contact lenses at barnard levit

Mr. Levit has worked as a contact lens specialist at St. George’s (now Moorfields) Hospital since 1996 and more recently also in the Central Middlesex Hospital. Both Mr Levit and Dr Barnard hold specialist advanced contact lens qualifications. The DCLP is the Diploma in Contact Lens Practice awarded by examination by the British College of Optometrists. Mr Levit obtained his Fellowship of the College of Optometrists specialising in contact lenses. Both Mr Levit and Dr Barnard hold higher Certificates in Contact Lenses for Abnormal Ocular Conditions awarded by City University in conjunction with Moorfields Eye Hospital.

New to Contact Lenses
Patients who would like to have contact lenses for the first time or those who failed with contact lenses in the past will need an initial appointment, which includes a full eye examination and a contact lens suitability assessment. During these examinations Mr Levit or Dr Barnard will establish your spectacle prescription, check that your eyes are healthy and suitable for contact lens wear. Special additional measurements such as with the EyeSys digital topographer to map the shape of your cornea and an assessment of the quantity and quality of your tears may be required.

Once all this is done we will want to discuss with you both your suitability and the most appropriate type of lenses for your visual requirements and lifestyle.

If you are suitable for contact lenses and you wish to proceed further you will need further appointment time for the contact lens fitting. This procedure can sometimes commence at the same time as your contact lens assessment or it may be that a further convenient appointment is required. The fitting process may entail a number of appointments over a period of time. This is to ensure that we spend, as much time with you as is necessary in order to fit you with the best lenses for your eyes. To this end, the contact lens fitting fee covers an unlimited number of appointments and lenses over the next three months.

An essential part of the contact lens fitting process is a contact lens tolerance trial. This may be done during the same appointment when you may be asked to wear trial lenses for a few hours, so that we can see how you and your eyes respond. Often however, more exact lenses need to be ordered for the trial. When those lenses have arrived at the practice you will be contacted to book a collection appointment to have them checked in your eyes. You will be taught how to care for the lenses and how to handle them by one of the team, before taking them for an extended tolerance trial.

An after care appointment will be arranged after the extended tolerance trial to make sure that you are totally satisfied and that your eyes exhibit no adverse reaction to the contact lenses. Only after this appointment will you need to decide to commit yourself to contact lens wear.

Please remember that if at any time you decide not to continue further on the contact lens route, the only fees charged will be for our time.

Existing Wearers
If you are a contact lens wearer, Mr. Levit or Dr. Barnard will examine your existing lenses, lens wear history and your eyes. Please allow plenty of time specially if you are not entirely satisfied with your current lenses, as existing wearers are often more complicated to sort out than non contact lens wearers. A full general eye examination and spectacle prescription may need to be established to complete the picture in order to give you the best possible advice.

General lens type information

Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) Lenses
RGP lenses are custom made for every eye and are fitted with a high level of precision. Because of their rigidity, they provide excellent vision and will correct corneal astigmatism. These lenses are manufactured in a great variety of designs and materials and therefore will be suitable for most people. Because they give rise to only minimal interference with the normal physiology of the eye, they are extremely safe.

Soft Lenses
These lenses are made from soft, flexible materials called hydrogels (watery gels), and most patients find them very comfortable straight away. They are relatively simple to fit and are available in a variety of designs and materials. These lenses can be worn either on a regular or on an occasional basis. They are replaced regularly, anything from daily to annually. Custom designs with these lenses are possible although not routinely required.

Lenses for astigmatism
People with astigmatism are usually able to wear contact lenses successfully. These lenses require careful fitting and more visits to the practice are required. These lenses are called toric lenses and most have to be custom made for each patient and cost more than spherical contact lenses. They are available in both RGP and soft materials and come in a variety of levels of complexity. Your practitioner will decide which you require.

Contact lenses for Presbyopia (multifocal lenses)
There have been considerable advances in contact lens manufacture technology; it is now possible to fit lenses that will correct reading as well as distance vision.

Specialist Contact lens service
Patients with corneal pathology like keratoconus and postoperative eyes following corneal graft, laser or cataract surgery are routinely fitted in the practice after being referred by ophthalmic surgeons, optometric colleagues or their general practitioners. As the fitting requirements become more complex specialist lens designs may be required. Examples of these are specialist keratoconus, post graft lenses, reverse geometry soft and RGP designs, RGP scleral lenses, combination of soft and hard in a hydrogel RGP hybrid material, ‘piggy back’ combinations and, in extreme cases, PMMA scleral lenses. The latter require an eye impression to be taken before lenses can be manufactured.

Contact Lens Assessment and fitting fee structure

For details of fees please see the separate list of fees or ask at reception.

If you have not had a full eye examination at our practice within the last 12 months we will ask you to arrange this. Our routine eye examination fee will apply.

A contact lens suitability assessment will follow that appointment. There is a fee for that appointment. At the end of these examinations advice will be given and a decision regarding the most suitable type of lenses will be established.

Contact lens fitting will be commenced at the same or a separate visit. There is a contact lens fitting fee, which is determined by the complexity of each individual case. Examples of our more standard contact lens categories are listed below:

• Standard spherical soft lenses
• Toric (or astigmatic) lenses
• Bifocal and varifocal lenses
• Complex medical cases e.g., keratoconus and post-corneal grafts or following laser surgery
• Scleral lenses
• Orthokeratology to remove short sightedness

The fitting fee includes all the appointments and materials (mainly trial lenses) until the satisfactory conclusion of the fitting, in the three months following the first appointment.

Contact lens aftercare and follow up appointments after the fitting completion will be charged at a standard fee for each appointment although if, you join our Perpetual Eye Care Plan (please see details) all visits are included.

How many visits are required?
The type of treatment will determine the number of appointments required to achieve a successful fit. The more complex the longer the time that is required. Some patients are more sensitive and therefore may have more complex fitting requirements and will need a lot of attention. Others may take just one or two appointments and be very straightforward. As a rough guide the following number of visits will be required after the initial fitting appointment.

The Perpetual Eye Care Plan (PECP)
Our very popular PECP enables you to pay in arrears and spread the cost of your contact lenses, contact lens examinations and general eye examination by monthly Direct Debit payments.

In most instances, when you are enrolled on the plan, you are covered for all your contact lenses, as per the specifics of your contact lens type and planed replacement schedule, all eye examinations (apart from OptoMap, Colorimetry and a few other specialist procedures) and contact lens checks. In addition you will benefit from automatic discounts on solutions, sunglasses and spectacles.

Please see our PECP brochure for further details.

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