It seems to be not not very well known that if you are over 70, and unable to get to a high-street opticians, on your own, you are entitled to a free home eye-test.
So both my wife and I both qualify on ground of age, and we each need each other to get in the car and go anywhere, so when a well-known high-street chain decided to offer the service, we opted for it.
The tests were done on Friday (one optometrist and a girl to sell the frames), and the decision was that my wife does not need new glasses, but I do.
This was no surprise to me as I was aware that there was a tiny touch of “out of focus”, and I really did want new sunglasses anyway (my present ones do not have prism lenses to correct for diplopia).
The test was not quite thorough, the prism prescription was chosen on the basis of my existing lenses and some questioning on whether I was getting any double vision with them. There was no test of the strength of my visual fields (no worries, I have always had very good peripheral vision), but did include the eyeball internal pressure test that is a warning sign for glaucoma.
Overall, I was quite happy with the way that the tests were done. I did have one little giggle to myself: The guy was packing his kit away, and I asked “That box in your hand, is that Pentax”. When he said “Yes, why”, I said “I used to have the first version of that, the OH1”. The guy and the girl look at each other, and he asked how come I had one. Dead casually, I said “Well, I did get my Doctorate working in vision science”. OOPS, it is pin drop time. Then he asked what area and we got into a technical discussion - but you could see two people wondering if they had said anything wrong.
Up until now, home eye-tests have been done by small independents (with large charges for glasses). so now there is a good alternative.
Geoff