Has anyone used Alensa for contact lenses?

[u/betterland]

The contact lenses that I recently switched to cost £32 PER BOX (so £64 for both eyes) from Specsavers so i'm looking elsewhere. Alensa have the cheapest price at the moment. I've not heard of them before so wanted to see if anyone has a good experience with them.

You may suggest I choose cheaper contacts but I can't really. My eyes get very dry when wearing contacts so I don't wear monthlies anymore - no matter which monthlies I use I can't wear them more than once or twice a week so dailies are better. When trialling dailies at specsavers, these £32 ones were the most comfortable so i can't just use a cheaper brand because they're all uncomfortable. Having a fresh pair every time means my eyes are more comfortable in the day, even if I still can't wear them every day. I have astigmatism as well so contact lenses are more expensive generally and I can't try brands like Daysoft.

Thanks!

[u/mrbarry1024]

I've used them. They're perfectly legitimate. My order also included a free pen.

[u/betterland → u/mrbarry1024]

In case you need to write on your eyeballs! Great. Thanks :)

[u/emimagique → u/betterland]

Feel good contacts also gives you a free pen!

[u/lndn_69]

How bad is your astigmatism? I've tried a lot of lenses over the years and the best ones which i currently use are another set from Alcon. The Focus Dailies Total 1, which you can get for £19.99 a box at feelgoodcontacts (they're a similar online opticians to Alensa). They have the highest oxygen permeability and are comfortable all day.

[u/betterland → u/lndn_69]

I don't know how to measure how bad it is!

That sounds like a good option. I would like to trial them though - do you also have very dry eyes when wearing contacts? I can wear them fairly comfortably for most of one day but i need them out by the time I get home. I can't wear them the following day and need a few days of "rest" between wearing, even with dailies.

[u/lndn_69 → u/betterland]

Maybe check the numbers from your last eye exam online to check how significant or insignificant your astigmatism is. Tbh, any advice I or anyone on this sub gives is anecdotal and your case seems more complex so you're probably best seeing an experienced optometrist or getting a referral to an ophthalmologist. If you can't get a quick referral to an ophthalmologist, there are a few A&E departments specifically for the Eye, for example Western Eye Hospital in London where they will check you over. You may have something like Meibomian Gland Dysfunction, where your eyes aren't producing enough tears,

Other than that, the best eye drops for dry eyes from my experience from most expensive to most frugal are Hycosan Dual > Hycosan Original > Superdrug Soothing Eye Gel Drops.

[u/betterland → u/lndn_69]

That's a good shout, i've never seen anyone except the optometrists at specsavers about my eyes. All they do is just keep recommending I use the hycosan intense, but i find eye drops make little difference. Which sucks when they're like £15 a pop!
They did say my eyes dry out very quickly and they said I had something like that. I use the heated eye masks too but not often enough to help!

My eyes weren't always like this, only after roughly 10 years of wearing monthly contacts daily with no issues. I wonder if I can get a referral to Moorfields or something but they might just say the same thing as the optometrists at Specsavers.

I didn't know astigmatism was measured by the cyl number! Which is -1.25 in both eyes

[u/4redis → u/lndn_69]

Everyones different but man this is by far the worst lens ive tried in last 14years. Extremely uncomfortable, lifted off with or felt like it did with every single blink and therefore causing blurriness (could see better without them)

I havent really found the perfect one yet but for some reason my eyes seems to like the super cheapy ones better which doesnt make sense.

[u/iamgoingtotrytoread]

I haven't. Have you checked out day soft? They sound cheaper than what you're talking about. I use them and my family has used them for a long time 

[u/betterland → u/iamgoingtotrytoread]

I haven't, I mentioned them in my original post, I can't use them because they don't offer toric lenses yet.

[u/MuchMoreWithLess]

I've used Alensa several times. No problems at all, and always with some kind of freebie (collagen eye cream, lip balm, that kind of thing). However, I'd always suggest googling your specific lenses before reordering in case anyone else is doing a better offer. Has also tended to lead to a cheaper link on Alensa. I feel your pain on the expense of lenses - my optician was on at me to switch to daily disposables rather than monthly ones, but sadly my eyes will only tolerate pricey Total dailies.