Following on from @Euromans post about prostrate cancer, I would like to throw in the importance of having your eye health checked. I was also at RH this week to have more tests and discuss the removal of a melanoma, which was found during a visit to the opticians. I won’t go into to detail as this is more of a shout out to everyone. Your eyes tell a lot about your overall health. Please get them checked, even if you don’t wear specs or contact lenses.
I’m pretty lax at this as I don’t need glasses or contacts. I probably go five yearly rather than the two or so recommended. I’ll make a promise to you now to do better.
I wear readers only and Last 3 visits I had at specsavers I took up their offer of a more in-depth examination ( £10) think it’s a 3D scan or something. Well worth it
I get a free basic eye test because of a family history of Glaucoma. Every year without fail I have that, and the Glaucoma test of course, but I also opt for the advanced test where their machine can examine behind your eyes as well as the front. Worth it for peace of mind.
A promise is unbreakable to me, no matter who it’s to. I sat and thought about if I realistically would before I hit post because I take them weirdly seriously.
Went for my first one last year having been recommended to during my “time of life” check up. Rear scanning of the eyeball was fascinating. Apparently a lot of people had burst blood vessels as a reaction to Covid/medicine or so I was told.
Totally agree with this, plus if you are in the old fart bracket like me (over 60), the eye test is free.
If you've not been for a long time I would strongly recommend going, even if you think your eyesight is good. I hadn't been in about 10yrs when I went about 3yrs ago. Had the full examination. They noticed high pressure in both eyes, referred me to hospital. I now go to hospital every 18mths or so for full examination, and am on latanaprost eye drops for rest of my life. They've told me if I'd left it much longer I'd have ended up with glaucoma, caught it in time thankfully.
As it happens, I had my eyes tested today and had the new scan. It picked up an anomaly in my left eye for which I'm being referred to a consultant for a 2nd opinion.
Hope all is well. It picked up a ‘freckle’ in my husband’s eye and he had to go to a consultant. All was fine.
Hope you're ok mate - I really need to get mine checked over Easter. My kids are always on at me to get it done
Well now I’m getting on at you too. Get it done! It’s surprisingly easy to book it online (if Specsavers), you can choose the exact time slot for any day you like. Book it now in fact. Here you go, no excuses https://www.specsavers.co.uk/stores...VPpJQBh0TvQXJEAAYASAAEgLr__D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
He thought it was ok but wanted confirmation. In January 2020 I came off my pushbike on my way home from work and cracked my skull and I had loads of floaters in my left eye. I was checked out and they said it was ok. It might just be some leftover from that.
I went to Specsavers in Barnsley 2 or possibly 3 years ago. It was an awful experience. Did the back of eye scan thing which was fine and then moved on to the actual eye test "what's the lowest line you can read?" End of eye test. "Here's your prescription and we'll order you some contacts too" At that point I asked shouldn't I have a contact lens appointment for contact lenses? Everywhere else I've been does two and they're much longer too with the red and green colours and the which is better one or two etc. all you've done is said how low can you read. They were adamant that's all I needed so fair enough. Went back 2 weeks later to collect the lenses and try them on/in. Put them in, waited for them to settle and went into a consultation room "what's the lowest you can read? Ok that's not perfect but it's ok" had me cover left eye and could read the entire board, had me cover right eye and genuinely couldn't read the top letter. "That's fine. One eye will compensate for the other and with them both in you should still be legal to drive". I argued as I've worn them for years and never had this experience but was told I was wrong. Went to boots who ripped up the prescription as it was totally wrong and did it again properly.
One of my eyes went a bit blurry 6 years ago. Had them checked and I had a retinal bleed. 18 months of bi-monthly injections into the old eyeball. Yuk. Still baffles me how the nurse, sensing my apprehension, told me "try not to look"
I think it’s hit and miss where you go as it’s all franchised (they call it something else but basically the same thing). Interestingly, I have ‘no useful vision*’ in my right eye but my left compensates so that my vision generally is near on perfect. Definitely much better than anyone else I know. * it really annoys me that all opticians list it as that when the vision I have is definitely useful. It’s like a snowstorm/old tv static is going off in my eye constantly after about 15 seconds of having my left eye closed. I can’t really read well with it unless the font is very big and it’s still misshapen, and I obviously wouldn’t drive if my sight was like that normally, but I can definitely see things easily - just not details. The problem is that they can’t correct what’s wrong with mine with glasses and they said they wouldn’t at this point anyway as the headaches would be horrendous as my brain is so used to my left doing all the work.
