Student money-saving tips: how to buy cheap contact lenses online the right way

1. Compare the price of your contact lenses online versus the high street. Vision Direct offers savings of up to 40%, and a trusted service
2. Once you’ve found the cheapest deal on a reputable website you trust, go to the product page and enter your prescription details plus the number of boxes you want to order
3. Make sure you aren’t missing out on savings before completing your order! Coupon codes and discounts on larger orders could help you save money
4. Click 'add to basket' and then ‘proceed’ to continue buying your contact lenses online
5. Complete the payment and delivery details fields
6. Confirm your contact lens order

Contact lenses are definitely an essential that justifies spending a bit of your student loan, but prices for the same product can vary depending on where you go. Ordering from high-street opticians can be more expensive, and tie you into lengthy direct debit agreements with hidden costs. Ordering from a reputable online retailer can help you save both money and time.

Search for your brand of contact lenses on the Vision Direct website, and you’ll see that they can be up to 40 percent cheaper from us, compared to other retailers and the high street.

It pays to shop around, so make sure that you do your research and find the best price for your contact lenses before committing to buy.

If your old contact lenses are pricey and you want to try cheaper ones, or if you’re new to contact lenses and considering which ones to wear for the first time, it’s important to balance quality with price.

Our optician, Brendan O’Brien says:

"Students can save money on contact lenses by choosing the right online retailer and cutting out the extra costs that often get passed on in store. If you don’t tend to suffer from dry eyes you can often switch to a cheaper lens than your usual brand and make a bigger saving, but it’s important to seek advice before changing your wearing pattern or the brand of contact lenses you use."

A lot of us are given lenses by our optician when we first start to wear them and don’t think to find out if this is the most affordable and convenient option. Most of the time, if you don’t suffer from dry eyes and you have a standard prescription, you can try a cheaper option that still feels comfortable but costs less. Lots of Vision Direct customers choose to switch to everclear ADM, which cost just £7.99 for a whole month’s worth of daily contact lenses (per eye), and are highly rated by our customers for quality and comfort. Before switching brands, check with your optician whether there is a specific reason you’ve been recommended the lenses you’re currently wearing.

When you buy contact lenses from high-street opticians like Specsavers and Boots Opticians, sometimes you get prescribed their own brand contacts such as easyvision. These lenses are repackaged versions of popular brands like Biofinity and Dailies, sold by the manufacturer. You can find the equivalent by checking out our Specsavers and Boots comparison tables and switch to save yourself more money.

When you are sure you’ve found the best possible saving on your contact lenses, always check the retailer to be safe. Services like Trustpilot offer impartial reviews that tell you how trusted the website is. Vision Direct has a positive Trustpilot rating, and is the UK’s top rated contact lens seller. You can check out the Vision Direct Trustpilot profile to see what customers say about us.

Ordering is simple and easy, check out our article on how to order contact lenses online, where there’s a handy video to guide you through the quick checkout process on VisionDirect.ie and some frequently asked questions. One more thing...

We’ve spoken about the importance of ordering contact lenses that you know suit your prescription and vision, but there’s other quick and easy ways students can protect their eye health while studying at uni. Here are some simple dos and don’ts.

• Do change daily contact lenses every day
• Do give your eyes a rest at least one day a week by wearing glasses
• Do shop around and find the best possible price by buying your contact lenses online

• Don’t store monthly contact lenses in anything other than saline solution
• Don’t reuse saline solution even if it’s only for one extra day
• Don’t change to a new contact lens brand without first checking with an optician
• Don’t buy from a place without a good Trustpilot rating or other reliable seller rating score