AIBU... is this normal?

[CharlottesComplicatedWeb]

I had an eye test last week and the optician said there was only a very slight change in my reading prescription. I’d already had my glasses repaired and had had them over two years so thought I’d treat myself to some new frames. I asked therefore, that I might as well have my “slight change” lenses put in, since they’re new. “Oh, no” said the optician, “it’s so small it’s barely worth change”. So, I was talked into having the special coating for tablet/iPad use. I’ve had it before.

I collected them today. I cannot for the life of me work out what the problem is.

When using my iPad, it’s like the screen is concave (like a curved TV). The icons are kind of 3D or like little Magic Eyes (🤷🏻‍♀️) in other words, they have depth.

I’m sat now, reading my book. Same thing. The paperback cover looks curved.

What’s going on? Anyone can help?

You just have to return- there has probably been a mistake in making them.

Yep. Error in Making or ordering the lenses I'd say

Ok, thank you.

And my eye test was done by a very young woman who I hadn’t seen before who had to have her work “signed off by the chief optician”???? Have never had that either. I felt my eyes had deteriorated but as I said upthread, it was “so small a change, wasn’t worth changing the prescription”.

I don’t understand why, when I was going for a new pair of glasses, the “tiny prescription change” wasn’t incorporated into the new pair. It’s that normal? Any opticians out there?

Dare I ask which leading chain you attended?

I once went to a High Street optician and was told that I had something wrong in the back of my eyes and that I risked going blind.
I was referred to the hospital.
Obviously I was terrified and when I went to the hospital I was , at first, seen by a nurse, who said that there was nothing wrong .
I was told to wait as I needed to be cleared by the consultant.
The consultant saw nothing wrong and said that what had been seen by the optician was very common in many people and that it was something that should have been ignored by a qualified optician.
The consultant asked... “ Did you go to such and such?” I replied yes. He said that they don’t know what they’re talking about and that if he’d had a pound for every referral from this ( High Street optician) he’d be very rich indeed.

Please tell me which optician this is? I've been taking my son to a high street optician and he's been complaining of repeated headaches when reading, I'm certain he has the wrong prescription.

His also had to be signed off.

Specsavers. Have gone to them for many years. Never any problems. Until now but...i feel dizzy using this new pair.

I get my glasses from specsavers and like you was told there hadn’t been much change to my prescription, however, I wanted new glasses anyway as mine were getting old and I wear them all the time.
Collected my new glasses and they made everything seem funny, like goldfish bowl type. Oh you’ll have to get used to them said the dispenser, you’ve had quite a big change in prescription, I did question that but she checked and said I must have misunderstood as one eye had barely changed. Was told to see how I got on with them. Tbh she was quite abrupt so I did as I was told.
Returned a week later as I was Feeling sick every time I tried to wear them to find they had mis typed a digit into the computer and my glasses were indeed too strong for me
Long story short, go back.

Thanks @Georgieporgie29. I’ve no idea what’s gone wrong. I think we need to go from the top. Eye test and onward. Why would an optician need her work to be “signed off”?

Sounds like they have made a mistake somewhere.

Definitely go back but that sounds like where the centre of the lens is may be wrong. The prescription can be dead on but if they have got where your pupils are it will be funny. I had this once. They just remade it.

Maybe she’s a trainee? I’ve never known the opticians work be signed off but when the glasses are fit the dispensing person usually comes to sign off. I think you should definitely go back.

I think she MUST have been qualified. But I’ve never had such a fast eye test and I wasn’t filled with confidence but NOW THIS.

I’ll go back tomorrow.

Did you have the lenses thinned? I've had similar problems to what you describe because of the thinning process...

I had similar once at Specsavers. The prescription was hand written, then transferred to computer. The optician had written '-0.25' but the minus sign was so close to the 0, and the 0 wasn't fully formed, that it looked like '3.25'. I felt genuinely ill when I put them on and I couldn't see for toffee. They didn't believe me at first, until they took the glasses and scanned the lens. Then they realised the mistake.

Did they add astigmatism correction to this prescription?
I just had this issue, also from Specsavers. I needed reading glasses, but also have slight astigmatism. They added the astigmatism correction to my reading glasses and the whole world seemed concave, like a goldfish bowl. Called Specsavers and they told me to keep wearing the glasses and my eyes would adjust - except obviously I can’t keep reading glasses on all day!

I went back and got them to take the astigmatism correction off (ie new lenses) and it sorted the issue.

If she needed to get her prescription signed off by another optometrists (supervisor) then she was most likely a pre-registration optometrist. Once a student has completed their optometry degree they need to do professional qualifying exams and can only see patients under supervision of a qualified optometrist. Take them back and have them checked.

