Contact Lens Prescription, Contact Lenses Buying Guide, Contact Lenses Shop, Eye Examination

Where's the Best Place to Buy Contact Lenses?

From an eye doctor? Over the Internet? Optical store? Warehouse club? Wherever you buy, shop for value and don't forget your eye health.

But with so many choices, how can you find the best place to buy contact lenses?

Start with three important concepts when evaluating where to purchase:

• Ignore your preconceived ideas about which source is cheaper. Evaluate a variety of sources, and don't automatically rule out any online or offline entity.
• Buying anything on the Internet involves risk, and we'll tell you why this is especially true with contact lenses. That doesn't mean it's a bad idea — you just need to know which sites to buy from.
• Whether buying online or offline, you should focus on value, not just price. Overall value is affected by these factors (in no particular order): Availability, Price, Insurance, Customer,service, Convenience, Bundled,products,and,professional,services.
• before you buy, you'll need a contact lens prescription.

[ this article is by By Liz Segre, quoted from allaboutvision.com ]

It All Starts with the Contact Lens Prescription

It's important to remember that the new law doesn't eliminate ECPs from the process of fitting contacts. In the U.S., contact lenses are a prescription item, just like medicines. And even if you already have a prescription for eyeglasses, you need a new one that contains additional information for contact lenses.

The new law (and this article) pertains to buying the lenses themselves, after you've been fit — and especially the continual supply of replacement contact lenses you'll need if you've been prescribed disposable contacts.

Why a Prescription?

A contact lens is a medical device. If it's not properly prescribed, you may not see well. More importantly, a poorly fitting lens — or one made from a material not well-suited to your eyes — could result in discomfort, inflammation, swelling, abrasion, or another problem that could, in rare cases, result in permanent eye tissue damage.

That, and the risk of infection, are also why it's unwise to share contact lenses with other wearers.

Throughout the U.S., you can be fitted for contact lenses by an optometrist or ophthalmologist. In some states, opticians also can be certified to fit contact lenses.

Prescription Expirations

An important aspect of the new contact lens law is that it requires contact lens prescriptions to be valid for a minimum of one year, or the minimum required by state law, whichever is greater.

When your prescription expires, you won't be able to buy more lenses until you get an updated prescription. This will probably involve a checkup by your ECP to be certain that contact lenses aren't adversely affecting your eyes.

Remember, just about everyone can wear contact lenses. If you're diagnosed with a lens-related problem, it's unlikely that you'll have to discontinue wearing contacts. Chances are you'll simply need a different size, material or design of lens.

Do I Really Need Another Exam?

"Just because your eyes feel good and your contact lenses seem to be working well does not mean your eye health is O.K.," says Charles Slonim, M.D., an ophthalmologist in Tampa. "You may be having microscopic problems that can be seen only with a slit lamp [a type of microscope used by ECPs]."

Dr. Slonim says that about 10 percent of the time when he sees a patient during a follow-up visit, he notices something that could become a problem if not taken care of immediately.

How to Shop for Contact Lenses

With any type of purchase, most people who are "looking for the best price" are really looking for the best overall value. In contact lenses, where a combination of products and professional services are involved, this is especially true. Don't ignore the issues of convenience and availability; the best price won't mean much if the product is out of stock, and you need it now.

In addition, consider the value of your time. Since there are literally hundreds of contact lens sellers available to you, you could spend hours online comparison shopping, or driving somewhere to pick up lenses. Be certain to consider the time invested in relation to the savings.

