I have an unusual level of astigmatism which has meant that I've been a glasses wearer most of my life. Around age 20 (30 years ago!) all you could get were hard lenses. I wore those for 5 years until problems developed. Since then it was glasses all the way... Contact lenses for my prescription had always been difficult to get at a reasonable price for years. However, about 2 years ago, I needed to get a new pair of glasses, and decided to check on the availability of disposable contacts - at one time you couldn't even get permanent soft lenses for my degree of astigmatism.

So I enquired in Vision Express, had an eye test, and they confirmed I could get monthly wear lenses. There isn't of course a daily wear pair available for me (yet). Also, the possible prescription had to be something of a compromise - I could either choose to have better distance vision, or better close up vision. I went for the former, as I do a lot of driving.

The trying on of the lenses for me was tricky. Although I'd had lenses years ago, even back then I've always been super-sensitive about things going near my eyes - purely an automatic physical reflex, which I find difficult to consciously override. So getting them in and getting them out took me about an hour! A large part of my difficulty was the size of the lenses in relation to my eye, especially the left eye which seems to be that bit smaller. The member of staff at Vision Express was HUGELY patient however! His instructions on inserting and removing were good and helpful. The biggest difficulty (and fear) I had for a time after I got them was not being able to get them out. But of course having had them for two years now I have no trouble at all.

So I got my lenses, which are mailed out in a pack of three pairs (one box for the left eye, one for the right), with 3 storage cases, one for each month, and 3 bottles of Ciel All-In-One solution for storage, cleaning and wetting. As mentioned above, I had struggles in the early days with insertion and removal, because I really do find it hard to suppress the blink reflex when going near my eyes. I've persisted though, as I was really fed up wearing glasses, and am so glad I did.

Within just a few days I was wearing the lenses all day long. They are perfectly comfortable. Indeed I went for a check up just recently and the opthalmist told me not to wear them so much every day as he noticed some dryness. Yet I certainly have no discomfort whatsoever. The only problem with the lenses ever is down to being in very dry air in offices. They can get blurry and gunge up. However it's no problem in any other circumstances.

So what else can I tell you... I'm very happy with these lenses, and unless an affordable daily wear type comes out, I intend to go on wearing them as long as possible. At the moment I'm paying £20 per month to Vision Express via a direct debit to my bank account. The fluids supplied last far more than a month and I'm starting to develop a bit of a spare stock! I use it liberally but after two years I've ended up with around 5 bottles extra unused. Also, I've got all the little storage cases and old lenses to do something with every month. There's not much ecological impact from the tiny plastic lenses, but I'm more bothered by the 24 cases I've got kicking around, so I'm going to see if I can arrange just to get lenses only supplied, and if I can reuse the old cases instead. They're in perfect condition, so I really don't see why not.

So, to conclude, a very good product which I'm very content to go on using for as long as I can.