optician misdiagnosis

[Flute56]

I had my yearly opticians check up and got some new glasses. I had an issue with them so got a second opinion after my optician saying they were fine. At the seond opinion I was told I had cataract. I knew nothing about it. My original optician never told me. I think I should go back and complain because I do not feel happy that they kept it from me. I did wonder if the cataracts had only just formed since I went to them and I was told highly unlikely. The seond opinion optician said they probably just deided not to tell me. I said ok but why have you told me and they said because we believe in telling the patients everything.

Should I complain or just leave it? I was told that if I go back to the original optician a year from now and they still do not mention cataracts then I should say something , but they advised me not to mention it now???

Another optometrist here..the majority of people have lens changes at 57. At what stage you call this a cataract is debatable.
You would not operate on a cataract, either privately or on the NHS until you couldn’t see a certain amount of letters in the test chart as (with any surgery) there is always the potential for complications.

I do understand when people usually have cataract surgery. As I said I do not trust anyone who keeps information from me. What do they hope to gain from it? Absolutely nothing but they have now lost a patient and possibly more when I tell people what they are like. I would never set foot in their opticians ever again

@Flute56 I think you are doing the original optometrist a favour not going back to her. Honestly if you are overreacting this much when a number of posters have explained the reasons for the optometrist not telling you about early lens changes as has the practise, you need help. You need to put this to bed OP and move on!

[quote Bemoreme21]@Flute56 I think you are doing the original optometrist a favour not going back to her. Honestly if you are overreacting this much when a number of posters have explained the reasons for the optometrist not telling you about early lens changes as has the practise, you need help. You need to put this to bed OP and move on![/quote]
Couldn't agree more! As for going round badmouthing the original optometrist...words fail me.

@Flute56

Someone I know said to me today, arent you scared and I said no not really because it is in the early stages. She then said but I would be scared beause cataracts can lead to blindness. I said you should be careful who you say this to because you could really frighten someone by saying this and it is a good job I am not that way inlined lol. I then said I do not wish to talk to you again about this matter. She probably reckons she wills see me in 10 years time with a white stick.

Also there is no way i believe this far fetched story. Maybe if you were in a developing country someone would say this but in a developed country, no.

Not everyone is the same, OP. Believe me I have plenty of patients who would rather not know about potential routine issues as it would cause them needless worry. I still try and explain things in a clear and non-alarming way but some people definitely don’t want to know. Neither optometrist is ‘wrong’ they just have different approaches. But I agree it’s easier all round if you don’t go back to the first one.

ok so at what point do you tell the person they have a catacact? when it is so ripe that they need surgery and you say oh by the way you have a catacact and you need surgery like now? That is worse than telling someone from the start. Or do you wait until the person complains that they cannot see and goes for a check up saying why cant i see an then you say oh because you have a catatract that is so far gone we need to operate now.

I think that would cause more distress than telling someone from the beginning because then at least if they know from the start, they can build themselves up and have time to get their head around the fact that at some point they will have surgery. I would NOT like to have this sprung on me at the last minute and then I do not have time to get my head together about the surgery. That would atually freak me out

@Flute56

ok so at what point do you tell the person they have a catacact? when it is so ripe that they need surgery and you say oh by the way you have a catacact and you need surgery like now? That is worse than telling someone from the start. Or do you wait until the person complains that they cannot see and goes for a check up saying why cant i see an then you say oh because you have a catatract that is so far gone we need to operate now.

I think that would cause more distress than telling someone from the beginning because then at least if they know from the start, they can build themselves up and have time to get their head around the fact that at some point they will have surgery. I would NOT like to have this sprung on me at the last minute and then I do not have time to get my head together about the surgery. That would atually freak me out

It really depends on the patient.

If they have specific concerns and it's relevant then when first noticed. (I would count you under this category for the 2nd test- maybe not the first of it was just a 'routine' test).

If they are no longer able to see 6/6 (20/20), even with correction.

If they've had a significant change in Rx because of it.

If they're not of 'normal' age for cataract, but they've had trauma/medication cause it.

Tbh it's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' kind of question.