If you are new to contact lenses, here is a bit of a rundown as to what a contact lens fit includes:

Your First Appointment

The appointment starts with a conversation to find out your needs. You can expect questions like:

• What makes you want to wear contact lenses?
• If they were very comfortable, how may days per week would you want to wear lenses?
• What are the visual tasks, hobbies and lifestyle elements that you would like to wear contact lenses for?

Product Selection

As an independent optician, we have access to products from the entire spectrum of contact lens manufacturers. You might have heard of brands like Acuvue and Dailies. Our motivation is to find you a contact lens that works in terms of comfort and vision, and is also friendly to your pocket.

What types of contact lenses are available?

Here is a list of the types of contact lenses that are broadly available:

• Soft daily disposable contact lenses
• Soft two-weekly re-useable contact lenses
• Soft monthly re-useable contact lenses
• Soft continuous wear lenses for overnight wear
• Contact lenses for Astigmatism (Toric Contact Lenses)
• Multifocal contact lenses
• Rigid Gas Permeable lenses (RGP)
• Semi-scleral lenses

Depending on your needs, your Optometrist will recommend a lens type and wearing schedule.

The contact lens fitting

A contact lens needs to compatible with the surface of your individual eyes. We assess the tear film and measure the curvature of the surface of the eye to make sure of an optimum fit. This means the surface of the eye can breathe and exchange of tears can occur behind the lens to ensure maximum comfort and stability of vision.

The first experience of a soft contact lens on the eye

Your Optometrist will apply to the lens to the surface of the eye and let it settle. The eye then goes through a series of stages until maximum comfort is achieved.

Initially the eye reacts as it would to any foreign body by producing tears. This causes the lens to be a little more mobile than usually but can be handy in giving an initial boost of hydration.

The very first time a lens is applied to an eye, it's your eyes job to tell you something is different. This is the time you are most aware of the lens, it isn't painful but can be compared to the sensation of wearing a watch on the other wrist. This quickly settles and the lens becomes more comfortable after about a minute.

Once the lens has settled, the Optician will check the fitting of the lens using a slit lamp biomicroscope.

Vision Assessment

Your contact lens prescription isn't the same as your glasses prescription. Because the lens sits on your eye, approximately 10mm closer than a spectacle lens, it is important to perform a vision test with the lenses in. This is similar to a normal vision check for glasses except the lenses are in, it is called an over-refraction.

What's Next?

Once a comfortable lens with good vision is achieved, we then give you all the tools you need to care for your contact lenses on your own.

We provide:

• Full instruction on how to put lenses in and take them out
• Full instruction on lens care - how to clean lenses (if required) and what to do if an unintended situation arises
• Written guides on contact lens safety

Once this is achieved we can let you try the lenses at home and in your own daily life:

You get:

• Trial lenses (5 pairs of daily disposables or 1 pair of two-weekly/monthly disposables
• Trial pack of solutions (if required)
• Contact lens case (if required)

After a successful week with contact lenses

Once you've had a chance to try contact lenses, we meet again for an end-of-trial appointment to discuss how they have performed. This allows us to see how the eyes have performed over an extended period and to re-assess the fit and vision with settled lenses.

If all is good, Congratulations! You are ready to fly solo!

Occasionally at this stage we need to look at a different lens type or change the prescription slightly. This is all included in the trial and we promise to pursue successful contact lens wear for every individual.