There seems to be an endless supply of startups wanting to ‘cut out the middle man’ now a-days, I honestly bet we’re only moments away from a Paper towel or toilet paper ‘disrupter’.
But if your like me, wear glasses and contacts, I’m sure Facebook’s ad targeting has littered your newsfeed with a offer of contacts from Hubble. What Hubble is trying to sell you is this dream:
We spent almost a year researching lens manufacturers and visiting their factories. After careful consideration, we chose St. Shine as our partner, an FDA-approved contact lens manufacturer with more than twenty years of experience.
Why is it so hard to find affordable contact lenses? In the US and Canada, four manufacturers control about 95% of the contact lens market. Without much competition, they’ve set prices to be much higher than they should.
High prices leave contact lens wearers like you with a tough choice: either overpay for contacts or overwear them to save money, risking eye damage.
“Hubble daily disposable contact lenses are made from methafilcon A material by St. Shine Optical Co. with powers ranging from -0.75 D to -8.00D, a base curve of 8.6 mm, and a diameter of 14.2 mm”- taken from Optometry Times
This means their contacts only come in one shape and size, and will only work if you dont use toric lenses. This eliminates a LARGE population of contact wearers. But, as many optometrists have filed complaints against Hubble, this doesnt stop them from sending you their contacts. In most states, companies like Hubble, 1-800-contacts or Sightbox, are legally required to contact your OD to verify that the prescription you provided the company is actually the correct prescription. What 1-800 contacts does, is they call your eye doctor, and an automated message with all your information plays, and they simply have to fax back a yes or no if the information is correct. But with Hubble, they call, but they dont let the doctors have any way of stopping an incorrect rx. No phone number, no fax number, no live agents. Our office is constantly flooded with calls from hubble fulfilling prescriptions that are completely inaccurate. Hubble is not verifying your information with your doctor before giving you their product. If they can’t get your rx, they have been caught just fudging your rx to a non-toric fit and to the only size they offer, and sending you the contacts anyway hoping you don’t notice.
The material they use, Methafilcon A, is not recommended by most reputable optometrists. “One very important property of a lens material is oxygen transmissibility (Dk/t). This is a measure of how much oxygen can pass through to reach your cornea, while taking into account the thickness of the lens. Hubble contacts are made with an old material called methafilcon A, which has a Dk/t of 18.8. Research shows that a Dk/t of 24 is necessary to maintain cornea integrity and avoid swelling.” Taken from drclaudialee.com. so not only will you have an increased risk of swelling, but the amount of oxygen allowed to pass through the lens is that much lower than other name-brand contacts.
I have seen more than my fair share of patients coming in from wearing hubble contacts coming in with corneal neovascularization/ulcers or kerataconus due too these poorly fitting contacts.
The American Optometric Association is currently building a very large suit against this company and a similar company Waldo.
Now, I’m certain you know that you shouldn’t only ever trust one single review, but digging through the comments of this post, it looks like u/jessysav might actually be onto something.
I ordered these. They made my eyes hurt really bad and they had my wrong prescription. They kept sending them to me. Now I have 5 boxes 🙁
[danah2014]My eyes were BURNING just a few hours into wearing them. I’ll deal with glasses over looking like I was stoned in class.
[analyticalmess]Can confirm they don’t actually check with your optometrist. I accidentally ordered an old, EXPIRED prescription. It was “okayed”, so I know they didn’t check.
[Beauknits]I got a severe infection from hubble. It almost cost me my eyesight in my left eye. It was 2 months of pain so agonizing, I thought about gouging my eyes out. Its not worth it
I provided the number of a liquor store instead of my optometrist. Still got the 2 week sample
[pingagrigio,Post 2]Wow. I have been using Hubble since February this year and I have definitely had problems with them, but just assumed that it was because they were cheap. I had no idea that my contacts could actually harm my eyes (makes sense now).
The contacts have gotten stuck on my eyes, they fold very very easily and get lost in the lids, and I have put contacts in and they just outright didn’t have my prescription in (everything was still blurry as if I didn’t have contacts in).
[LesboWearingaSweater, Post 2]Wow, I had a feeling. They dry my eyes out a lot and when I take them off it literally feels like my eyes are gasping for air. It’s a weird sensation.
[Courthouse49]I ordered them and then found the prescriptions were not accurate. Plus they felt uncomfortable on my eyes so i cancelled. Had a hard time cancelling! They insisted i had to call in and then the person in charge was of course always not in.
[artbug]@hubblecontacts absolutely disappointed. One contact went to the back of my eye , they other split in my eye , I need to cancel my subscription
— Gino #RUSuperfan (@rusuperfan) October 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/hubblecontacts/status/1050781738706841600
This is a great thread to check out, but it seems like Hubble contacts are not worth the hassle.
I think their CEO says it best, when he says “We’re a business driven by performance marketing.”, It’s MARKETING not the customer, it’s marketing.
“We’re a business driven by performance marketing.”
@hubblecontacts Jesse Horwitz, Founder & Co-CEO discusses how he disrupted the contact lens space with his successful direct-to-consumer brand.
