Opticians - Are you happy with the eye test

[Shadow01]

Does anyone have advice about opticians.
I took mum a couple of months ago .. she has new glasses but won't wear them as they are "worse than the ones I have".
They suggested she try them for a while and very soon she would get used to them as there was quite a change. she will not wear them

The trouble is.... I am now not sure her prescription is or was right...

I did not think of it at the time but am now wondering if when they were asking her
"which is best ... a or b " a bit too fast.... I was there and she seemed to be answering quite fast .. but whether the answers were true or not .. who knows??

She keeps asking me if the picture on the TV is clear? ... or when we are out is it foggy? when both are clear.
Today in the doctors waiting room she threw her old glasses across the waiting room saying these are no good I need to get a new pair of glasses
Does anyone have useful advice on this ?

 

[Jo1958]

Shadow, hi
I don't have any advice, sorry, we have had lots of problems with spectacles in hubby's NH, there are opticians who visit and they have provided new specs but they are of such poor quality that one pair lasted less than an hour before one of the arms (or legs!) broke, just split half way along. We are getting by on old pairs that I keep mending so the prescription is obviously wrong but I can't take hubby to an appointment outside as it's hit and miss whether he'd be mobile.

So like teeth it's an ongoing and for me unsolvable problem that I do my best to do my best with.

I hope that you find a way that works for your mum and you, I look forward to hearing how it goes.
With best wishes from Jo

 

[Shadow01]

oh look what I just found ....

http://www.healthcalloptical.co.uk/

Has anyone else used this service ?

It mentions that
Healthcall Optical Services specialise in home eye care services; we take care of everything from home eye tests and dispensing of glasses to a comprehensive aftercare service.

Our mobile opticians will conduct eye tests at your home free of charge, as the NHS covers the cost if you are unable to get to a high street opticians unaided. Our mobile opticians will then recommend the right lenses for you and you can choose from our wide range of spectacle frames whether you are looking for budget frames or the latest designer frames at very competitive prices – our teams carry a wide choice with them.

When your glasses are ready, they will then be expertly fitted by a dispensing optician or highly-trained optical adviser, who has undertaken a training course provided by the Alzheimer’s society to ensure the standard of care they provide to those suffering from dementia is second to none.[/I][/I]

 

[Izzy]

Your description of your mum'scteaction to her specs sounds exactly the same as my mum's was. I had her back to the optician several times and eventually gave up. We did use the home optician as in the link above. The lady was very good and they carried a wide range of samples to choose from. I think they were more expensive than high street opticians.

 

[gillou]

My MIL had an eye test and new glasses as she claimed not to be able to see her crossword puzzles. To my dismay her new glasses did not improve her eyesight, I sat and cried because it was such a hassle getting her to an opticians, she even through up on a small child in the waiting room.
My GP however had had a similar experience with one of his parents and assured me that it is quiet common with people with fairly advanced dementia. In fact it is nothing to do with her eyes or her glasses it is the connection between the eyes and the brain that is weak. Perphaps ask your neurologist for his advice.

 

[Saffie]

Hello there. This company goes into my husband's nursing home and my husband had new glasses with them last year. The hinge on the arm of his old ones had broken and the arm was splayed out so I paid around £120 for a more flexible metal-armed pair.

How they managed an eye test I have no idea because when we attended the eye hospital for a retinopathy test - he's diabetic - he really didn't have a clue about the letters in the eye test and it was difficult to tell whether it was because he couldn't see them or couldn't remember what they were called. A bit of both most likely.
Aanyway, it was a total shambles as they coudn't do the retinopathy test either as my husband was unable to lean forward far enough in his wheelchair to place his chin on the machine!
I hope you find an answer - good luck.

 

[Hair Twiddler]

Hi - Yes I am in the midst of an eyeglass saga with my mum. To cut a very long story short my mum rejects all advice from any optician (we have seen many over the past 2 years) she has spent hundreds of pounds on new lenses and frames and still they are all useless. Going to the opticians is an outing mum enjoys - I dread to think what tone the letter will take when the NHS catch up and realise that mums visits are "excessive"

It's the dementia that's really the problem - not mum. She would dearly love 20/20 vision and gets very angry that the optician can't wave that magic wand. The macular degeneration is a condition that mum can't understand and doesn't remember that she has (a few years ago she refused to believe it was uncurable and demanded "a better diagnosis" which really must have stumped her then doctor!).

