The advantages of buying contact lenses online

Buying contact lenses online can be very convenient indeed. With just a few clicks of the mouse you can choose from a wide range of lenses and have them delivered to your door in no time. The only difficult thing is to find the right website to buy from. There are a lot of websites that are well designed, but have hidden inefficiencies such as low stock levels and slow delivery.

Best price and convenience

Cost and shipping time are a very important factor when buying lenses online. Another important factor to consider is the return guarantee and customer service. Only a few sites offer a replacement guarantee.

Be wary of sites with poor customer service. Many are only contactable by e-mail and have very long response times, which can be annoying when you are urgently waiting for your contact lenses. Only trust sites with customer service that is also available by phone.

Here are the advantages of buying lenses online:

• Save on shop prices. By selling online, retailers are able to offer you the best brands at the lowest price.
• There is something for every price range
• Free shipping. Standard shipping is offered with a minimum order.
• Easy reordering means stocking up on your lenses in a couple of clicks. It sounds easy, but it makes all the difference during a busy, hectic week.
• More availability and choice. You will have access to a wide range of brands and prescriptions without having to wander around the shops looking for what you need. You can find hundreds of products in seconds.
• Buy your lenses at any time. Morning, afternoon or evening. You won’t have to wait for the shop to open.

Quality and confidence

Check before you buy. The best sites only offer contact lenses from the best brands you know and love, so you can be sure the lenses are safe to wear.

The product descriptions are detailed. The product pages are in-depth and offer you much more information than you find on the shop labels.

Advice before buying contact lenses

Contact lenses are very small lenses that are applied to the cornea, i.e. the transparent outer and front part of the eye, in front of the coloured part (iris). With the use of contact lenses we can correct many visual defects including: astigmatism, hypermetropia, myopia, presbyopia (partly).

Contact lenses can be worn all day long, but the eye should be rested at night. On average it is recommended for no more than eight hours a day, but this may depend on the individual. It is also essential to wear lenses on healthy eyes to avoid complications in the case of conjunctivitis or inflammation.

Before buying, you should always consult your ophthalmologist to assess the compatibility with your eyes and to prescribe the correct lens shade, which is generally different from that of classic spectacles with a temple. You can then choose which online shop to buy your contact lenses from. Before buying, however, assess:

• Permeability Coefficient. This number indicates the extent to which oxygen can pass through the contact lens material. The higher this number, the more oxygen will pass through the lens. In this case our cornea will be more oxygenated and suffer less.
• Rigid Contact Lenses. They are divided into two categories called gas permeable and non-gas permeable.
• Soft Contact Lenses. These are also divided into hydrophilic and non-hydrophilic. Although non-hydrophilic contact lenses allow more oxygen to pass through, hydrophilic ones are preferred. This is because hydrophilic contact lenses contain large amounts of water and are more comfortable.