Posts Tagged ‘eye examination’

Age Old Advice

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

If you’re at that awkward age when you’re suddenly mothering your own mother or taking on responsibility for an elderly relative, you may need some pointers as to how to help them enjoy happy twilight years with the healthiest possible sight. As with any other aspect of our lives, there are specific issues which affect the elderly when it comes to their glasses and their vision.

An eye examination is about more than the need for specs, so make sure you arrange regular check ups. Most opticians do home visits if the client is housebound. Generally the test should be every two years, or more often for Diabetics, Glaucoma sufferers, or for patients with early signs or symptoms of other eye diseases. Glasses can then be updated, and the optician needs to discuss the patient’s visual needs. For example – if they are housebound and their standard of vision is poor, then they won’t need a tint or Photochromic lenses. Clear lenses will maximise their sight and be safer in low light conditions. Or the patient may tell us they don’t need bifocals any more because they don’t read, but if they don’t have bifocals, will they see to cut their food up or take their medication? Needs may alter with age and the optician should take this into account when helping you and the patient to make a decision.

When you have the prescription you can get glasses made up anywhere, and choosing a frame and lenses online might be easier and cheaper. A spare pair is also useful, especially in residential care where specs can be mislaid. Stronger reading lenses may also be useful to maximise sight for close work, and again this may be an economical purchase over the internet.

Light is also of vital importance – a forty year old eye needs twice as much light as a twenty year old, a sixty year old three times as much. So even the most up to date glasses need good illumination to do the job. While natural light is always best, direct light from a reading lamp will help during the evening.

If sight problems go beyond help from specs, then referral to a Low Vision Aid Clinic or the Ophthalmologist for clinical procedures may be necessary. Some patients are wary of this kind of help and may be reluctant to go through with further treatments, but the end results may significantly improve their quality of life, so gentle encouragement is always worthwhile.

Glasses Online

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Double Check

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

As we all know, seeing the optician is about more than whether you need correction for your sight – it’s also an opportunity to have your eye health and some general health issues checked out. The full eye examination is a blend of discussion with patients, using equipment and the optician’s knowledge and expertise. A common query from patients is that they worry if anything has been missed, or if their responses to the optician’s questions were the right ones. So here’s a comforting thought – the examination is a series of double and triple checks and we have several ways of diagnosing any problems.

When it comes to your prescription, and the confusing question of – which is better, number 1 or number 2? – Patients often worry that gave the wrong answer, and they won’t be able to see with their glasses! The first thing you should know is that every time the optician asks you the 1 or 2 question they are re-checking and refining results over and over again. They also use the information of your age, previous prescriptions and general eye health to make sure your results look logical. Some opticians also use Retinoscopy, a hand held instrument reads your prescription and gives them a valuable starting point and double check.

The puff of air test reads the internal pressure of the eye, as high pressure can be a sign of Glaucoma. But we don’t just rely on that reading – the optician also examines the area around the Optic nerve head to check for signs of Glaucoma too. Again your age and comparison to previous results gives extra reassurance.

By questioning you on your general health and that of your family, discussing your lifestyle and looking at your eye health history, opticians build up a picture of potential problems. Your standard of vision also gives clues. Ophthalmoscopy is the use of another hand held instrument that checks eye health, giving opticians the opportunity to look right inside the eye and check for signs of Retinal problems, Glaucoma, and Cataract. Retinal Imaging Cameras give a different view and allow us to store results so we can refer back to them.

A mix of experience, knowledge, training and different techniques give us masses of information about your eyes and health, so don’t worry that we’ll miss anything or that your response might not have been the right one. Your optician sees everything – and double checks it.

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GUIDE : Reading Glasses

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

If you are at that certain age and you need help for close work, then you might need some guidance around the issue of reading glasses – for some hints and tips read on – if you can!

When you have an eye examination, your optician will give you a prescription, which usually shows reading and a distance power. If you only have a reading power, then this is what you need to use when buying ready reading glasses. If you have a distance prescription, then the reading power is usually expressed as an add power – the reading prescription will say add next to it. Your optician will need to calculate the power of ready readers for you, so ask them what you need.

