Contact Lens Services
Contact lenses are prescription medical devices which are strictly regulated by the FDA. Evaluations for contact lens wearers are not included in regular routine eye exams.
Contact lens fittings and examinations require additional time and evaluation of your eye health and vision to ensure that your eyes are healthy enough to tolerate wear and assess material and visual compatibility with your prescribed contact lenses.
Contact lens prescriptions expire every year, so annual visits are required to keep your eyes healthy and your contact lens prescription valid.
Expired contact lens prescriptions can not be filled, a new contact lens examination needs to be performed if your prescription expires and your contact lens supply runs out, please plan ahead to schedule and attend your contact lens and eye examinations on a regular basis.
Current contact lens wearers are requested to wear their contact lenses to their yearly routine and contact lens exams, and bring their glasses with them. New patients to the practice are asked to bring their contact lens parameters with them to allow for proper assessment.
Could Contact Lenses Be Right For You?
Technological advances have allowed for contact lens materials and designs to improve significantly over time.
Patients who have been told previously that they are not a “good candidate”, or have tried contact lenses and had difficulty with comfort or clarity of their vision may now have great success with options that simply didn’t exist before.
If wearing glasses is getting “in the way” of your quality of life, job requirements, extra curricular activities… it may be time to reconsider contact lenses as an answer to your visual needs.
Call the office today to schedule a contact lens consultation with one of our providers to see if a contact lens fitting is right for you.
OUR CONTACT LENS SERVICES
High Quality Contact Lens Services
Soft contact lenses (Daily, Bi-Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly Replacement)
Astigmatism Correcting/ Toric Contact Lenses
Multifocal Contact Lenses (for Correction of Presbyopia)
Monovision Contact Lens (for Correction of Presbyopia)
Scleral Lenses
Orthokeratology Lenses
Rigid Gas-Permeable (RGP) or Hard Lenses (Spherical, Toric, Monovision and Multifocal Corrections Available)
*Contact lens wearers that experience blurred vision, redness, pain, discharge or a foreign body sensation: Remove your contact lenses immediately and contact the office to be seen.
Brands of Contact Lenses We Carry:
Order Your Contact Lenses
A few things to consider as you prepare for your appointment.
Quabbin Valley Eye Care requests that you bring any eyewear, including sunglasses, with you to your scheduled eye and contact lens examination appointments. This includes non-prescription sunglasses and “over the counter” (non-prescribed) reading glasses.
If dilation is required for your examination, disposable sunglasses will be provided to you if you require them.
Contact lenses are prescription medical devices which are strictly regulated by the FDA.
Remember: Evaluations for contact lens wearers are not included in regular routine eye exams. Although they can be done at the time of your routine examination, it is an additional service, requires additional scheduled time and may include additional fees. Please notify our staff, when planning your visit, if you are a contact lens wearer so that we can schedule appropriately.
You ask, we answer
Here are answers to a few of the most frequently asked questions regarding our practice.
Simply click on the question for additional information.
And, if you can’t find the information you are looking for, you can always contact us and just ask.
We are located right in the center of downtown Palmer, MA, across the street from the Palmer Library.
Our address is: 1448 North Main St, Palmer, MA 01069
In accordance with local, state and federal regulations Quabbin Valley Eye Care is required to adhere to all current protocols for medical facilities in regards to the wearing of face masks while in our facility.
- Appointments are required for all exam related visits to the office, walk-ins are not accepted for eye examination or contact lens related visits (Note: Walk-Ins are welcome for Optical Shop services like new purchases, repairs, adjustments, etc. Appointments are required for pick-up of new eyewear).
- We are pleased to announce that as of May 11, 2023 face masks are no longer required in our facility. Face masks are optional in our office, however we encourage our patients that feel more comfortable to wear a face mask to continue to do so. Masks are on hand and available if the need should arise.
The staff at QVEC sincerely appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding in regards to the changing guidelines that have been required at our facility.
Quabbin Valley Eye Care is a family friendly practice providing care for anyone age 6 and up.
- Patients are requested to arrive 10-15 before your appointment to fill out or update any required paperwork. New patients are asked to arrive no later than 15 minutes early for their first visit to assure that their New Patient Paperwork is filled out completely and thoroughly (regardless of whether it has been submitted ahead of time or filled out and submitted on-line – we will need to review with you and also get any other insurance and medical information required for the initial visit)
- Visual acuity testing (seeing how well your eyes are currently seeing, either with your existing glasses/contacts, or without correction) and Refraction (measurements done to determine the need for glasses)
- Testing for Glaucoma (Non-Contact Tonometry or “air puff”, or Goldman Tonometry which requires an aesthetic drop)
- Retinal and internal eye health examination, which may require dilating drops that will last 1-3 hours
- OCT (Ocular Coherence Tomography) or Retinal Photographs may be offered or necessary at the time of your visit, or rescheduled to another day
- Visual Field Testing may be necessary at the time of your visit, or rescheduled to another day
- Please bring any eyeglasses you currently wear including sunglasses* (prescription and non-prescription). We also ask that you bring any glasses you’ve previously been prescribed, but can no longer use. These can be used to have your new prescription placed in them depending on their condition, or if you would like to donate them to the Lions Club we will gladly take the donations for you
*Disposable sunglasses will be given at the end of your dilated examination visit if you do not own sunglasses - Patient’s are requested to bring a list of all current medications taken and any allergies to medications or other items/substances (ie. latex, adhesives, peanuts, etc…) so that we can notate this medical information in your chart appropriately.
- Due to light sensitivity from dilation, occasionally patients prefer bringing a driver, although it is not required. QVEC has no restrictions regarding bringing a driver or additional people along with you to your visit, so please feel free to do so. Dilation can last anywhere from 1-3 hours depending on the patients and drops used. Although your distance vision is not generally affected by dilation drops, near vision will be blurred and your eyes will be sensitive to sunlight during this period of time as well.
- It is important that you wear your contact lenses to your routine or contact lens related exam if contact lenses are being evaluated, examined or refit. We can not check them if you don’t have them!
- Please wear your lenses for at least 2 hours before coming in, with them still in your eyes, to your visit. This will assure that they have had time to settle in your eyes and allow us to perform a better evaluation of their fit and visual acuity
- DO NOT wear your contact lenses if your eyes are red, irritated, hurt or have discharge. If this occurs when wearing your lenses, remove them immediately and call the office to be seen. WHEN IN DOUBT, TAKE THEM OUT!
- If you are a previous contact lens wearer and are new to our office, we kindly ask that you bring any boxes, foils, or other files/information about your contact lens prescription with you to your visit, as well with your current eyeglasses
- Please provide us with the brand of contact lens solution you currently use for cleaning, storage and disinfection
- Tufts
- Aetna
- Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Health New England
- Cigna
- Tricare
- Unicare
- Harvard Pilgrim
- Partners
- United Health Care
- Medicare
- MassHealth
- EyeMed
We also accept CareCredit, FSA and HSA accounts for payment remittance for services and/or materials (as applicable).
*Notice to Medicare Patients: Medicare does not cover the $50 refraction portion of your routine eye examination. Medicare will only cover medical eye health and problem related examinations. Sometimes your secondary insurance will cover the refraction fee, depending on the plan. For any additional insurance questions, please contact the office directly.