Are there any MN opticians who can advise me?

[QueenEagle]

dd had sight test - all fine and health of her eyes is absolutely fine also.

Man on till though is saying she should have a separate health check on her eyes because she sometimes wears contact lenses. And that I have to part with £35 for the privilege!!

If there are any opticians amongst the MN ranks, could you tell me if this is absolutely necessary or (as I suspect....due to me buying her contacts over the internet and not from them) a con???

TIA

No?

I worked for a while as an opticinas assistant, and if the paitient wore contact lenses then the appointment was slightly longer so the eyes could be checked with the lenses in & out. We never worked a system where they had to have 2 seperate appointments, expect when they were getting their very first pair. They would have a fit appointment, then come back an hour later to make sure that all was ok. The second appt fee was included in the overall cost.

QueenEagle, I'm an optometrist and this would be normal in the practice where I work. The normal eye test isn't enought to dispense a contact lens prescription, we need to do a more detailed examination on the front of the eye. It's normal practice in most opticians, I would think but sometimes might be part of a contact lens "package". We charge 35 Euro for this which seems quite a bit cheaper given the exchange rate at the moment but perhaps thats the usual price in the UK!

christmonkey - thank you for your expert words! It does seem very expensive but I would hazard a guess that as so many people buy their contacts over the internet at vastly reduced prices, the opticians are upping their price to compensate. I was told that if we didn't go on the scheme whereby they supplied our lenses (which also includes free contact lense check ups) then we would have to pay this cost. Trouble is their contacts are twice the price.

Maybe I could get away with having the contact lense check every year or so?

The law in Ireland, and as far as I know, in the UK, is that the contact lens prescription should be less than 1 year old. We certainly don't ask for it to be done more often than that for someone to re-order their contact lenses unless there was something we were particularly worried about. The only thing about teenagers is that their eyes can change quite quickly, a lot faster than adults so maybe every six months would be better for your dd?

My dd1 wears contacts and she has an eye check every 6mths. She gets her lenses on a monthly basis (costs about 20gbp) and the eye test is included in the cost, otherwise it's 30gbp. I think eyesight is so precious that it's worth the cost esp as at her recent check up I think it's the first time her prescription hasn't changed!

Forgot to say, the price of dd's monthly 'deal' includes all the cleaning stuff she needs and also replacements for any faulty lenses or if dd loses/tears one of them.

Another optometrist here. We do the same as cm. Anyone who wears contacts (especially young people) need to be checked yearly. I see so many compromised corneas from contact lens abuse

agree with Jabbertherednosedreindeer. Teenagers can be quite careless too, sometimes. They don't think ahead to the future and realise that the damage they do now to their eyes will impact their ability to wear lenses in the future. They live in the moment and have been known to wear contacts almost round the clock, insert and remove them with unwashed hands etd. Not saying your dd is like this QueenEagle by the way! Just to let you know why we can be a bit more fussy with the teens!