We are often asked whether contact lenses purchased from Contact Connection will be eligible for health fund claims.  The answer is Yes.  This is because Contact Connection is run and owned by Australian optometrists and we also are recognised providers for contact lenses.  All of the major health funds plus many more like MBF, NIB, HCF, Medibank Private, CBHS and NRMA accept our itemised receipts.  One of the major benefits of purchasing contact lenses from Contact Connection is that we format the receipt to maximise your benefit back from your health fund.  This is achieved by splitting the item numbers into groups so your claim can be maximised.  For E.g. if you purchase 6 months supply of Acuvue Oasys we will print out the invoice as 2 lots of item numbers (852) because you’re effectively purchasing 2 x 3 months supply.  For funds like Medibank private you will receive a higher benefit when processing the claim.  After you’re claim is processed your out-of-pocket expenses will be minimised.  We also have a profiles page we’re you can view your past receipts and re-print them when necessary.

Most health funds also do not roll-over your benefits each year so its best to always use them up before the year ends.  Some health funds like CBHS do not work on a calendar year and you receive benefits 1 year from when you used them.  AHM works on a financial year basis while Medibank private, HCF, NIB, MBF and a majority of other funds work on a calendar year.

With such a competitive market, contact lenses are vastly becoming more affordable for everyone.  If you are a regular wearer of contact lenses and cost is an issue you are most likely to wear fortnightly or monthly disposable contact lenses but how much are you really saving?

The following is an analysis on the difference in costs between daily disposable contact lenses, monthly and fortnightly disposable contact lenses.  We have selected the most popular contact lenses on the market to give a general benchmark on the difference between the costs of each type of contact lens.

Acuvue Moist contact lenses are still the most popular daily disposable contact lens sold on today’s market.  The recommended retail price for these lenses bought from your optometrist averages to $110 per 90 Pack.  These contact lenses can now also be purchased online for only $68 per 90 pack which is a huge saving.  Comparing this contact lens to Acuvue Oasys which retails at an average price of $120 for 3 months supply at your optometrist and $60 for 3 months purchased online we can compare the average annual expenditure for both lenses.

The cost of wearing Acuvue Daily and fortnightly contact lenses has been tabulated below to show an average yearly expenditure for online and retail outlet purchases.

Calculations are based on Acuvue moist:  RRP $110, Online Price $68.  Acuvue Oasys: RRP $120, Online Price $60.

If you wear daily disposable contact lenses everyday and purchase from a retail outlet expense can be high.  However purchasing them online is reduces costs by almost 40% so there is now an affordable way to purchase contact lenses.  We also need to factor in costs of contact lens solutions which would average about $60 per year.  If we factor this cost in, purchasing 1 years supply of Acuvue moist would only cost $4 more than Acuvue Oasys.

The introduction of online contact lens ordering has now made wearing daily disposable contact lenses on a frequent basis an affordable option.  With all the benefits of using daily disposable contact lenses there is a growing trend towards the use of daily disposable contact lenses.

Purevision 2 HD Contact Lenses are now available for sale!

It has been a while since Bausch & Lomb has released a new contact lens.  Their current flagship contact lens is Purevision – A monthly extended wear contact lens which as an exceptionally high dk/t value which is a measure of how much oxygen flux a contact lens has.  Coming soon to Australia is Bausch & Lomb’s newest addition to their family of contact lenses – Purevision 2 HD.  Purevision 2 is thinner, more comfortable and clearer than ever before.  Using high definition optics, Purevision 2 boasts superior clarity by reducing glare, halo’s and aberrations.  With it’s thinner lens design Purevision 2 also feels naturally comfortable and even with its thin design, Bausch & Lomb claim it is easy to handle.  Purevision 2 comes in a moisture-rich package which provides additional comfort and is can still be worn as a monthly extended wear contact lens.

So with all these features of Purevision 2 HD contact lenses, is this new lens likely to dominate the contact lens market and take on the likes the Acuvue Oasys?  Experience shows that the original Purevision contact lens had similar features except that it had a high modulus which means the lens material feels ‘harder.’   This high modulus wasn’t particularly favoured by many optometrists especially with new contact lens wearers because it did not feel particularly comfortable during the initial fit.  Bausch & Lomb realised this and released a second generation of Purevision lenses which had a lower modulus which improved comfort slightly.  Learning from their previous mistakes Purevision 2 HD will hopefully be exceptionally comfortable and provide superior clarity.  Pricing is not yet available for Purevision 2 HD but we would expect it to be more expensive than the current Purevision contact lenses.  At Contact Connection we think the release of a new monthly extended wear contact lens is exciting and are interested to see if Bausch & Lomb can win back some of the market share of contact lens which has been a long time dominated by Johnson & Johnson.

