One more question, I was just checking to see what Dr. is on our plan and I noticed the Vision Center at Walmart is on there. I thought that would be convenienct, because we could go without an appointment, but we've always been to a regular eye Dr.'s office before. Has anyone used Walmart?

Laurie

Laurie- Many years ago I used the vision center at Wal-mart. You will need an appointment to see the dr. there. I am very anti-wal-mart now and choose to support our local optometrists who are almost the same cost wise and seem to be more thorough and not as rushed.

The cost of the contacts will depend on what type he needs and if his script is the same for both eyes. My lenses are $25 every 6 weeks, DH has toric lenses with different scripts and they are $100 every 12 weeks.

Tell your optometrist that cost is a factor and if he can fit him with affordable lenses.

My DD wears them and they cost us approx. $32 for three sets of them. She has a simple Rx, though. A more complicated one would cost more, I think. We buy them directly from her eye doc.
Lynn

Keep in mind that you CAN cleanse and disinfect the "disposables". This can save money.

I do use our Wal Mart's eye doctor. So far my only gripe is the selection of glasses is slim but I never wear mine anyhow. They're way cheaper than some of the other eye doctors I've talked with.

I'm nearsided and my vision isn't terribly bad.

When I started with contacts three years ago I can't remember what I went with but they bothered my eyes. I felt like there was saran wrap on them! I was moved to Acuvue 2. I didn't have any problems the next year I somehow ended up getting Acuvue Oasis and that's still what I use today. I never have to use drops, they're very comfortable. I just paid $35 per box a couple weeks ago. They're expensive IMO. They're suppose to be biweekly but I use them until they tear or are bothering my eyes. Usually I tear them with a nail first. I don't sleep with them in. The few times I did happen to fall asleep for a lengthy period of time my eyes were goopy when I woke up. Not cool. It does say you can but you're to toss them sooner. I think the eye should have some free breathing room at some point.

I use the cheap off brand (No Rub) equate solution over night and have no problems with them staying clean.

I've considered "monthly" contacts etc but again, I normally tear them and I'd imagine the material is the same. Didn't want to pay more for something that I was going to need more of. I haven't asked my doctor about this so I'm just assuming here.

Might depend on the condition of your sons eyes as well as what contacts he can tolerate.

The solution probably lasts about 3 to 4 weeks@$9.00 a bottle. My contacts are monthly and run me about $90.00 a year through the internet. I see the same eyecare specialist I've always seen for the last 30 years since I was 11 and got contacts, their office keeps my prescription and the contact company verifies with them. He(your son) certainly is of the age to be able to take care of them.

Thanks everyone. I didn't realize there were different brands and each one fit differently. Do you just let the Dr. recommend a brand to start with?

never_ending - Where do you get them through the internet and is it cheaper than getting them at Walmart or the eye Dr.'s office?

Do most of you order yours through the internet?

Laurie

Walmart's vision center often sends out coupons. You might want to ask at the counter if they'll be running any specials soon. DS1's disposable contact lenses cost $17/box of 6. His prescription is the same for both eyes, so we don't have to buy so much each time.

He's been begging us to wear them daily and we're considering letting him. Right now he's only allowed to wear them for helmeted sports (football & lax) and must take them out when we get back home. I closely monitor handwashing for insertion and removal of the lenses before and after practices/games. He's been wearing them since he was 9 because his sport goggles would chafe and be a bother under his helmet. I told him that he could wear them daily when his hygiene practices were up to snuff i.e. brushing his teeth w/out being reminded, actually shampooing while in the shower, using deodorant on his own accord. There's nothing nastier looking than a really bad eye infection.

I wear a brand called O2 optix-biweekly disposables. I get them at Costco for about 120$ a year. I also get the big bottle of soln from there-a 14$ bottle easily lasts me 3-4 months. The company my doc partners with wanted to charge me 220$ for a six month supply! Make sure you take the original prescription with you-so you can compare prices and order from someone else if need be.
Other than that, my eye visits are covered by my medical ins-and i still end up paying about 40$ a yr.
I started wearing contacts as a teenager and have never had a problem with them. But my sis cannot wear them at all as she has significant curvature in her eye balls and the contacts keep falling out! So make sure you talk to the doc before ordering a set.

