco last week and I think they charge $80 for a contact scrip. They also mentioned something about a 2 hour fitting class or something.
I'm assuming you're going with soft lenses, which work a lot better for me. When you're getting fitted (though it sounds like you might have been already), see if you can get the prescription written for as many different brands & styles as you can (with, of course, the same diameter, correction & one other number that I forget what it measures). When i first got fitted (at a Sears store, if I remember right), the Dr. listed three or four different types within a couple of brands, so I could order online from among those -- made it much easier to choose the ones that worked best, let me pick both some daily disposables & some long-term wear ones, and even let me pick ones that were on sale occasionally. When that scrip ran out, I went to an independent optometrist, and he wrote the prescription for one brand, one type, and that's all that Vision Direct will now let me order online.
As a bonus, the Doc will likely send you out the door with free samples of the several different types he/she is prescribing, which covered me for a good month or so the first time 'round! [thumbsup]
When you order online if you have a current contact prescr. they are a lot less expensive. You can still get thm w/o but are more expensive. You do need to send the actual prescr. (a copy will do) for the cheaper price.
You don't need a "fitting class" for 2 hours. The doctor or another qualified person at the office can show you in a few minutes how to put your contacts in properly. Not an easy job at first.
KP
Quote from: supakpow2 on March 25, 2009, 11:46:41 AM
Costco is good if you get them on sale there. Otherwise go on line once you have you contact prescription, which is different from glasses, and 1-800-contacts or other on line places are better priced. just compare once you have your prescription.
KP
I ordered my contacts last week from
1800contacts.. Alot cheaper it was 86.00 for 6 months.. Just make sure u have ur prescription..
Good luck..
I used to moonlight at a Wal Mart down in NOLA fitting contacts. We used to charge $70 for the exam/fitting, which you probably won't beat elsewhere. The prices you get on the internet (1800 contacts etc.) will definitely be better than any store, Walmart included.
I get my eyes checked at an opthamologist. He is perfectly happy to give me a paper copy of my prescription (and often gives me a trial pair or two as I leave the office to try out).
I usually buy my contact at costco, although I've used 1800 contacts. Costco has a good price on the lenses I like (acuvue Oasis).
EyeMasters quoted me $27/box using my previous insurance (4 boxes=1 years worth of lenses). Not too bad.
I waited a couple days until I got my new insurance and now they're FREE!! ;D
I'm using my Rx to order a few extra boxes online too.
It took a while, but I finally had my first contact lens experience today. One is for distance and the other for reading. It's a bit awkward, but I think my brain will learn to adjust. I can't read the motorcycle gauges as I have to be about 8" away from what ever I want to read. They are making an adjustment for that lens. Riding was okay. I didn't want to lane share since it was different but then I did and it was no big deal. I've had them on for about 2 hours now and they don't hurt, but my eyes feel tired. Thanks for your advice on buying lenses. I will get the first batch from Kaiser and then go elsewhere.
Why did you get a new user name?
Let us know how you adjust to the monovision setup. I personally wouldn't use that because on a moto, I'd want my depth perception to be as good as possible. Good luck though, and ride safe.
you guys in the States are lucky to have this place
Very Highly recommended
http://zennioptical.com/cart/home.php (http://zennioptical.com/cart/home.php)
Dunno about contacts (only have 1 eye, no doctor will let me get contacts), But if anyone here wears glasses, Zenni optical is the shit, I have been paying $250-$450 for glasses for years, you know the routine, getting the exam for $50-$100 and then picking out the frames and options, and then paying the $250-$400 for the frames and lenses even though my prescription hadn't changed. Then I'd wear the glasses either until I totally destroyed them even if they were scratched and gouged and hard to see through because I didn't want to spend the money on a new pair. Then I ordered a pair from Zenni, I think the first pair was about $16 with shipping, and since then I've ordered 6 or 8 other pairs, they are great, for $50 you can get 3 or 4 pairs and they are just as good as any I'd gotten at an optometrist, I love them, and if they get too scratched, make the beast with two backs it, I'll throw them away and get another pair. I'm a huge Zenni fan, I've told all my friends and family about them. [thumbsup]
Quote from: swampduc on April 22, 2009, 05:41:12 PM
Let us know how you adjust to the monovision setup. I personally wouldn't use that because on a moto, I'd want my depth perception to be as good as possible. Good luck though, and ride safe.
I haven't felt like my depth perception is affected at all. The biggest issue is close-up. I can't really read what I'm writing on the computer without putting my face within inches of the screen. Distance and depth are okay. I hope the changes they make to the reading contact will fix the problem.