Only time will tell how Purevision 2 will perform against major competitors like Acuvue Oasys and Focus Night & Day.  Contact Connection will definitely give feed back and reviews on this new contact lens by Bausch & Lomb.  Stay tuned!

Sometimes ordering contact lenses online can be confusing because we have to decipher our optometrist’s contact lens prescription.  A common question we’re often asked: “Is my glasses prescription the same as my contact lens prescription.” The answer is no.  The power of your glasses and contact lenses may sometimes be the same however your contact lens prescription will have details about the brand, base curve and diameter of the lens prescribed.  Because there are so many different brands of contact lenses available your optometrist has the task of weeding out all the brands which aren’t suitable and to fit you with the optimum lens.  If you are just long or short sighted your prescription is relatively simple.  You will only have details about the; Brand, Diameter, Base Curve and Spherical Power.  For example it may be written as:

Acuvue Moist / 14.0 / 8.5 / -2.00

People who have astigmatism will have additional parameters in their contact lens prescription including the Cyl Power and Axis.  An example of how this is may be written is:

Acuvue Oasys for Astigmatism / 14.0 / 8.6 / -2.00 / -1.25 x 180

The -1.25 x 180 is the Cyl power and axis of the lens.

If you need to wear spectacles for reading or have both a distance and near prescription your optometrist may prescribe a multifocal contact lens.  Usually a multifocal contact lens prescription will contain a parameter called the ADD.  The ADD is how much additional power you require for near.  Some brands of multifocal contact lenses will have a limited range of powers for the ADD such as +1.00, +1.50, +2.00, +2.50 and so on.  Other brands of multifocal contact lenses will may have the ADD written just as; High or Low.  An example of how a multifocal contact lens is written may be:

Purevision Multifocal 14.0 / 8.6 / -3.00 DS High ADD

The +1.00 denotes the distance prescription and is the sphere power.  The ADD for the multifocal contact lens in this prescription is HIGH.

Have you ever wondered why your contact lens prescription is not always the same as your glasses prescription?  This is usually the case with people who have high prescriptions or have some astigmatism.  If you have a prescription which is larger than 4.00 Dioptres your contact lens prescription may be slightly different.  This is because a contact lens is placed directly on the eye whereas the lenses on glasses are positioned a small distance from your eye.  This distance is known as the vertex distance and affects the effective power of the lens.  If you have astigmatism and your optometrist has chosen to fit you with a spherical lens than your contact lens prescription will be different to your spectacle prescription.  Usually your optometrist will use the ‘Spherical equivalent’ of the astigmatic prescription which is calculated by halving the cyl power and adding it to the sphere.

If you are unsure of how to read your contact lens prescription please email us, we’re always happy to try clear things up and make the ordering process simpler.

Depending on your prescription, your optometrist may prescribe either a toric contact lens or a spherical contact lens.  Spherical contact lenses are used to correct people who have no astigmatism or only small amounts whilst toric contact lenses are used to correct people who have larger amounts of astigmatism.  So what are the major differences between the two types of contact lenses and which one do you need?

Toric contact lenses are designed differently to spherical contact lenses in a way that they have a difference in power (Cyl) at a particular merdian (axis).  Due to the nature of astigmatism, a toric contact lens needs to sit in a particular orientation in order to correct the astigmatism.  Usually this is done by having a thicker edge at the 6 o’clock position called a prism ballast design.  Gravity holds the lens into position and orientates the lens.  Contact lenses which use this design include popular brands such as; Purevision Toric, Soflens Toric, Frequency Xcel Toric and Proclear Toric.  Over the years there have been various designs such as Air Optix for Astigmatism which has weighted regions at the 4 and 8 o’clock positions.  Toric contact lenses are great for correcting astigmatism however, they do have their cons.  Because toric lenses need to sit in a particular orientation to correct astigmatism, if they move ‘off axis’ the wearer my experience blur constantly or intermittently.  This is a common symptom of people wearing toric contact lenses especially if the lenses are not fitted correctly.  Toric contact lenses are usually not as comfortable as spherical contact lenses because of the thicker edges though most patients can get used to this after wearing the contact lenses longer.  Toric contact lenses start from a cyl power of -0.75 and can range up to -3.25 in soft disposable contact lens designs.  Sometimes your optometrist may choose to give you a spherical contact lens instead of a toric contact lens especially if you have very small amounts of astigmatism, this is because the compromise in vision is sometimes more favoured for ‘stable’ vision.

Spherical contact lenses do not have the same issues as toric contact lenses because they have the same edge thickness all the way around.  You also do no have the issue of having intermittent blur however, if you have larger amounts of astigmatism you may have no choice but to wear a toric contact lens to achieve good vision.  Your optometrist will choose the best contact lens for you and sometimes it may involve making a compromise to achieve satisfactory vision.  Toric contact lenses are excellent for correcting astigmatism but the contact lens needs to be carefully selected in order to achieve optimum vision.