Why is high quality contact lens care so important?

When fit and used properly, contact lenses are a safe and enjoyable alternative to eyeglasses. They can enhance your appearance and your active lifestyle. However, contact lenses do directly interact with the tissue of the eyes. If fit or used improperly, they can cause irritation, serious infection, and even corneal irregularities resulting in blurred vision. Over 40% of our patients use contact lenses. So, we are committed to individually assessing each patient’s goals, eye health, and vision to ensure that each patient achieves the best possible vision and comfort with their contact lenses. We are also dedicated to educating all of our patients about proper replacement, wear, and care of their contact lenses to ensure that all of our patients continue to enjoy healthy eyes and clear vision far into the future.

We hope this information has helped you to understand the contact lens fitting process and our related fees and policies. We always strive to operate our business honestly and fairly, by the Golden Rule. And, we are here to help you ensure healthy eyes and clear vision far into the future.

What exactly is a “contact lens fitting”?

The process of assessment and education described above constitutes a “contact lens fitting”. The exact steps of that process may vary, depending upon the complexity of your needs, your eye health, and your vision. The process may be completed at the same visit as your annual eye examination in some straightforward cases, or it may require several follow-up visits in more complex cases. For example, at your initial visit, along with the procedures performed as part of your basic comprehensive eye examination, the doctor may assess your contact lens goals (such as sports), additional eye health concerns related to contact lens use (such as corneal curvature and dryness), and your vision needs (such as computer use) to determine the best contact lens modality for you. Then you might receive a pair of sample contact lenses to try in your own environment. The doctor and staff might spend additional time reviewing or educating you on proper replacement, wearing routine, and care routine of your new sample contact lenses. All of these additional services are provided even before you leave the office that first day! Then the doctor may also require that he/she see you again for a more brief follow-up visit in a few weeks. These follow-up visits help to ensure that you are achieving the best possible vision and comfort with your new contact lenses and that your eyes are indeed adapting properly to the new contact lenses.

In any case, you can now easily see how the process of “contact lens fitting” does require extra time and expertise on behalf of both the doctor and the staff compared to a basic comprehensive eye examination (which includes the prescription of eyeglasses and a thorough evaluation of eye health). Therefore, “contact lens fitting” is considered an additional professional service provided by the doctor and staff above and beyond the basic comprehensive eye examination; and thus, an additional fee is charged to you, the patient, for that service. However, contact lenses are often considered elective, therefore your insurance may or may not cover this additional service fee.

Our staff would be happy to assist you in confirming your insurance benefits before you start the process. We use a 10-tier system to determine our contact lens fitting fees based upon the expected complexity of your case. For example, patients requiring astigmatism-correcting or “bifocal” contact lenses are charged slightly more because these cases often require more follow-up visits to “fine-tune” the fit for optimal vision. As another example, patients who have never worn contact lenses are charged slightly more than other patients with similar vision because we provide an extra one-on-one 45-60 minute training session with our staff to instruct the patient on proper insertion, removal, and care of their contact lenses. We have found that these training sessions are vital to a new wearer’s ultimate success.

On the other hand, if your case becomes more complicated than expected, we usually do NOT require additional service fees. A handful of patients may require five follow-up visits where only two or three were expected in order to successfully achieve their contact lens wearing goals. We are happy to help you to the best of our ability and utilizing any available technology to achieve your goals. Therefore, our contact lens fitting fees include any contact lens-related services for up to three months, because most patients can be successfully fit within that time frame. We do ask that you not allow more than six weeks to elapse between follow-up visits and that you wear or bring your sample contact lenses to your follow-up visits. For brand new contact lens wearers who cannot successfully insert and remove their contact lenses at their training visit, and thus choose not to proceed, we will reduce the fitting fee to a flat $20.00. Finally, when your fitting process is completed to both your satisfaction and the doctor’s satisfaction, you will be given a copy of your contact lens prescription.

Your contact lens prescription is valid for one year from your last follow-up visit in accordance with Colorado State Law (Optometry Statute #9.00.02) and the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act (effective February 4, 2003). Your supply of contact lenses is NOT included in your contact lens fitting fee. However, you will find our contact lens supply service to be very convenient and our prices to be extremely competitive. There are numerous value-added reasons to purchase your supply of contact lenses from Dove Valley Vision Center, as well.

Urban Myth: It’s cheaper to buy my contact lenses over the Internet. True OR False?

False! Although there was a time when this myth was true in many eye doctor’s offices, Dove Valley Vision Center has changed with the times! It is typically less expensive to purchase your contact lenses here, at Dove Valley Vision Center, rather than through Internet suppliers, such as 1-800-CONTACTS. And, we can also offer you convenience and great bonuses. Read on to discover how you can save yourself precious time and money by purchasing your contact lenses from Dove Valley Vision Center today!

We can often times have your contact lenses shipped directly to your home at no charge when you purchase a year’s supply. Having a year’s supply on hand will save you time shopping and reordering AND studies show you will be more compliant with your doctor’s recommended replacement schedule, resulting in more comfortable contact lens wear, clearer vision, and healthier whiter eyes. Also, we accept most major credit cards (even over the telephone).

When you purchase a year’s supply of contact lenses from Dove Valley Vision Center, you will receive the following bonuses:

1. An extra 5% off our already low value packages OR 10 % off replacement eyeglass lenses OR 20% off any complete frame and lens purchase to help you purchase back-up eyeglasses.

2. 5% off any non-Rx sunglasses over $50 OR 10 % off any non Rx sunglasses over $100 OR 20% off any non-Rx sunglasses over $150 (some exclusions apply) to protect your eyes from Colorado’s intense damaging UV rays.

3. Generous exchange policies! Please see our Exchange Policies.