There are a variety of different ocular vitamins and supplements available to help boost your eye health. They do this by preventing eye conditions caused by gradual degeneration and helping to keep your vision clear and accurate.

When choosing a multivitamin or supplement, the best thing to consider is whether it contains the nutrients best suited for helping your eyes to stay healthy. Look out for the following:

• Vitamin A and beta-carotene: Can help to improve visual acuity in dark conditions.

• Vitamin B: Helps to prevent vascular problems which can affect the retina. May also play a role in reducing the risk of macular degeneration.

• Vitamin C: As a powerful antioxidant, it can reduce the likelihood of cataracts.

• Vitamin D: A common vitamin that many people appear to be deficient in, vitamin D has been shown to help prevent the negative effects of macular degeneration.

• Vitamin E: Associated with a reduced risk of cataracts.

• Lutein and zeaxanthin: Carotenoids and macular pigments that have been found to offer a defence against macular degeneration.

• Omega-3 essential fatty acids: great for reducing dry eyes, these vitamins help to keep your eyes feeling comfortable and working to their full potential.

• Bioflavonoids: These help the body absorb vitamin C so that the benefits of antioxidants are even more effective.

While your vision may not necessarily improve from taking ocular vitamins, using them can help to stave off degenerative conditions that could impact your sight long-term. Age-related macular degeneration causes your central vision to deteriorate, making reading more difficult and colours less vibrant amongst other things. Ensuring that your eyes get enough of key nutrients like lutein and zeaxanthin gives them layer of defence against this condition.

Another condition that eye vitamins can help to prevent is the development of cataracts. These can occur when changes in the shape of the lens of your eye makes it less transparent. This causes cloudy or misty vision, but studies have shown that a healthy intake of vitamins C and E can help to prevent the onset of cataracts.

In addition to preventing these and other conditions, a regular intake of nutrients helps to keep your eyes comfortable. Omega-3 acids that are found in fish often come in supplement form and are brilliant for preventing your eyes from becoming dry or irritated as well as decreasing the risk of high eye pressure and glaucoma.

PreserVision Lutein Eye Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

These supplements are rich in vitamins C & E as well as the mineral zinc and are recommended for those who already have vision problems. They’re also particularly useful for those aged between 40 and 60 to help prevent eye conditions.

PreserVision Original Soft Gels

From optical specialists Bausch & Lomb come these supplements designed to support healthy eyesight later in life. They contain a combination of essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients including vitamins A & E, beta carotene and zinc.

Ocuvite Complete

This 60-pack of supplements is packed full of nutrients that are perfect for keeping your eyes healthy and your vision sharp. Each once-a-day gel contains lutein, which works to protect your eyes from macular degeneration, Zeaxanthin, which helps to maintain clear and sharp vision, and Omega- 3 for comfortable eyes.

At Vision Direct, we sell the same contact lenses and eye care products from the same manufacturers as high street opticians at up to 45% less. As a standard, you can get free speedy delivery on all orders over the value of €59. We offer discounts to our email subscribers who can get early access to our promotions throughout the year, including our seasonal sales and Black Friday discounts. Plus, the majority of our parcels are letterbox friendly, so you don’t need to be home to receive your lens order. We offer all this without the need to have your prescription validated. Yet if you prefer, our resident optician is on hand to check your contact lens prescription as well as provide expert advice on how best to care for your lenses. And if you have any queries about ordering with us, our trained and friendly customer service team is just a call or message away. It's no surprise that we have tens of thousands of 5-star reviews on Trustpilot.

Buying your lenses with us is straightforward.

When buying contact lenses online, all you need to do is double-check your prescription on the side of a box of contact lenses you recently bought, enter the details and go through the simple checkout process.

Step 1: Navigate to any of our product pages to find your contact lens prescription details.

Step 2: On the right-hand side of the page, you can enter your contact lens prescription. If you're unsure how to read your prescription, follow the link to find out and watch our handy video for some easy-to-follow advice.

Need some help? Send us a picture of your prescription, and we can quickly double-check your details.

Step 3: Once you’ve made your selection, click “Add to Basket”.

Step 4: Check that everything looks correct in your basket. If you’re ready to order, select “Proceed to Checkout”.

Step 5: Provide your Delivery and Billing Address and enter your payment method. Accept our terms and conditions and select “Place Order”.

It’s as easy as that! See for yourself and start your contact lens order now.

Learning how to read your contact lens prescription might be daunting at first. All contact lens prescriptions include a least three values: base curve, diameter, and power. However, for toric or multifocal lenses additional values will be added to the prescription, usually no more than four. The specifications you can expect to see are as follows:

Base Curve (BC): The curvature of the lens in millimetres usually between 8.3 and 9.0.

Diameter (D): The diameter of the contact lens. This number ranges from between 13.8 to 14.5.

Power (PWR/SPH): Is a + or - figure followed by a number e.g. -4.50 or +0.25. This represents the level of visual correction needed, and whether your lenses correct long-sightedness (plus/+ powers) or short-sightedness (minus/- powers). For some contact lenses, the power may also be 0.00, plano or displayed with this symbol ∞ which is for non-prescription use e.g. coloured contact lenses.

If you have astigmatism or wear multifocal contact lenses you can read out full guide on how to read your contact lens prescription.

Many high street opticians offer their own brand contact lenses that are just rebranded and repackaged products from popular contact lens brands and manufacturers, such as Alcon, Biofinity, and CooperVision.

We stock the exact same lenses at competitive rates as well as next day delivery, knowledgeable customer service, and a 365-day replacement guarantee and a price match promise. The only differences between the lenses we stock, and the high street is the name on the box are the packaging and most importantly the cost. See all opticians’ contact lens brand equivalents here.