Your Assessment

EXPERIENCE THE CONTACT LENS PRACTICE VISION!

For most of our new patients the first visit to our Specialist Practice is truly ‘an eye opener’.

We work very differently to the ordinary ‘spectacle optician’ you‘ve probably been visiting since you first needed glasses.

Your Appointment

You’ll need to allow up to a couple of hours for this visit. Firstly there’s always some administrative paper work to sort out - we ask our patients to fill out a short ‘pre-consultation questionnaire’ which you can do here ‘on line’ - this can help shorten the admin time a little.

Then there’s the basic PRE-SCREENING, which, because of all the different instruments we use, routinely takes 20 minutes or more. To see Short Video Click Here.

Your Assessment

In our extensively equipped Instrument Room an Optician or Optometric Assistant will take measurements and digital images of your eyes on up to 6 pieces of major equipment.

With the Auto Refractor/Keratometer we measure both an indicated vision error and the approximate radius of the very centre of the cornea, the front window of the eye! Usually quite accurate both of these will both be fine tuned later.

We examine the interior of the eye to check not just the health of the eyes but the rest of the body as well frequently in the eye we can spot vascular conditions, diabetes, renal problems and many others. To do this and keep a digital record of the retina we use a special Digital Camera the IMAGEnet

The health of the cornea is critical to the Contact Lens Practitioner since it’s on this that we float Contact Lenses. The cornea, the front window and first lens of the eye, is the only part of the body which gets oxygen directly from the atmosphere and Contacts will only work satisfactorily as long as the cornea can continue to ‘breathe’ adequately at all times.

Arguably the single endothelial cell layer at the back of the cornea is the most important part of the cornea as these cells act as ‘the motor’ pulling the flow of oxygen in and pushing carbon dioxide back out through the cells at the front.

To ensure these cells are looking good we have one of only a few Specular Microscopes in the whole Country – the others being mainly in Hospital Eye Departments. This allows us to examine these all important endothelial cells under a staggering 400 times magnification. Mostly we find them normal but sometimes their condition will suggest we’re best fitting more specialist lenses or, just occasionally that contacts are contra-indicated.

Our newest ‘high tech’ tool comes next. This is the TOPOGRAPHER, which, unlike the first Auto Keratometer, plots the shape of virtually the whole cornea, accurately, and prints us out a chart which looks rather like a weather map. We’re now using a pioneering computer diagnostic system whereby we can superimpose a ’virtual image’ of any type of Contact Lens we wish onto this map of your cornea to see how it is likely to fit (even before we apply one of our trial lenses). When we have a ‘virtual’ design for lenses we can email this to our laboratories where the information is fed directly to CNC Computer Controlled lathes which cut and polish custom made lenses.

If you’re over 40, or at risk because of any family history of eye disease, we’ll also screen for Glaucoma by first checking the Intra Ocular Pressures with a painless puff of air using our NON CONTACT TONOMETER

Then we’ll check the your visual fields on our FIELD SCREENER – Glaucoma can be first diagnosed by a combination of observation of the retina using an Ophthalmoscope, IMAGENet camera, raised Pressures and a slow loss o vision starting in the peripheral field and gradually moving into the centre line of sight. Looking into the Field Screener you see a series of spotlights and by simply pressing a button when seen we can spot any areas where vision is reduced or absent

So that’s the PRE–SCREENING part – now you can appreciate why it can take at least 20 minutes.

The next stage with yet more tests and instruments takes you into a Consulting Room to meet one of our Contact Lens Practitioners. Now, with lots of data from the Pre–Screening, we need to make you work a bit and do some of the inevitable ‘letter reading’ and ‘yes/no’ and ‘better or worse’.

One thing you will find different to most Opticians is that the measurements from the AUTO REFRACTOR in the Instrument Room have now come automatically into a sophisticated Windows based testing system linked to an ELECTRONIC PHOROPTER – this holds all the trial spec lenses in one unit and replaces the ancient TRIAL FRAME with all the little pop in lenses – a system still used by most – instead the Optician changes lenses automatically using a keyboard and mouse and a computerised testing screen. Far quicker, less strain on you and incredibly accurate, testing eyes this way we can specify both Contact & Spec prescriptions to an accuracy higher than the British Standards that the manufacturers have to conform to.

Fitting so many complex lenses to very complex and high prescriptions this Electronic testing facility is absolutely vital to us.

The very last thing we need to check before we start to prove to you how comfy Contacts really can be is the condition of the very front of your eyes and especially the cornea on which we’ll shortly gently float a pair of lenses. With the help of a Binocular Optical Microscope with 40 times magnification we check all the delicate tissues of the cornea and sclera (the whites of the eye) with a very fine slit beam of light to ensure they’re normal and healthy.

So now, using all the data we’ve accumulated from Pre-Screening it’s time to pop a carefully selected pair of lenses onto your eyes.

A few people are still a little fearful when they attend for their appointment but once we’ve popped on the first lens then comes the great big grin which say’s it all!
All of a sudden you’ve discovered what a non-event Contacts are as far as comfort is concerned –

We’ll now probably send you out for a wander around the shops to get the feel for vision without specs and perhaps a quiet coffee whilst you get used to the trial lenses.

When they’ve settled on the eye after half an hour or so we’ll pop you on some of the equipment again to assess how they’re working and do any fine tuning needed to sharpen the vision and check the details of the fit more closely.

When we’re happy with our measurements we’ll discuss our findings together and make recommendations as to what we feel most suitable for both your optical and clinical requirements but, more importantly, your life style and personal needs.

If we’ve got the exact lenses you require available in one of our many stock banks you’ll be shown how to apply, remove and care for them and then you’ll be off for a few days to enjoy life without your specs. If we’ve got to order lenses or if they’ve got to be custom made you may have to be patient for a little longer for your lenses to arrive.

Your next Practice visit will be for a first check on the lens performance – this is when with your feedback and the Contact Lens Practitioners experience and measurements we do the fine tuning and decide really which are the best type and fitting of lenses for you.

Because we specialise we never need to compromise so, at your first check, if we feel our first choice of lenses could be bettered we’ll often move on to lenses made from a different material or design.

Once we’ve established the very best lenses for you we’ll set up a schedule of follow up checks. Regular AFTER CARE is a vital ingredient for safe and happy Contact Lens wear and we’ll want to see you in the future at least annually to ensure all is well.

We look forward to introducing you to the WONDERFUL FREEDOM & PLEASURES of life without GLASSES...

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