tiredwithtwins

just wondering - I pay £23/month for toric lenses, with free 3 month checkups, free yearly sight test and free lens solutions plus free replacement lens if I lose one.
new glasses cost me about £140 for frame (not designer) and plain lenses.
do opticians have similar contact lens plans in Oz?

sue

NickyC

I'm not sure what toric lenses are but my son (17) wears lenses that he can keep in day and night. I've never been offered an all- inclusive plan by any optometrist for him, so they're not common (if they exist at all).

I buy his lenses online thru OPSM which are much cheaper than if you buy them from the optometrists and pay around $440 for a years supply. He gets one free annual eye-test (on Medicare) but he can go back anytime, for a quick check, if his lenses are causing him problems.

tiredwithtwins

hi nickyc,
thanks for that. if he keeps them in day and night they probably are toric, so $440 a year is comparable with the uk.

just off topic I stayed in Coogee about 8 years ago - had a real hoot, nice place!! Is it still very much a backpacker haunt?

sue

Badge

good post..

I pay pounds99 for 3 months daily disposable, less per lens if I more in bulk for 6 months or a year's supply..I've just spent 130pounds for 6 months, which is a great saving..

the nightly ones scare me as althought they are designed for that, you are still getting less oxygen in to your eyes..I wouldn't wear any lens too long for any length of time..

BM

tiredwithtwins

They dont do daily disposable in my prescription. but £99 aint bad for 3 months.
i cant wear mine for more than about 12 hours - my eyes get really dry and i end up blinking furiously to get some moisture going!!(??)

sue


ps, wonder if Geraint wears contact lens???

Larissa

I think he needs em!

NickyC

It's backpacker heaven around here. Coogee Bay Road is a non-stop strip of fast-food outlets/cafes/internet shops/travel agents nowadays.

You'd notice a difference in 8 years. Back then we had a bookshop, a shoe repairers, lot of cakeshops, two butchers etc - now they've all gone and been replaced by the above. Can't complain though - the range of take-away food we can buy there at all hours is amazing. It beats cooking at home.

The beach is still great, and the Coogee Bay Hotel is one of the busiest pubs (with the highest turnover) in the whole of Sydney!

Badge

I love Coogee, too mate, what about the lenses though??!!

Badge

NickyC

Sorry about the confusion. I was just responding to ....


hi nickyc,
thanks for that. if he keeps them in day and night they probably are toric, so $440 a year is comparable with the uk.

just off topic I stayed in Coogee about 8 years ago - had a real hoot, nice place!! Is it still very much a backpacker haunt?

noodle

Hi Sue

I can't help you with prices for OZ, but I currently get my lenses from Specsavers, which means I can get 50% off my glasses and free lenses checks. I have disposables and I pay £12 a month. I have decided to get them on the internet now as they are much cheaper. maybe you could try searching the Australian yahoo site. You can get your prescription from your current opticians and you can get the same lenses on-line. Good luck.

noodle

Badge

Coogee is a backpacker haunt - BUT is still moreorless family and local orientated in a way that Bondi isn't....I like the closeness of the beach to the road...I would have loved to have seen it, or bought a place there, say, 8 years ago..

I have friends who remember it as a working class suburb 35 odd years ago..

Badge

dazzac

.....just to be boring, Toric is where the lensed is balanced/shaped so it sits in a particular position - this is for people with Astigmatism. i.e the eye isn't round. Its nothing to do with duraton of wear. You can get most lenses with a toric fit but not all.

tiredwithtwins

aaah, I see (no pun intended).
I always thought it was to do with the water content or something like that - because they were a higher water (or whatever) content meant you could wear them without you cornea getting sore.
They are a darn site comfier than the others I had!!!
My brother suggested getting them off the internet but I like the aftercare i get with (can I say it?) Visionexpress.

sue

scutterUK

Hi sue! You must have been reading my mind! i'm going to get my eyes checked over to see if i can have contacts after the new year. I was only thinking this morning the costs of buying in Oz, so cheers for starting the thread!!

Just on a side note, i read on google auz news (i think) that those clever Ozzie types have just 'invented' a new type of contact which you can put in and LEAVE in as long as you like. Something to do with a new plastic, or whatever they are made from, which lets your eye breath!

It did say when they would be available but i can't remember that bit. I'll have a look and see what i can find.

Cheers again!

Leigh

Zebra4

Found lenses and solutions much cheaper in Oz. If you have fixed prescription you can buy 6 mths supply on internet. Used disposable Acuvue but never trusted to leave 'em in all night.

Very happy with Lasik treatment now, but miss that contrast of stumbling around where everything is possibly beautiful to stark reality!