Ready readers work the best if your prescription is almost the same in both eyes, preferably exactly the same! Your pupil distance – the distance between your eyes also needs to be fairly average too. If this is not the case, then the glasses will still work, but may not be as comfortable for reading for any length of time. If your eyes are very different powers then you will need to have reading glasses made up for your individual prescription.

The beauty of ready readers is that they are cheap and useful to have around – a pair in your briefcase, your desk, by the books at your bedside. Keep older pairs with weaker prescriptions, they’ll be useful for tasks with less detail at a further distance – ironing, pruning, the computer.

If your ready readers cause headaches, then replace them with an updated prescription, or try them from a different supplier – some brands are made with more precision than others.

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Baby Face

Monday, July 20th, 2009

As we’re all aware, the sunshine is finally here and it’s looking good for the Summer season. Amid the frenzy of packing for our hols and deciding what to put on the BBQ we should also think about protecting our skin and eyes from the dangers of UV, and in particular, our the delicate skin and eyes of our vulnerable children.

From babyhood onwards, children’s eyes and vision are still undergoing developmental changes, and are more easily affected by UV.  If not protected problems could occur in the future as well as during their childhood. UV is not widely understood in the UK, as obviously we don’t think we get that much sun! It can however still burn through cloud cover on an overcast day, so look out for the UV rating on the morning weather forecast.

As children spend more time outside than most adults it is important to protect their sight. An eye examination is free of charge under the NHS, and if they need prescription spectacles the optician can discuss tinted or light-sensitive lenses for their glasses. If they don’t need spex then you can find them a pair of good quality sunglasses, look for those that are clearly marked with 100% UV protection – from all wavelengths of UV. Dark lenses that don’t block all UV are potentially very damaging.

If any exposure happens in the early years, and then your child doesn’t wear eye protection in later life, they could be putting themselves at risk for the early development of cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration. Encourage children to wear their sunnies even on duller days – they’ll look cool and be safe!

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Testing Times!

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Even if you make your eyewear purchase with an online Optician, don’t forget that you will still need to make regular visits to an Optometrist to have an eye examination. There are two important aspects to this – firstly, we cannot use your glasses prescription unless it is up to date, and secondly, there are other points raised in an eye test that may be of importance to you.

An Optometrist will check aspects of your general health and the health of your eyes during an examination. Some conditions do not have symptoms which you would notice, but the signs will be there for the Optometrist to find. With regards to your general health, the Optometrist may spots signs of high cholesterol, Diabetes, MS, high blood pressure and tumours. They can see the signs of eye diseases such as glaucoma, retinal damage due to Diabetes, and problems with the tissues around the eye.

An eye examination will check your standard of vision for driving, and also your field of vision – not just how well you can see, but how well you can see around you. You are putting yourself and others in danger if you drive when your vision is below the driving standard.

The Royal National Institute for the Blind advises eye exams every year if you are over 60, but their statistics show that less than half of people over sixty actually manage this. Younger people are even less likely to attend regular visits to the optician. So do the sensible thing – an online optician will supply glasses at a reasonable cost, but make sure you look after your sight as well as your finances.

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Stay Safe At Night

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

Do you ever feel worried about driving at night?
Do headlights dazzle you?
Do you feel your vision is worse after dark?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you should think about having an anti-reflection coating on your prescription glasses.

The first thing to do is to have an eye examination and make sure your glasses prescription is up to date. The optician will also check the health of your eyes to make sure there are no underlying problems.

You then need to choose lenses which have an anti-reflection coating on them. This is not the same as a tint, it is a colourless coating which blocks reflections and allows all available light through to your eyes. This means that your vision is clearer and you are as safe as you can be when driving.

The coating is also useful if you use a VDU, as in cutting glare it cuts down on eye strain too. People looking at you see through your lenses too, as the lenses not only enable you to see more clearly, they look almost invisible when in the eyeglass frames.

If your glasses do have tinted lenses your Optician will tell you if they can be worn for night driving. You should never wear anything but the lightest tint when night driving, it’s not safe and is also illegal. You could be endangering yourself and others if you wear incorrect lenses or tints.

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