Patients often wonder why the cost of a contact lens exam is an additional charge to having a comprehensive eye exam. The primary reason is because fitting patients with contact lenses adds more steps, more time and more personal attention devoted to the patient. This requires more time from the doctor and staff to manage the process. In the end, the contact lens prescription includes additional and specific information not necessary for a comprehensive eye exam. Contact lens services may require multiple office visits and what is known as trial lenses, (test lenses) to see if they work for the patient. Sometimes changes in contact lens type or design may be necessary and such services may incur additional fees.
After your comprehensive eye exam is finished, there are many steps that remain. Here is a quick overview of what is involved. The details will be discussed below.
All of this is known in industry parlance as the Contact Lens Fitting Process.
While this test is performed during a comprehensive eye examination, your doctor may spend extra time during the slit lamp portion of the exam for a contact lens wearer. The doctor may be looking for specific imperfections before the contact lens fitting process can continue. More on this later.
The doctor needs to be certain you are a good candidate for wearing contacts. The doctor will have a conversation to find out your personal vision goals. You may only want to wear contacts for sports, going out on the town on weekends or like many, daily. You will also be taught the proper way to insert, remove, and disinfect them if necessary. It is extremely important to keep your contacts and your eyes clean and not over wear your contacts. Over wearing can lead to different types of eye diseases, and then you will be right back in the doctors chair for a medical visit!
Because there are so many lens choices, the doctor will discover your goals and help you select a lens that best suits your lifestyle. There are a multitude of contact lens types, each comes with its own trade-offs. Your range of options will depend on many factors. All of this will be discussed, especially if you are a first time wearer or are experiencing issues with your current contact lenses you are wearing. You can find out more below:
Click to read the different contact lense types
The next step is to place real, trial contact lens in your eyes. These can be thought of as diagnostic or testing lenses. If they feel comfortable to you, then back for another slit lamp examination to determine if a particular lens fits correctly and to ensure proper movement of the lens. Correct movement is crucial to allow tear production and also to allow your eyes to breath. A poorly fitted contact can halt both of these essential eye functions. If the contact is deemed a good fit by the doctor, then another visual acuity test (some patients call it an eye test) will then be performed to verify you can actually see out of them!
Yet another factor in helping the patient select the correct contact lens is age related and lifestyle habits. As we age, many patient produce less tears, its becomes harder for them to see up close for tasks like reading, viewing phones and computers. As people age, many start to report ofen having their eyes feeling dry. Lifestyle habits can dry out your eyes, also making a contact lens more difficult to wear, swimming, motorcycle riding, not drinking enough fluids, the list is long. These are just some of the factors that can make it take more time for the doctor to find the perfect contact lens for you.
Fitting contact lenses is both science and art. The fees for contact lens evaluations and management usually range between $39 and $300 and even higher for some very specific types of medically necessary lenses. Hopefully by now, you have a better picture of why these fees are in addition to a comprehensive eye exam fees, and is a result of your personal eye health, anatomy and lifestyle and also dependent on the type of contact lens you want and require. Time and additional visits, special tests, and a doctor’s expertise associated with a successful contact lense wearing outcome are are usually not part of a comprehensive eye health and vision examination. Eye anatomy, eye health, life style, age and prescription-type make contact lens evaluations and fittings different for each and every patient. No two eyeballs are the same, ever!
This is a difficult question to answer and there is no one right answer, except, it depends on your insurance company. Many will only pay a certain amount for standard fit contact lenses. There are many types of contacts that are not standard fit. In these situation, insurance may only cover 10% of Usual and Customary fees. In otherwords, a 10% discount. For example, an RPG lense or a Toric lens is not standard fit. Not everyone can wear or wants to wear standard fit contacts, this is very patient and prescription specific.
A standard fitting fee is incurred when you can wear what is known as a Spherical Contact lense. A Spherical Contact Lens is considered a standard fit. For example, if you have a lot of astigmatism, the doctor may need to fit you with a Toric lens. This is not a standard fit, more time and evaluation is required. Some examples of non-standard fit are Toric, bifocal, mono-vision and RPG lenses.
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