Are contact lenses of the same prescription swapping between brands?

November 7, 2020 11:23 AM

Are contact lenses of the same prescription swappable between brands? The internet seems to jump between "contact lenses are medical devices and need to be fitted by an optometrist" to "try all the brands and see which one you like"

I've been prescribed contact lenses for the first time. I have a tad bit of astigmatism and moderate near-sightedness (about -3), so I use toric lenses. My optometrist only gave me one set of trials, and they're fine, but they're the brand least preferred according to various forum discussion posts I read. They don't seem to have any other options.

But I can order them cheaper and shipped to me through the online store my vision plan uses. I noticed the "base curve" and "diameter" measurements are slightly different between brands, but there's basically 3-4 brands out there for toric lenses. Can I just order online a few 30-packs and see what I like, and they'll fit fine on my eye? Or as some people say, is this something I don't want to do without the oversight of the optometrist? Due to covid and the distance, it's not very convenient for me to keep going back there.

posted by lpctstr; to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

You definitely can just order a few packs. An in-person optometrist might have free samples though.
posted by bbqturtle at 12:39 PM on November 7, 2020

every contact lens fitting i've experienced (for 20+ years, in the US) has included the optometrist giving me several brands from their stock to try (or ordering some for me to try if they don't have in stock). they typically recommend something, but the last fitting i went through, i didn't like what they recommended and they kept getting in new kinds until they found something i was comfortable with. (So it was like a month-long process, because they had to do a few rounds of ordering lens samples for me). Every fitting always includes at least two visits, because they always want to check my eyes once I've been wearing a new brand for a few days. Only once we settle on the brand, they give me the written prescription (and then that prescription specifies the brand of contact lens, as well as the strength etc.). All that is included in the cost of the "contact lens fitting".

In one case, everything was finalized, I got the prescription, bought the lenses and then wore the prescribed lenses for a month. But I was unhappy with them at that point - the optometrist gave me yet a new kind to try and ended up giving me a new final prescription. So ymmv, but you can definitely go back and try something else, especially if you don't have the final prescription in hand. They can also mail you the lenses that they order for you - I've done that before when it's inconvenient to pick up new trials - sometimes they charge ~$5 for shipping.
posted by Tandem Affinity at 2:13 PM on November 7, 2020 [2 favorites]

My experience is similar as Tandem Affinity .

I would request more samples from the optometrist -- be specific about what is not working for you so that they can recommend better fits. If the prescription has the brand listed (which I can't recall any case in which it wasn't), you can't (legally) order different brands... and it's not particularly cost effective to do so, anyway. They should be willing to mail them to you but if not, inquire if they can give you a few samples/options to minimize the in-person visits.
posted by sm1tten at 4:01 PM on November 7, 2020

They're your eyes. Why do you care about what people on websites prefer or don't prefer? If you can see well and if they're not bothering you, be grateful. Just because other people like different brands doesn't mean anything. You may find them to "edgy" (something that drives me crazy) or too flimsy and hard to handle or [insert issue here]. I'm not saying that your contacts are perfect, but especially if you've got an astigmatism, be happy that you've found something that works for you.

Also, my experiences echo the earlier posters. My optometrist will give me different brands to try when I need to change my contacts because the old ones are no longer suitable. Actually, I've been her contact guinea pig for years whenever she gets in new models or brands because most contacts just don't work for me for a variety of reasons. If she finds something that works for me, odds are good that it will be a very good option for a lot of other people.
posted by sardonyx at 4:22 PM on November 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

I would worry about that base curve being different. I wear soft lenses and even for those I had an experience where I got the wrong shape lenses once and they were constantly popping out of my eyes. My ophthalmologist said I had "steep corneas." It was really annoying, and it seems like for toric lenses that problem might be even worse since the lenses can't bend slightly to conform to the shape of your eyeball.

I don't think it would hurt your eyes necessarily, but just be aware if you have issues where they feel painful or pop out it could be because the shape is wrong.
posted by misskaz at 5:51 AM on November 8, 2020 [3 favorites]

In my experience, the small differences in base curve and the material that the contact lens is made of which differs between manufacturers can make a significant difference. One year, my eye doctor had me try out a different brand of contact lens that they believed would be fine, with the same prescription numbers.

After a week with the new brand, I could barely read (and trying made me nauseous) because the lens wasn't centering itself correctly in the eye. Often I could see the edge of the lens in my field of vision. It turns out that the new brand contact lenses collected drastically more protein (eye gunk?) on the lens and prevented it from centering correctly, a problem that I never had after a decade of mis-managing my previous lenses.

If you tell your eye doc that you've heard good things about these other lenses and you'd like to trial a bunch of them out, they should be able to accommodate you for zero or a very small cost. They get them for free since the money isn't in single contact lenses, but someone who's happy with their brand and buys boxes worth year after year.
posted by meowzilla at 5:50 PM on November 8, 2020 [2 favorites]