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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Ask me about eyeglasses and contact lenses!
 
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elixir is zog
Jun 28, 2008

Thunderpussy posted:

Go ahead and order them online....the problems will happen in you want to change brands to try new products (how do you know what will or will not fit?), have a problem (like I said, alot of opticians and doctors refuse to see these patients), or have any questions or concerns.

Sure, they are cheaper then the doctor, but you aren't factoring in that the doctor/optician will be there when you have any problems. It's like medical insurence. Sure, you pay for it and hardly ever use it...but when you DO need it.....

You've provided a lot of useful and interesting advice in this thread, so perhaps I'm just badly misunderstanding this particular point, but this doesn't make sense. I visit my optometrist yearly to monitor my eye health, but I've been getting the same prescription and brand of contacts for years. If for whatever reason I chose to fill my contacts prescription at 1800contacts instead of the optometrist, why would there be a problem with that? My understanding is that contact prescriptions are brand-specific, so you would end up with the same exact contacts from both places. If I suddenly wanted to change brands, I'd have to go back to my optometrist anyway to get a new prescription and/or pick up some samples to try.

What I've gathered so far is that the problem is that patients may be ordering different brands of contacts in different sizes willy nilly or something (presumably from really shady websites, as places like 1800contacts require a prescription). Even if a patient is dumb enough to use a non-legit website to order random contacts without a prescription, it seems like you'd have a great opportunity for patient education and the chance to win over a loyal customer when these patients come to you. Turning away all users of internet contacts websites indiscriminately seems counterproductive in terms of both business and patient care.

What if I took my contacts prescription from my eye doctor and brought it over to my university eye clinic to get filled at a lower cost? That is, do eye doctors and opticians have a problem with all outside contacts sources, or just internet sites?

* # ¿ May 10, 2009 19:42
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# ¿ May 18, 2024 03:26
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elixir is zog
Jun 28, 2008

Thunderpussy posted:

Contact prescriptions are not brand specific whatsoever. Based on your Rx and your corneal measurements, along with an accutate patient helth record, a selection is made/your options are given to you.
Oh, I missed before that you're in Canada. In the US, I think contact prescriptions are usually brand-specific. I can see how internet sites could create some additional problems in countries where that's not the case, though. Anyway, thanks for the clarifications; your perspective makes a bit more sense to me now.

elixir is zog fucked around with this message at 21:56 on May 10, 2009

* # ¿ May 10, 2009 21:51
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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Ask me about eyeglasses and contact lenses!