If you have any questions regarding your, or your family’s eye health, our staff and optometrists are more than happy to take the time to talk and help in any way we can.
Routine eye examinations are recommended at least every 2 years for adults 16-70 years old. If you are under 16, over 70, diabetic, or over 40 with a family history of glaucoma you should attend at least every year. If you have certain risk factors, or we are monitoring a particular eye condition, we may ask to see you even more regularly.
Give us a call on 01446 735130 to arrange an appointment.
To qualify as an optometrist requires a BSc degree in Optometry and a further year of assessed clinical training in practice, know as the Scheme for Registration. Once final exams have been passed, the optometrist must become registered with the General Optical Council.
If you have a red or sore eye, then the first port of call should be an optometrist rather than your GP, as they often will have superior equipment and expereince to deal with the problem. Often advice and/or treatment can be given on the spot, or if needed, a referral to a GP or an NHS specialist can be made.
You can’t give a “wrong answer”, the optometrist is always checking and double checking your prescription to get it as precise as possible. If you can’t see a difference, don’t worry: about the same is sometimes the answer we need!
Poor eyesight for children can cause and contribute to learning and behavioral problems. This is especially true for young children, who may find it difficult to explain the difficulties they may have with their vision. They may not be aware that they have a problem at all. Conditions such as squint (eye turn) and amblyopia (lazy eye) can be treated much more effectively if they are caught early. We have special picture testing that enables us to test children who do not know letters yet. We recommend testing children 3 years and upwards, or earlier if you notice a problem.
A Diabetic Retinopathy screening will take a photograph of the retina at the back of your eye and this will be examined to look for diabetic changes or damage. However, this will not check your glasses prescription or look for any other eye health or general health problems, so it’ s very important to have a routine eye test every year.
During a routine eye examination, we will look closely at the retina and optic nerve at the back of the eye. The appearance of these features can often give us clues as to whether there may be any underlying health conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and sometimes even more serious conditions. This is why, even if you feel your vision is fine, you should get an eye test at least every 2 years.
A stroke can sometime lead to visual loss. This is usually in the periphery (side) of the vision and can affect mobility or driving. We can check this using a visual fields screener, which is a quick and simple test.
There are a few shallow steps to enter the building, however we have a portable ramp which we can put down to allow wheelchair access. Some very wide-based, motorised wheelchairs may not fit through our doors; however most wheelchair users have no problem in the practice. If you are able to transfer from your wheelchair to the consulting room chair this will allow the eye examination to be simpler and more accurate than if you remain in your own chair.
Please let us know at the time of booking the appointment if there are any forms you will need the optometrist to complete. Most of these need to be done at the same time as the eye examination, so it is helpful if we know in advance.