Laurie, I get my contacts through a place called Opticontacts...com, My eye doctor fits me for them and recommended getting them elsewhere, they would charge me 120.00 for 6 months supply! He monitors them and takes care of me, so I would stay with walmart initially and see what they say, be upfront about the cost,especially if that's where you already go, they should be able to help.

I have ordered mine online but I found for only a couple of boxes the price was pretty much the same from the eye doctor. Yeah they do have sales from time to time.

I've ordered through both coastal contacts and 1800 contacts. I was annoyed with coastal though because I discovered a charge from them on my card for something. It was only a couple bucks and there was a reason but I wasn't happy about it. I honestly forget what the deal was.

The equate solution I use is under $5.00 and last for months.

They originally had me try the cheaper ones and somebody suggested the Acuvue 2 to me, I mentioned to them I'd like to try without giving price a thought and here I am now using a more expensive brand.

I use the Renu no-rub all in one- I normally never buy any- the eye doc gives me so many freebies I'm good for about 6 months- then I get more contacts and more free solution.

I have used the cleaner with the red tip on the bottles- AGH! You store the lens in the solution overnight and rinse them really well before using. Seems like that burning stuff never fully rinsed off the lens.

My brother wears a weekly lens that can be worn 24/7 he swears by them. I tried a trial pair and after two days had a fierce eye infection. I also fell asleep in a regular pair of my lenses and when I woke up I was a royal mess- the lenses had scratched the surface of my eyeballs so badly I had to wear those big black sunglasses and get steroid drops. I looked so cool ;)

Dilly mentioned that you can clean and disinfect the disposables- you should clean/disinfect daily regardless ifthey are disposable. However, it does not extend the life of the lens. 2 week lenses are just that, monthly lenses last a month, etc.

I am not familiar with anything to do with contacts, but DD14 has been interested in them for sports - so thanks for starting this post!

I'm confused about one thing...

Dilly mentioned that you can clean and disinfect the disposables- you should clean/disinfect daily regardless ifthey are disposable. However, it does not extend the life of the lens. 2 week lenses are just that, monthly lenses last a month, etc.

If you still need to take them out and clean them everyday, why get disposables?

Also, if the contacts are just to be worn for sports should one bother getting disposable (since they won't be worn all the time) or would a regular contact lens be better?

Do they even still make regular contacts?

Nicole

nigel- Nike Maxsight lenses are created for sports players. Some friends of ours have a child that uses them and she really likes them and she wears glasses outside of sports.

"If you still need to take them out and clean them everyday, why get disposables?"

Disposables are cost efficient compared to most traditional lenses. DH torric lenses in a traditional would cost around $300 for just two lenses. Disposables have a replacement schedule (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) and they also have a wearing schedule which refers to how often they should be removed and cleaned properly.

They do make regular contacts but in price comparison if you can be fitted for disposables and they work to your needs then it is more economical to go the disposable route.

"Dilly mentioned that you can clean and disinfect the disposables- you should clean/disinfect daily regardless ifthey are disposable. However, it does not extend the life of the lens. 2 week lenses are just that, monthly lenses last a month, etc"

Not true. Do you not remember the contact lens scandal back in the 90s? It was revealed that daily wear and extended wear disposables were the exact same lense - just priced differently. An optometrist broke the info to the public.

"If you still need to take them out and clean them everyday, why get disposables? "

Because you can wear them again instead of tossing them in the garbage. Disposables are cheaper than buying the expensive ones they sell and they are the exact same lens. Which would you rather do buy $600 lenses and clean them every day or buy $5 lenses and clean them everyday? The people that sell them used to try to tell consumers that the expensive ones "were more sturdy" and hold up for a longer time but they were the exact same lens. Soooo, some people bought *daily disposables* at a cheap price and tossed them after one use, and others bought the SAME lenses for gobs of money and scrubbed and disinfected them.