Release of Contact Lens Prescription

• Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, each physician who performs an eye examination and fits a patient for contact lenses shall, on request, prepare and give a contact lens prescription to the patient. The physician may exclude categories of contact lenses if the exclusion is clinically indicated. The physician may not charge the patient a fee for providing the contact lens prescription but may charge a fee for examination and a fee for fitting of contact lenses as a condition for giving a contact lens prescription to the patient.
• If a patient requests a contact lens prescription during an initial or annual examination, the physician must prepare and give the contact lens prescription to the patient at the time the physician determines all of the parameters of the contact lens prescription, as that term is defined in section 181.2 of this title (relating to definitions). If the physician has delegated the fitting of the contact lens as authorized by the Texas Contact Lens Prescription Act, the physician is not required to provide the prescription for the patient.
• If the patient does not request or receive an original contact lens prescription during the patient's initial or annual examination, the patient may request the patient's contact lens prescription at any time during which the prescription is valid. On receipt of a request, the physician shall provide the patient with a contact lens prescription if the physician has fit the patient. If the patient requests the physician to deliver the prescription to the patient or to another person, the physician may charge the cost of delivery to the patient.
• A physician may refuse to give a contact lens prescription to a patient if:(1) the patient's ocular health presents a contraindication for contact lenses; (2) refusal is warranted due to potential harm to the patient's ocular health;(3) the patient has not paid for the examination and fitting or has not paid other financial obligations to the physician if the patient would have been required to make an immediate or similar payment if the examination revealed that ophthalmic goods were not required; (4) the patient has an existing medical condition that indicates that the patient's ocular health would be damaged if the prescription were released to the patient, or if further monitoring of the patient is needed;(5) the request is made after the first anniversary date of the patient's last eye examination.
• Subsection (d) of this section does not prohibit a physician from giving a patient the patient's contact lens prescription.
• A physician may not condition the availability to a patient of an eye examination, a fitting for contact lenses, the issuance of a contact lens prescription, or any combination of these services on a requirement that the patient agree to purchase contact lenses or other ophthalmic goods from the physician.
• Unless a shorter prescription period is warranted by the patient's ocular health or by a potential harm to the patient's ocular health, a physician may not issue a contact lens prescription that expires before the first anniversary of the date the person's prescription parameters are determined. The physician may extend the expiration date of the prescription without completing another eye examination or may require the patient to undergo another eye examination.
• If a physician refuses to give a patient the patient's contact lens prescription for a reason permitted under subsection (d) of this section or writes the prescription for a period of less than one year, the physician must:(1) give the patient a verbal explanation of the reason for the action at the time of the action; (2) maintain in the patient's records a written explanation of the reason.

This Contact Lens Prescriptions is quoted from Texas State Board of Medical Examiners ]

Contact Lenses bring Fashion to Eyewear

On runways from Paris to Milan, the hottest fashions come in skirts, pants and?surprisingly?contact lenses. Advances in modern vision technology have created an explosion in designer eyewear and, with it, a market for colored, custom and couture contact lenses. While vision experts question the safety of stylish lenses, customers continue to embrace this eye catching trend.

The growth in popularity of soft contact lenses created a unique opportunity to infuse fashion into the eye care industry. Shortly after the development of disposable lenses, scientists discovered that the plastic from which lenses are crafted could be tinted with dye that colored the plastic without obscuring the wearer?s vision. Soon, several makers of contact lenses went to market with the industry?s first wave of fashionable corrective wear. Consumers, though wary initially, quickly seized upon the opportunity to change their eye color simply by changing contact lenses.

Pacing the demand for colored contact lenses is that for designer lenses as well--what used to be reserved for Hollywood, it seems, is now increasingly popular at local eye care centers. Several styles recently introduced to the marketplace allow consumers to sport cue balls, cat eyes and other shocking themes. Some manufactures are even offering custom contact lenses whereby customers can request that monograms or landscape pictures be imprinted on their disposable eyewear.

Doctors, recognizing that these new designs are extremely popular with young consumers, worry that eye health and safety could be compromised by individuals who forget that contact lenses are prescription medical devices and should not be casually shared between friends or family. Serious eye diseases can spread through contaminated contact lenses.

Certainly, wearers of contact lenses should heed the advice of professional doctors when it comes to eye safety. However, for many customers, the allure of colored lenses may prove too great to forsake designer duds altogether. Beauty, it seems, truly is in the eye of the beholder.

How To Read an Eyeglass or Contact Lens Prescription

Do you ever wonder what all those strange abbreviations and notations in your eyeglass or contact lens prescription really mean? Here's a quick overview of common terms used in eyeglass and contact lens prescriptions:

• OD: Oculus dexter is Latin for right eye.
• OS: Oculus sinister is Latin for left eye.
• Spherical, Sphere, or S: Sphere is associated with eye shape and curvature of the clear front portion of the eye (cornea), which intercepts and helps focus light rays to achieve a sharp image. An eye with curvature that is too flat or steep will create unfocused images at near distances (farsightedness) or far distances (nearsightedness). Spherical corrections are contained in evenly rounded lenses to alter the way light rays enter the eye to achieve proper focus.
• Cylindrical, Cylinder, or C: Cylinder is associated with irregular curvatures in the cornea and eye shape that cause focusing distortions associated with astigmatism. Cylindrical (toric) lenses have specific curvatures and orientation that compensate for eye surface irregularities.
• Diopter or D: A diopter is a unit of measurement representing lens power. As an example, 1 diopter of correction is achieved when light rays entering the lens are are bent such that the point of focus (focal point) occurs 1 meter away. If you have a flatter cornea, you likely would need vision correction for farsightedness. If you have a steeper cornea, you likely would need vision correction for nearsightedness. Farsightedness is designated by a plus sign placed in front of diopters, and nearsightedness by a negative sign. In your eyeglass prescription for farsightedness, as an example, you might see a notation such as +2.00D. With nearsightedness, you would see a notation such as -2.00D. Higher numbers in diopters mean a greater vision defect.
• Axis: Axis is related to how the lens will be oriented in degrees to help determine whether, in focusing, images will be elongated or constricted to help offset vision defects associated with astigmatism.
• DV and NV: Distance Vision and Near Vision. As we age, our eye's natural (crystalline) lens begins to harden. This means we develop a condition called presbyopia, when we no longer are able to maintain focus at all distances. Corrections for both near and distance vision likely will be needed, depending on the type of lenses you use. You'll often see the notation, "add," preceding additional correction needed for a lens addressing presbyopia.
• Base Curve (BC): In a contact lens prescription, the base curve describes the amount of curvature needed in the contact lens.
• Diameter: The diameter is the size of the contact lens, measured from edge to edge.

" How To Read an Eyeglass or Contact Lens Prescription " -- by Marilyn Haddrill, from the Vision Channel of About.com.

Meaning Of Eyeglass or Contact Lens Prescription

Refractive error, or the degree from which you do not have normal vision, is commonly measured in diopters. A diopter is often represented by a capital "D" in a prescription. No refractive error is referred to as "plano", often represented as "pl".

A prescription including both sphere, representing the amount of myopia or hyperopia, and and cylinder, representing astigmatism, is known as a spherocylinder or spherocylindrical prescription.

A typical spherocylindrical prescription would look like Picture 1 on the left.

OD is an abbreviation for the Latin oculus dexter, meaning right eye. OS is an abbreviation for the Latin oculus sinister, meaning left eye. The first number after the determination of which eye is the sphere. A negative number indicates myopia. A positive number indicates hyperopia. The second number in this prescription is the cylinder (astigmatism), and the third number is the axis of the cylinder component. If the patient has no cylinder, then the last two columns may remain blank, or "DS" for "diopter sphere” may be used.

This prescription shows that the patient has 2.75 diopters of myopia with 1.25 diopters of astigmatism at an angle of 15 degrees in the right eye, and the left eye is plano with 0.75 diopters of astigmatism at an angle of 85 degrees.

Minus Cylinder or Plus Cylinder

Spectacle contact lens prescriptions can be written in two value sets, minus cylinder or plus cylinder, which are mutually exclusive of each other but provide the same information. As a rule, ophthalmologists write scripts in minus cylinder whereas optometrists write scripts in plus cylinder. Why these two professions cannot get together and decide on a common method of reporting refractive error is impossible to explain, but if you have ever had competing siblings in your family, you may get an idea why this has not yet occurred.

To convert a minus cylinder form prescription into plus cylinder, or to convert the plus cylinder form into minus cylinder, do the following:

1. Add the sphere and cylinder powers together; this becomes the new sphere power.
2. Change the sign of the cylinder power, from minus (–) to plus (+) or from plus (+) to minus (–).
3. Change the axis value by 90°, remembering that the axis must be a number from 1 to 180.

The right Picture 2 shown lens prescriptions, therefore, are equivalent and interchangeable, These two prescriptions are exactly the same, but are presented in both minus and plus cylinder form.

Spherical Equivalent

The spherical equivalent power of a lens prescription is the average of the dioptric powers in all meridians of a lens. To obtain this value, add half of the cylinder power to the sphere power. In other words, do the following:

• Divide the cylinder power by 2.
• Add this value to the sphere power; the result is the equivalent sphere power of the lens.

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