On a practical note perhaps your mum is venting her dementia frustration on the specs? I bet that you get some stick too ehh?

Mum has 2 pairs of specs, one for the TV (distance) and the other for reading - I have pink tape on one and blue on the other, this colour matches the boxes they are kept in, both have BIG stickers on them saying "TV glasses" and "Reading glasses" - perhaps your mum is getting mixed up with multiple pairs of glasses??

If you do try another optician do explain to them that it is the TV that your mum has most issues with - I did this and went to (painful) lengths to explain that driving, cinema, looking for a bus stop wasn't relevant - JUST THE TV. My point being that I expected the optician to prescribe lenses based on this one distance not "general" long distance which others would require. She understood and did her best but ....we are still searching for that one optician with the magic wand

Dementia sucks.

 

[Shadow01]

Your description of your mum'scteaction to her specs sounds exactly the same as my mum's was. I had her back to the optician several times and eventually gave up. We did use the home optician as in the link above. The lady was very good and they carried a wide range of samples to choose from. I think they were more expensive than high street opticians.

Thank you Izzy
So in the end, did you get a good result ?

 

[Shadow01]

Hello there. This company goes into my husband's nursing home and my husband had new glasses with them last year. The hinge on the arm of his old ones had broken and the arm was splayed out so I paid around £120 for a more flexible metal-armed pair.

How they managed an eye test I have no idea because when we attended the eye hospital for a retinopathy test - he's diabetic - he really didn't have a clue about the letters in the eye test and it was difficult to tell whether it was because he couldn't see them or couldn't remember what they were called. A bit of both most likely.
Aanyway, it was a total shambles as they coudn't do the retinopathy test either as my husband was unable to lean forward far enough in his wheelchair to place his chin on the machine!
I hope you find an answer - good luck.

Thankyou Saffie
Well apart from catapulting her glasses yesterday ... which I wasn't expecting Mum is normally quite good with her glasses... she doesn't normally manhandle them (phew) and as for letters she is a wordsearch addict and so that is ok too ... however she is slow to pick up in conversations and I suspect she went with the flow rather than really getting the questions about what is clearer..

 

[Izzy]

To be honest mum still wasn't happy with the glasses!

 

[Shadow01]

Hi - Yes I am in the midst of an eyeglass saga with my mum. To cut a very long story short my mum rejects all advice from any optician (we have seen many over the past 2 years) she has spent hundreds of pounds on new lenses and frames and still they are all useless. Going to the opticians is an outing mum enjoys - I dread to think what tone the letter will take when the NHS catch up and realise that mums visits are "excessive"

It's the dementia that's really the problem - not mum. She would dearly love 20/20 vision and gets very angry that the optician can't wave that magic wand. The macular degeneration is a condition that mum can't understand and doesn't remember that she has (a few years ago she refused to believe it was uncurable and demanded "a better diagnosis" which really must have stumped her then doctor!).

On a practical note perhaps your mum is venting her dementia frustration on the specs? I bet that you get some stick too ehh?

Mum has 2 pairs of specs, one for the TV (distance) and the other for reading - I have pink tape on one and blue on the other, this colour matches the boxes they are kept in, both have BIG stickers on them saying "TV glasses" and "Reading glasses" - perhaps your mum is getting mixed up with multiple pairs of glasses??

If you do try another optician do explain to them that it is the TV that your mum has most issues with - I did this and went to (painful) lengths to explain that driving, cinema, looking for a bus stop wasn't relevant - JUST THE TV. My point being that I expected the optician to prescribe lenses based on this one distance not "general" long distance which others would require. She understood and did her best but ....we are still searching for that one optician with the magic wand

Dementia sucks.

Hi Hair twiddler and thanks for the response

Absolutely yes I am getting "stick" .. but I stay laid back and do not rise .... my friends and family say I have the patience of a saint.
Mum does not recognize that she has dementia.... she absolutely blames the opticians for the useless glasses
but her glasses are varifocal... hmmm wondering if that's a mistake ?????? ?????
is it better to have more than 1 active pair ?
My mum people watches out of the window, she watches the birds in her garden, reads the paper "every word from cover to cover" , does word searches and watches telly... I am wondering what new challenges may appear with having to swap glasses.

