Whether you’ve worn glasses or contact lenses for years or have just started needing them, the costs involved can feel like a real financial burden.
Regular eye tests don’t come cheap and if you need glasses and contact lenses, plus cleaning solutions, it’s often all too easy to run up some eye-watering costs.
Fortunately, there’s a few ways you can keep the costs of eyecare down without skimping on your health. Here are five tips which may help.
1. Claim free eye tests
Opticians recommend that you get your eyes tested every two years, but many people don’t realise that they may be able to get theirs done for free under the NHS.
You are entitled to a free eye test funded by the NHS if any of the following applies:
- You are aged 60 or older
- You are registered as partially sighted or blind
- You have been diagnosed with diabetes or glaucoma, have been told you’re at risk of glaucoma by an eye doctor, or if you’re over 40 and a close family member has been diagnosed with glaucoma
- You receive any of the following:
- Income support
- Income-based Employment and Support Allowance
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- The Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit
- Universal Credit and meet certain criteria
- You are named on an NHS tax credit exemption certificate and have an income of £15,276 or less
- You are named on an NHS certificate for full help with health costs (HC2).
You don’t need to go to an NHS clinic to claim your free eye test – the service also funds free eye tests through companies such as Specsavers, Boots, Vision Direct, and most other high street opticians. You can get a free NHS-funded eye test every two years.
If you have already had a paid eye test and realise that you could have had it for free, you can download an HC5(O) refund form and return it along with a receipt for your test to claim a refund.
If you meet any of these criteria and cannot leave your home unaccompanied due to illness or disability, you can get a free mobile sight test where a doctor comes to your home to do the test there instead.
2. Shop around for glasses
If you get your eyes tested and discover you need new glasses, most opticians will try to sell you a pair directly.
You don’t need to buy from them, however. You are free to take your prescription to any optician you like and buy from them instead, which could be a substantial saving. It’s worth checking a few shops and seeing which one can offer you a suitable pair for the best price.
Anyone aged 60 or over can get 20% off glasses from Specsavers costing £69 or more, although even with this factored in, you might be able to get a cheaper pair elsewhere.
You can find glasses at low prices online or from non-optician stores, but be wary about these. Glasses bought from an optician tend to be better quality and may come with free maintenance, repairs and other services, which you won’t get from non-optician outlets.
You may also prefer to buy glasses in-store so you can try them on first! You can read more about picking suitable glasses in our article How to choose glasses to suit your face.
3. Claim discount vouchers
The NHS offers optical vouchers that can be used towards the cost of glasses or contact lenses. There are 10 different voucher values, ranging from £41.70 to £229.70, with the voucher you get depending on how strong your lenses are.
Bear in mind that if your glasses or contact lenses cost more than the value of your voucher then it’s up to you to pay the difference. You may not be able to claim a voucher if your current glasses are in good condition and your prescription hasn’t changed.
You can get an optical voucher if:
- You receive any of the following:
- Income support
- Income-based Employment and Support Allowance
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- The Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit
- Universal Credit and meet certain criteria
- You are named on an NHS tax credit exemption certificate and have an income of £15,276 or less
- You are named on an NHS certificate for full help with health costs (HC2).
If your lenses are -10/+10 dioptres or more, or prism-controlled bifocal lenses, you can get a complex lens voucher. These are worth £15.55 for single vision lenses and £39.90 for bifocal lenses, and are available even if you don’t meet the other criteria for optical vouchers.
If you have already paid for glasses or contact lenses and think you might have qualified for a voucher, you can download an HC5(O) refund form and return it along with a receipt for your purchase and prescription to claim a refund. This will be equivalent to the voucher value you would have gotten.
4. Bulk buy contact lenses - or try them out for free
If you use contact lenses and know which ones work for you, it generally works out cheaper to purchase them in bulk online, rather than buying smaller quantities at more regular intervals.
If you haven’t tried contact lenses yet or don’t know which ones to use, opticians like Specsavers offer free trials for contact lenses to help you make a choice, or many eyecare brands such as Everclear offer cheap trial packs.
5. Simple everyday eyecare tips
There’s more to taking care of your eyes than having the right lenses, of course. Like any part of the body, you should do your best to protect your eyes and avoid damaging habits.
- Try to limit time on screens – we all know that too many screens aren’t good for us, even if it can be hard to put that knowledge into practice. If you do have to use screens a lot, try using the 20/20/20 method: every 20 minutes, take 20 seconds to look at something 20 feet away. This gives your eyes a break and helps reduce strain.
- Avoid rubbing your eyes – another one that can be easier said than done, but repeatedly rubbing your eyes can scratch or thin out your corneas and transfer germs and other unwanted particles from your hands. If your eyes frequently feel itchy or dry, you could try using eye drops instead.
- Keep a balanced diet – a healthy mix of vitamins can really benefit your eye health. For example, foods rich in Vitamin A (like carrots, milk and eggs) and Lutein (like broccoli, corn and kale) are among the best to aid your eyesight by producing key proteins. Foods rich in Vitamin C (such as cabbage and citrus fruit) can combat the risk of cataracts, and both C and E (which is found in nuts, seeds and avocados) can slow down the process of macular degeneration, a condition causing sight loss.
- Wear sunglasses – wearing sunglasses when it’s bright outside is a no-brainer to some, but if you’re not yet in the habit, think about picking up a cheap pair. They’ll protect your eyes from damaging UV rays, as well as dust and other irritants.
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