The Lens Order Kit

The LensOpt method for ordering glasses and contact lenses on the prescription you already have: a frame that centers on your eyes, the thinnest lens for the money, and lenses bought in whole boxes up to the right date

LensOpt's free calculators each give one honest number: a PD, a frame's fit, a lens's thickness, what contact lenses cost per day. None of them meets the others, and none meets the checkout. The Lens Thickness Estimator gives the thickness for a width you type in, but a frame wider than your eyes moves each lens center in and the far edge out, so the lens reaches further than the frame opening. The Contact Lens Cost Calculator prices lenses one at a time and leaves out the backup glasses and the fitting. The Lens Order Kit joins those tools into one path for people who already have a prescription. Its worked -5.00 lens in a 54-18 frame at a 62 mm PD reaches 68 mm, and its edge reads 7.96 mm in 1.50 and 5.96 mm in 1.74, $60 a millimeter at the example price. The same power in a 50-18 frame in 1.60 reads 5.81 mm, thinner, for a third of the upgrade. Dailies at $35 for 30, worn 5 days a week, cost $606.67 a year on the calculator and $630 in 18 whole boxes; with 34 weeks left on the prescription, 12 boxes reach the expiry date and 6 more would ride on it not changing. Every worked figure and price is an example you replace with your own, computed by the site's calculators, and rules of thumb are called rules of thumb. It never changes, interprets or substitutes for a prescription, and it recommends no brand or seller. It carries the eye care facts: contact lenses need a valid contact lens prescription and a fitting; keep up regular eye exams; follow your wear and replacement schedule and never sleep in lenses unless prescribed for it; see an eye doctor urgently for eye pain, redness, sudden vision change or light sensitivity. 23 printable pages: seven steps, an order card, a contacts budget card, a reorder calendar, reference tables and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked on the figures you entered in our calculators.

Look inside

Two full pages from the kit, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The Prescriber's PD Rule: the PD that goes on an order, and three home readings when there is none
• The Frame PD Rule: frame PD, the move per eye, and how far each lens reaches in your frame
• The Millimeter Price Rule: every lens index priced by the millimeter it saves on your frame
• The Frame First Rule: your power in a frame that centers better, against a higher index
• The Whole Bill Rule: contact lenses plus backup glasses and the fitting, against glasses alone
• The Whole Box Rule: the lenses you open per eye, rounded up to whole boxes
• The Expiry Date Rule: boxes to your prescription's expiry date, the exam before it, and a reorder calendar
• A printable order card, a contacts budget card and a reorder calendar
• Reference tables: thickness by power and index, and weeks one box of dailies lasts
• A quickstart that closes the loop on your starting scores

The kit picks up where the free Lens Thickness Estimator leaves off. It gives the thickness for a width you type in, but the lens a frame needs reaches further than the frame opening: a frame wider than your eyes moves each lens center in and the far edge out. The kit works that width out with the Frame Size & Fit Calculator, prices each index upgrade by the millimeter it saves on your frame, and shows when a frame that centers better beats a pricier lens. It starts from the PD on your order, with the Pupillary Distance Calculatorand the rule that your prescriber's PD wins. For contact lens wearers it adds the whole bill the Contact Lens Cost Calculatorleaves out (backup glasses and the fitting), budgets in whole boxes, and buys to your prescription's expiry date on a reorder calendar. It never changes or interprets a prescription, and it does not choose your lens type: contact lenses need a valid contact lens prescription and a fitting from an eye care professional. Keep up regular eye exams, follow your wear and replacement schedule, never sleep in lenses unless they are prescribed for it, and see an eye doctor urgently for eye pain, redness, sudden vision change or light sensitivity. The worked figures and prices are examples; your own replace them.