 

[Shadow01]

To be honest mum still wasn't happy with the glasses!

Oh dear

 

[Saffie]

My husband's glasses break becasue he is immobile in a special chair and his head is back against a cushion and he is in bed for 20 hours a day. He sleeps a great deal too so of course, the glasses get squashed!
I don't think a magic solution can be found for eye tests for people with dementia, to be honest. I would be delighted if someone comes along to contradict me! Until there is some form of computerised test negating the need for personal response that is. The whole thing is that the optician will go with what the person being tested replies and if those responses are incorrect, so will the prescription be. I personally find it hard to answer some of the "better this way or that" choices and ,as far as I am aware I don't have dementia.

As it seems as though your mother is managing the essential things with her old galsses, could you not obtain a new pair of glasses with the same prescription? If she then says that these are 'wrong' then you will know that it is becasue they are new rather than of no use. A spare pair is always useful anyway.

 

[Jess26]

Mum was in CH for 9mths during which time she had an eye test and new glasses from the visiting optician. Historically when mum was living at home she had worn glasses all the time and had separate 'readers'. Although in the later few months she would often not bother to put them on when she got up. After a couple of weeks she just stopped wearing her new glasses altogether saying 'they make no difference'

I blamed the dementia not the optician.

 

[Izzy]

I blamed the dementia not the optician.

I think that was the case with my mum.

 

[Saffie]

I blamed the dementia not the optician.

O definitely. the optician can only work with what he's told.

 

[Mufti]

eye test

My oh is very dependant on his glasses and I panicked when he finally managed to explain he was seeing double - his eyes have always been bad for many years. He went to the eye clinic at the local hospital and they were able to test his eyes well after I explained the situation with his memory and word finding. They fitted prisms on one lens and followed up a month later. They then have me a prescription and detailed letter for an optician with the advice "to go to an established optician" - not just the high street ones. I went to an old established firm in town and the man there was superb! Took over an hour testing the eyes and managed to get glasses with integrated prism instead of the stick on type! When we collected the glasses my oh walked outside and just said "wow!" Working really well - but more expensive but so worth it. Mufti

 

[Saffie]

Our designated Eye Hospital attached to our General hospital cannot test my husband for retinopathy as he is unable to reach forward far enough to place his chin on the stand of the machine. You would think that some sort of contraption would be available in these circumstances in a high-tec hospital but no. He can no longer be tested and, as a long-term diabetic, it is pretty important that he is.

I think the fact that your husband was able to say what his problem was must have helped a lot. My husband would not be able to do that, hence the problem for any optician.

 

[optocarol]

Hi Shadow01, I am a retired optometrist and these are my thoughts.

If your mother has had varifocals for years, I'd probably stay with them, but I wouldn't put her into them if not. (Might make an exception if she needed prism of a different amount for distance from that for near, as this is difficult with varifocals.)

If she would not have a problem with getting her chin on a chinrest, I'd find someone with an autorefractor. This means she does not have to answer questions as to which is better, 1 or 2. Theoretically, if I were using an autorefractor, I'd still check with the patient, but the fact is, if there is a significant difference between the autorefractor result and her previous glasses, she should still get a significant improvement in vision. What affects "significant" is the presence of any pathology.

If I can help further, please ask.

 

[Sue J]

Since I have had EO symptoms my vision seems altered from day to day. I felt that getting new glasses wasn't the answer as something else is causing a fluctuation in my vision - blood flow I think. I still have had a test but then been unable to follow up sorting out getting the glasses because of cognitive difficulties. With hindsight it would have been better if I was able to walk in to an optician on an optimal day (symptoms minimal) and reading this has made me realise this is what I should do.

I have got used to the pattern of my symptoms and on some days I can't thread a needle, even with glasses, on other days it is no problem. Putting on stronger glasses wouldn't necessarily help on a bad day. As with noticing dirty marks, on a bad day I can't see them and when things are clearer I wonder how I missed such an obvious mark.

I was advised that grapeseed extract it good for vision problems and I have started on this to see if it helps at all.