Focus Dailies Contact Lenses, All Day Comfort.
Focus Dailies Contact Lenses, All Day Comfort are daily disposable contact lenses manufactured by CIBA Vision. I had my eyes tested at Tesco opticians simply because it was convenient for me to pop in while we did the weekly shopping, when I first had my eyes tested there I only bought glasses, however seeing these contact lenses at around £10 for a box of 30 individual lenses I was drawn towards contacts.

After having my eyes tested again, as apparently your prescription for contact lenses is different from your prescription for glasses, I purchased 2 boxes of these lenses, one box of -2.00 strength for my left eye and one at -3.00 strength for my right eye. This gave me one months supply of lenses if I intended to wear them everyday for a price of just over £20. I didn't mind as I used my clubcard vouchers to buy them!


What are they like?
Inside the box you will find 30 individually packaged contact lenses. They are contained in small plastic pods with a strong foil lid sealing each pod. On the foil lid is printed information about the strength of the contact lens, the company name, batch number and expiry date.

The inside of the box is printed with the contents information in 7 different languages as well as English and French being printed on the outside. The contents information basically tells you about the solution in which your contact lenses are in within the plastic pods.

After carefully removing the foil from the top of the pod, this can be a challenge in itself as the pods can sometimes be too well sealed and you end up splashing some of the solution on the bathroom floor, so be careful not to loose the contact lens before you even begin! Once you have successfully opened the pod you will have a small dipped piece of plastic filled with contact lens solution, with perfectly clean hands you will need to poke your finger in the solution and fish out your lens, this part is pretty easy as the lenses tend to simply slide out and stick to your finger.

The lenses themselves are clear in colour and extremely thin, which can make them really flimsy and fiddly when you are handling them.


Inserting and Removing a Contact Lens
Inserting a contact lens is relatively simple once you have had some practice. When you first get contacts your optician should show you how to insert and remove the lenses and over time if you are anything like me you will find an easier way which suits you.

My personal method for inserting a lens is as follows:
Firstly, before you do anything at all, wash your hands to get rid of any germs and gritty bits which might not be visible but may harm your eyes.
Secondly, have fun trying to open the foil and fish for the lens!
Once I have completed these two steps I gently press the contact lens between my thumb and finger to check the lens is the correct way up. If it is then the edges of the lens will naturally bend towards each other, if they don't then you need to turn the lens the right way up and continue as normal.
After checking the lens is the right way and also giving it a quick check for any damage I take my other hand and hold my upper and lower eyelids open, I then look down towards the floor while I carefully place the lens onto my eyeball, once I can feel it is in place I move my eye around while carefully releasing my eyelids and blinking a few times to let the lens settle into place.
I then repeat this whole process for my second eye and 'hey presto!' I can see properly!

Removal of a contact lens is usually pretty easy unless my eyes are really dry or tired. To remove a lens I simply hold my eye open with one hand and gently slide my finger across my eyeball and the lens should come out. If my eyes are dry or tired I find it harder to remove the lenses as they seem to stick to my eyeball more, in this case I find that washing my face with just water refreshes my eyes enough to remove the lenses in the same way.


Do they work and How do they feel?
Yes, the lenses do work, the correct my vision and are a great replacement for my glasses and I feel like I can see much more clearly with them than I can when I am wearing my glasses.

I find the lenses to be comfortable and once I have put them in I generally don't tend to feel them at all unless I manage to get something in my eye and in this case they can feel rather scratchy, even after the intruder has been removed from my eye. For this reason I always carry a spare set of lenses in my bag 'just in case' but as this is a rare occurrence I hardly ever use them. When I wear my contacts I tend to wear them for the whole day and find that they remain comfortable the entire time.

I don't wear my lenses everyday as I like to give my eyes a break as the optician advised me, plus I don't always feel the need to wear them or I can't be bothered to poke myself in the eye in the mornings on the days where I have an early start!


Don't Fall Asleep
Don't fall asleep was the advice given to me by the optician when I first got my lenses. He told me this and was very insistent that I remembered it as apparently it is very rare but a few people (out of the millions that possibly use contact lenses) have woken up the next morning and suffered with severe sight loss which has been irreversible. I'm not sure to what extent this is true, but personally I'm not taking any chances and I take my lenses out before I fall asleep.


Price
I get my lenses from Tesco Opticians in my local Tesco store in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham. I bought a supply of them before I moved from Birmingham in October 2011 and I paid just over £10 for each box of 30, so around £20 - £21 for a months supply.


Do I recommend?
Yes, I do recommend these lenses, they are relatively easy to insert and remove and they are comfortable to wear. I have worn them for sports and they have been fine and not fallen out even when I was swimming. In general I wear them for nights out and everyday life and so far (touch wood) I've not experienced any problems other than the fight to open some of the pods!

Thanks for reading :)