Vent- Tesco Opticians

eyelinerprincess

I've just been into Tesco opticians to get some contact lenses. It's been my first pair in about five years, so they were happy to give me some trial lenses for a week. :beer:

Anyway, the optician was checking my details, noticed my eye test was only last year, and asked if the lenses I'd had were to help my astigmatism. My reaction was "what?!". In the three years and two eye tests I've had with Tesco, no one had thought to mention this to me. :eek::eek:
OK, so I have glasses and can see fine out of them, but surely somewhere in the past two eye tests, someone could have mentioned that I had astigmatism?

nedmundo

Perhaps you get the level of service that you pay for?

eyelinerprincess

I'm in Scotland so no one pays for eye tests.

amibovvered

I've worn glasses since I was 5 years old. It wasn't until I was on holiday in Italy when I was 24 I discovered I had astigmatism! The family we were staying with had a family member who was an optician and we went to her shop in Florence one day to try coloured contact lenses. She suggested I try prescription ones (I'd previously had hard contact lenses and didn't get on with them) so she checked the prescription from my specs to get the nearest match from their sample lenses and that's when she told me. When I got home I mentioned it to my mum, and even she didn't know.

This was long before cheap opticians. It's also before they were obliged to give you a prescription following your test. I can only assume they didn't feel you need to know exactly why you can't see!

Herongull

Perhaps you didn't ask?

Seriously if you have an eye test and you only have refractive issues (no diseases) and they give you the correct glasses what's the problem?

If you want to know your prescription, you ask for it. If you don't ask then they don't normally give it to you.

If you actually had an eye disease they should always tell you, but there is no big deal about astigmatism. It is just another thing that needs correcting like short short or long sight.

jeckerdrawers

As above, astigmatism is a normal part of your prescription. It's a measure of how much your cornea is shaped like a rugby ball. Most people have some level of astigmatism which is included in the glasses prescription. It would have been mentioned at your contact lens appointment as higher levels of astigmatism require rugby ball shaped contact lenses to match the shape of your eye.

nedmundo

gazzak wrote: »

...and the point of posting this was what, other than to make yourself look like a tw**.

Thanks gazzak! The point is that eyetests at Tescos are free to everyone in England and Wales, irrespective of NHS entitlement. I didn't realise the OP was in Scotland and therefore interpreted it as looking a gifthorse in the mouth.

Now - what's you excuse:rotfl:

jackieblack

I've worn glasses or contact lenses for 24 years and have had eye tests every two years at many different opticians. I was only told a couple of years ago that I had astigmatism in one eye.
I think it's so common that unless it's causing a specific problem, it doesn't get mentioned.