I was very unhappy with the service I got. It was $149 for the seating. I was shown how to put the contacts on but not shown how to take them off. I asked how to do it and was told to pinch them out. Last night I had to call the advice nurse because I couldn't figure out how to get them out. My money is supposed to give me 4 45 minute sessions. So far my sessions have been 25 and 20 minutes each. I wonder if I can ask for some reimbursement for the crappy service. The advice nurse was really good. She was surprised that I didn't get shown how to take them out or to get some rewetting drops. All I was told was to buy solution and was given a case.
Quote from: NAKID on April 22, 2009, 05:17:38 PM
Why did you get a new user name?
I didn't even notice that. I originally signed up with this name and had trouble with it so I created a new name. I didn't even know that hmbalmer existed. How weird. I'lll have to log out of this one.
Quote from: mbalmer on April 23, 2009, 08:59:38 AM
I was very unhappy with the service I got. It was $149 for the seating. I was shown how to put the contacts on but not shown how to take them off. I asked how to do it and was told to pinch them out. Last night I had to call the advice nurse because I couldn't figure out how to get them out. My money is supposed to give me 4 45 minute sessions. So far my sessions have been 25 and 20 minutes each. I wonder if I can ask for some reimbursement for the crappy service. The advice nurse was really good. She was surprised that I didn't get shown how to take them out or to get some rewetting drops. All I was told was to buy solution and was given a case.
I had gas-permeable contacts for many years but had to switch to soft contacts for a few months before my Lasik surgery (to prep for the surgery). I too had lots of difficulty getting them out of my eye, even though I had lots of experience with the hard contacts.
If I hadn't had the surgery, I would have given up on the soft lenses anyway, I hated them. :P Besides the annoyance of how difficult they were to put in and remove, they tended to dry out easily in a way that affected my vision, it was just never as clear as with the gas-perms. I'd rather wear glasses.
I wear a custom RGP scleral lens on one eye. It's $600, but it lets me see. I wear a toric hydrophilic lens in the other eye. I just get them all from my optometrist. Saving a few bucks on the hydrophilics is trivial compared to the cost of the RGP, and there's really no way to save on that lens. My optometrist specializes in the weird corneal abnormality I have and I drive across the state to see him (on referral from my ophthalmologist, who's a friend and colleague and doesn't really want to mess with my corneas at all). I'd just as soon he stay in business.
I understand the desire to save money, but people underestimate some of the risks associated with contact lenses. My wife gets her lenses through her optometrist until she's satisfied with the fitting and prescription, then sends off for cheap internet ones. That seems like a good compromise to me.
Is the RGP the implanted lens? I would be interested in that for one eye. I am having some allergy difficulties with my lenses and some days they are torture. Other days they are great. Right now I won't put them in as my one eye has been in pain all day from putting the lens in this morning. Took 10 minutes to dig it out and then I had to close my eyes for an hour. After that my eye felt hot and like it was full of salt. Tonight it just feels tired. About twice a week it is painful. I'm ready to throw them away so maybe the RGP thing is an option. My HMO won't do the implant unless it's for cornea problems. Can you explain it?
Quote from: mbalmer on June 13, 2009, 08:51:57 PM
Is the RGP the implanted lens? I would be interested in that for one eye. I am having some allergy difficulties with my lenses and some days they are torture. Other days they are great. Right now I won't put them in as my one eye has been in pain all day from putting the lens in this morning. Took 10 minutes to dig it out and then I had to close my eyes for an hour. After that my eye felt hot and like it was full of salt. Tonight it just feels tired. About twice a week it is painful. I'm ready to throw them away so maybe the RGP thing is an option. My HMO won't do the implant unless it's for cornea problems. Can you explain it?
RGP = Rigid Gas Permeable. The "scleral" bit means that it extends well beyond the cornea and rests on the slera (the white part of the eyeball).
You're probably thinking about Intacs, which is a set of two implanted bits of plastic that distort the cornea in hopes of improving refraction.
RGP take a bit of getting use t, they are as the name states rigid, so your eye needs to get use to the feeling. they have custom made ones, or just generic general sizes if you can fit them. I think 1 pair lasts for a whole year.
They are MUCH more gas permeable then regular soft contacts, HOWEVER, the newer Silicone hydragel lens are up there in oxygen permiability compared with RGP lenses.
There arent too many brands AFAIK, maybe 4-5 brands that make Silicone hydragels. One of them is Acuevue Oaysis, and Coopervision something something.
I have acuevue oaysis in my eye right now and i cannot tell you how much better they feel in comparision to regular biomedicals or regular acuevue advance 2. they are more than 60% water, however they cost about 1/3 more than regular contacts. i just picked up a year supply for $230 bucks -$30 mail in rebate.
The regular contacts used to last me about 4-5 hours before i wanted to die. my eye would burn and itch hours after that, so i went back to glasses. then i tried the silicone hydragels. now i can wear them for about 2-4 days straight without drops ( without going to bed). you might want to try those. they are freaking awesome.