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/1999_07_09/noDOI.8539564656493553240

From article:

A great example of pricing strategy being used brilliantly comes out of the Bausch and Lomb contact lens scandal. It turns out this company was selling two identical contact lenses at two completely different prices. They were selling "daily disposable" contact lenses at about $5, while selling the exact same lens as their extended wear lens, for about $60. It caused a huge scandal, but, when you think about it, who would trust an extended wear contact lens that only cost $5? And who in their right minds would pay $60 for a disposable?

Read more at this site:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=207583

Here is a link that might be useful: Scandal

Interesting to see they're the same thing. So I'm assuming they also can tear just as easy? Am I the only one who has issues tearing a contact?

I would say I spend about $350 a year on each son's contacts and their annual exam (which is about $95). Our optometrist gives them solution, so I only occasionally have to buy it.

I would suggest for a teen to go with the every two week disposable. They last for two weeks, you take them out every night and clean and store in a case. After 2 weeks, your vision starts to get a little cloudy - less clear. That's when they throw that pair away and get out a new one.

I wear gas permeable lenses and have tried several times over the last 20 years to switch to soft lenses. I have astigmatism and quite honestly, I just can't see as well out of soft lenses. I've tried torque, multifocal every time a "new" thing comes out. They just don't work as well as my gas perms. So, I'm an anomaly I know, but there are still a few of us out there wearing hard lenses!

I would assume if there was a scandal in the 90's they are no longer allowed to market them in the same manner as they were. I asked my optometrist the difference between the dailies, bi-weekly, extended, etc- because I have a hard time with some of them. The difference is the amount of oxygen that can permeate the lens- so while the lenses can be made of the same material the permeability varies.

The soft lenses do tear but I usually tore mine when I removed them- so now I press my eyelids and remove mine instead of pinching them off.

Caroleoh- DH has an astigmatism and couldn't hardly wear the g.p. lenses so he stayed with his glasses. He tried the Ultra Flex toric soft lenses and seems to like them pretty well- he said they do scoot some though. Have you tried that brand?

Well, we're back from Walmart! The Dr. talked me into getting the 1 month lenses and I just hope I don't regret it. She said the problem with the two week lenses is you tend to forget when the two weeks is up. With the monthly ones you change the first day of the month or whatever day you can easily remember. She said if you take the daily ones, they're more expensive. Walmart said their price was $49 for 6 for the AirOptix brand. I thought at the time she meant 6 pair, but she was talking about getting 4 boxes for a year's supply, so I guess she meant 6 lenses.
I'm going to check some online prices before I go with them.

laxsupermom - I'd love to know what brand your son wears that cost $17/6.

Laurie

Laurie,

My sons wear the Night/Day monthly lenses. Supposedly you can wear them and sleep in them for a month. They will sleep in them for a few days and then take them out and soak them overnight. I was going to switch them to another brand because I thought wearing them for a month was not good for their eyes etc. The Dr. said that this particular brand was the best - something to do with the amount of air it allows onto the eye etc. So, check them out too.

I think you should get the best lens you can they're not that much difference in price and eye infections etc. are not worth saving a few bucks. The Optix lenses are good too.

My son got a corneal ulcer from wearing his contacts while swimming. Of course he was told to never wear them swimming, but a 17 year old generally disses anything he feels is not accurate and he had worn them swimming before with no ill effects, but it only took one bad day at the pool to cause him much pain and wearing his glasses for a week! So definitely make sure he doesn't wear them at the pool or if he does, throw them away when he gets home. Pool water is full of all kinds of gross stuff that loves to live in the moist environment on a soft lens.

I always assumed that disposables were maintenance-free, and therefor more expensive. Thanks for clearing that up.

Also, thanks for the tip on Nike Maxsight. I googled them and they look awesome! We'll definitely ask about those at the optician.

Nicole