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hello everyone!
I am moving to Chengdu soon from the UK and wear contact lenses. I want to know should I bring a years supply or can I get them in the city and what about the solutions for soaking them? Are they readily available?
Many thanks for reading this and I hope a fellow wearer can help me on this!
I’ve found that many opticians here have a large selection of solutions available, both Chinese & Western brands. They’re well priced too, so I’d say just bring a months supply to tide you over to finding a place selling what you need. Might be worth renewing your prescription too, so you come with a fresh take on what lenses you need.
The eye exam here is really quick and easy, and most places will do it for free. It’s almost entirely done with machines now and takes less than 5 minutes.
Many thanks Brendon and Charlie for your advice. Much appreciated. It is the baggage allowance that I have to work around to cover myself for a year and those solutions are heavy to travel with!
Yeah, you can get Focus Dailies. There are places in Tongzilin and near Sichuan University which is right by Kehua Beilu.
I recently Googled this topic and found a website which sells contact lenses to expats in China – http://www.lensproxy.com
Ordered a couple of times since and so far so good, they even sent the packages with cash on delivery.
Quote:I recently Googled this topic and found a website which sells contact lenses to expats in China – http://www.lensproxy.comIf you aren’t going to get contacts on Taobao, Lens Proxy is a great option. I get daily contacts (30 lenses) on Taobao for about 70 yuan + shipping.
Do note these are only sold in optical stores, you cannot find them in the convenience stores or Watson’s or such stores.
Quote:I recently Googled this topic and found a website which sells contact lenses to expats in China – http://www.lensproxy.comIf you aren’t going to get contacts on Taobao, Lens Proxy is a great option. I get daily contacts (30 lenses) on Taobao for about 70 yuan + shipping.
70 RMB is almost the manufacturing price of any decent lenses, which means you are buying lenses which are made in China (the import fee is so high that there is no way it can be included in the price) and I think you risk some long term complications with your eyes just to save some cash.
And also on TaoBao there is a very limited choice + no option for shortsightedness.
Quote:70 RMB is almost the manufacturing price of any decent lensesWhat’s your source of this information? I am doubtful.
Quote:I think you risk some long term complications with your eyes just to save some cash.I’m not sure about that, many contact lenses that you buy in the US are manufactured in China and the vast majority have no significant quality issues. I did a test with two boxes of contact lenses from taobao: one was 200 yuan and the other was 70. Both daily contacts. I used both boxes and there was no discernable difference in comfort, vision, nor quality of packaging. I have yet to see anything to convince me to pay more for contact lenses, but let me know if you have any information that I’m missing.
Quote:I’m not sure about that, many contact lenses that you buy in the US are manufactured in China and the vast majority have no significant quality issues. I did a test with two boxes of contact lenses from taobao: one was 200 yuan and the other was 70. Both daily contacts. I used both boxes and there was no discernable difference in comfort, vision, nor quality of packaging. I have yet to see anything to convince me to pay more for contact lenses, but let me know if you have any information that I’m missing.None of the 4 major brands make their lenses in China, they are almost all made in the US / Ireland.
The difference is in the material quality – some material types let a small layer of protein to slowly build up on the lens, which can get infected by bacteria or fungus. This can then transfer to your eyes in time – even if you don’t feel anything. In the worst case scenarios it lead to blindness (there was some big controversy around it in China some years back because some people went blind – but form wearing long term exchange period lenses).
Although I don’t think you are in any big danger nowadays, I still prefer to avoid even small risk since I only got 1 pair of eyes 🙂
Quote:This can then transfer to your eyes in time – even if you don’t feel anything. In the worst case scenarios it lead to blindness (there was some big controversy around it in China some years back because some people went blind – but form wearing long term exchange period lenses).I felt uneasy about using the same lenses for more than a few weeks a long time ago, switching to daily lenses has increased the comfort factor significantly. And cost as well, since previously I would almost never wear the same lenses for the duration that they’re rated for.
Quote:Although I don’t think you are in any big danger nowadays, I still prefer to avoid even small risk since I only got 1 pair of eyes 🙂I hear you. Short of importing contact lenses from overseas, what do you suggest?
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