Five reasons why our eye examination is better
When I was in England recently I did a bit of mystery shopping and went to five different opticians to have five eye examinations. I chose a selection of opticians from both the independent and the multiple sector as well as from both ends of the market.
I made a point of being completely open and honest about absolutely everything apart from my occupation and I said that I had never had an eye test before. I was open about the various problems I am noticing with my eyes, as well as family history and general medical details.
As it happens, I have really very unusual eyes that would give any optometrist a run for their money. I have six different aspects of my eye health which are genuinely of note to any optometrist. I have one eyelid that sits lower than the other, I have an eye muscle problem which means I get double vision when I am tired, I have a problem with the oil glands in my eyelids, I have a significant amount of astigmatism, I have one pupil bigger than the other and I have high eye pressure. My optic nerves are a bit ropey looking too!
My conclusions were that we can be very proud of what we do at Petticrew Optometrists and here are five reasons why:
1. History and symptoms. Believe it or not, approximately 70% of eye conditions can be diagnosed purely through asking the right questions and listening carefully to the answers. Three of my six would have been detected purely through asking me the right questions. I have a list of 11 questions which I ask every single patient and these often lead on to more in-depth questions. This is much much better.
2. Testing of vision. The equipment and techniques we use to check both distance and reading vision is far superior to any used on my eyes during my little project.
3. Testing of prescription. The way I find an optical prescription is better than all five in three different ways. I use a number of more accurate techniques to determine the magnitude of astigmatism an eye has. I use more accurate techniques to find out the orientation of astigmatism. I use a special technique call binocular balancing to get a more natural, relaxed and ultimately more accurate prescription.
4. Eye health examination. The techniques I use to examine the health of the eye and structures around the eye are significantly better than all five.
5. Equipment used. The range equipment we use wider than any of the five. Also the techniques we use to get the best result from the equipment we use are better than all five.
One optometrist wanted to refer me with regard to my eye pressure which suddenly put me in a very awkward position as I didn’t exactly want her to write to my GP!
I am not an arrogant man and I make plenty of mistakes but I feel that the level of care our patients get at Petticrew Optometrists is king to that which I received at every single one of these opticians.
Equally, if I went to another one, I might suddenly find it a deeply humbling experience because they do it a whole lot better than I do!