Used to work in an opticians. Most likely the sign off was because shes not long graduated, you said she was young our principle optom used to sign off all the new options tests until she wa satisfied she didnt need to.
The issues with vision - error somewhere in the system. Either a mistype by the optom on the prescription, the dispenser has taken your pupil distance wrong (for readers they have to make a compensation adjustment from regular pupil distance) or the lab have miscalculated when glazing.
Take them back, ask for a problem solve, they will check over the make up of the specs etc and if no issue you should be given another test. It happens quite a lot tbh.
The new specs will be made up to the new prescription because they cant make up to any other than the most up to date test with out a professional sign off.
Specsavers, although franchises have alike a whole company policy so if they tell you to give it a week, go to another store (dont let them tell you you have to go back to the original store, youdont have to, any store has to put it right u der their no quibble guarantee)
Good luck!

I avoid spec savers too, have long-standing eye problems which are reasonably serious but stable. I went as a child and it was fully explained to them that I had colabomas in both eyes, that the right eye it's on my optic disc, that yes it has reduced my visual field blah blah blah. They saw exactly what they were told would be there and referred me to a consultant, so I ended up having to go through the whole hospital consultant process, I was then given a letter from the consultant to present to opticians to prevent that happening again. Years later, went back to spec savers, presented the letter which had been fine for every other optician and they bloody insisted on referring me again and refused to give me a prescription.

Unfortunately I do optician hop because they keep all being bought out or closed down so there's no such thing as a continuous record so have to go through rigmarole with every yearly appointment.

Return to spec savers, insist on either a refund or replacement lenses and a recheck of your prescription. If there are no small independents near you then vision express or Boots are better options, I then buy the glasses from Asda or online at glasses direct.

OP try going to an independent optician next time you have an eye test. The person you saw was probably a pre registration optometrist who is still training. I've heard that chains are leaving more qualified experienced (expensive) optometrists on furlough and bringing back the cheaper staff. It may have been a fast test because they need to get through the backlog of people who need an eye test.

I have complicated vision due to a rare condition. I have seen many opticians over the years - many of them dreadful!
But my SpecSavers chap is absolutely brilliant. I won't go anywhere else.
It's down to the individual Opticians, not the chain.

Just to balance this - I have an eye condition and Specsavers have been excellent whereas Boots were dreadful. I suspect it is down to the local management

Are the new frames very different from your previous ones, and do you have astigmatism?

I had this problem when the fashion for big frames came back and with astigmatism you get a lot of a sort of fishbowl effect at the edges of large lenses.

That said, specsavers really struggled to make up my frames right - the pupil heights had to be exactly right. In the end they tried and failed three times last time I tried to get new glasses. I switched to a new optician and they got it right.

@LokihasafryingPan... definitely, the specs are the old prescription NOT the new “slight change”. I know, because the young optician had already told me there was no point changing the lenses, so minimal was the change.

No astigmatism. No lens thinning. No eye conditions. Just straightforward reading glasses. I have used and been happy with Specsavers over many years.

My new glasses have a bigger “glass”. Just plain tortoise shell quite round style. One thing I have noticed this morning is... Red is very “coming off the screen” on my iPad. By that I mean the notification numbers for mail, really stand out in a 3D way. The Safari icon has a little red stick bit on it and it’s jumping out at me. Maybe the bit in the eptest for Red/Green is wrong?

I have polarised coating on my prescription sunglasses and when I wear them my phone icons look 3D. I also have anti reflective/glare on my main glasses which doesn't do this. I'm wondering if the wrong coating has been applied maybe? I was shown that the polarised ones would do this using a sample over my old glasses so I was expecting that but not for normal glasses, it's drive me mad. Definitely go and have a word with them and see what they say.

I am back. I am ashamed to say that I ended up losing my temper. Due to social distancing, I wasn’t allowed into the actual shop. The lady said she could only let me in if I had an actual appointment but, she could sort it at the door. So, without asking me what was the problem she took the glasses from me and disappeared for ages. The queue in the doorway was mounting up and I felt really cross because it was bloody roasting and I did want to speak about/explain what I was seeing.

When she came back, she said she’d adjusted the lenses in the frame and that it might be that I’d adjust to/find them ok now. I just wasn’t happy. I mentioned the optician whose work needed to be “signed off” and she said that it was because she was in a traineeship (but qualified) so, I said that the shop ought to have informed me of this and that I should have been given the choice of a fully autonomous/experienced optician, when paying for an eye test. I told her it wasn’t acceptable as I’d assumed the young lady was not requiring any supervision.

When the assistant told me that they did not need my permission to have a trainee do my test, I’m ashamed to say, I lost it. I said that the tester had said my new prescription was not “necessary” and that surely if I were buying new frames, the new script should be incorporated into that? She then told me it HAD BEEN. Then WHY was I told that it was not?

Anyway, long story short, I’ve gotten home and the tweak she had done had sorted the problem. I now have a nice new frame, with the NEW prescription lenses and the 3D/magic eye effect is gone. However, I am not proud and heard myself turning into my mother and DEMANDING to speak to the manager as the experience was shoddy, start to finish.

I was made an appointment for ten days time to see the chief optician. I will of course, cancel.

I’m wondering whether I need to call and apologise for my strop? I think the heat, the mounting queue, the fucking mask, the wanting just to talk to her about it... I nearly had a bloody stroke. Anyone else feeling their patience levels are non existent post COVID19?