| FAQ's |
| What is an Optometrist? An Optometrist used to be called an Ophthalmic Optician and has undertaken a university degree and then further professional exams and so is highly qualified to perform eye examinations and further diagnostic tests to ensure the health of your eyes and to prescribe spectacles to your individual prescription. How often do I need an eye examination? If you are aged between 16 and 70 every 2 years is the norm. Diabetic and glaucoma sufferers should be seen every year. Spectacle wearing children should be seen at least once a year. How much does an eye examination cost? A lot of people are exempt from paying for an eye examination. See our section on The Eye Examination… We at MKO charge £25 for a very thorough eye examination and this will include glaucoma screening. We can do additional tests such as retinal photography and macular pigment thickness measurements for a small extra fee. How do I know which Optometrist to choose? The majority of new patients to MKO are recommended by their friends or relatives. This is the best advice, go to someone who has been known to give a thorough eye exam and provide value for money eyewear. Otherwise support your local independent optometrist. Aren’t independents more expensive than the multiples? Generally they are LESS expensive, and most independents will have a value range. In these harsh economic times we at MKO have introduced a range of specs for just £39.95 complete, and most months there will be a special offer. Eg free 2nd pair or free sunspecs. At what age should I have my children’s eyes tested? Ideally your child should have an eye check before the age of 4 years. We can see them even younger. If there is a history of lazy eyes in the family get them checked out at about 2 years old. I’m 45 and my arms aren’t long enough to see to read the paper. Why? This is called presbyopia. There is a lens inside your eye that flexes and allows you to focus close to. As the years pass, even from your 20’s this lens becomes less flexible until it gets to the stage when you find it difficult to read small print in poor light and that’s when you need a bit of help in the way of reading specs. With these specs you will be able to read nice and clearly again but when you look up with them on the TV and distance vision will be blurred. Will wearing reading spectacles make my eyes worse? No. Your focussing ability from the age of 40 will deteriorate at the same rate whether you wear specs or not, and so as the years go by you will require stronger reading spectacles. What is myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism? Myopia is shortsighted, which means that you can see close to or short distances but your distance vision is blurred. It is easily corrected with spectacles or contact lenses. Your lenses will be minus powers. Hypermetropia is longsightedness, which means you have to focus to see in the distance, which you can usually do when you are younger; in other words your distance is OK but reading is more difficult. As the years go by longsighted people will need to wear their specs more often, for such as TV and driving as well as reading, computers and close work. Your lenses will be plus powers. Astigmatism is when the front of your eye, or the lens inside your eye is rugby ball shaped. This means you need a spectacle lens that has different powers in different meridians within the same lens. Your lens prescription will show a cyl and axis. What is a cataract? There is a clear lens (the crystalline lens) inside your eye that focuses light on to the retina, at the back of your eye. This lens becomes misty as you get older, normally in your 70’s. Quite often with early cataracts it is possible to improve your vision with new spectacles, but when it gets to the stage when specs will not help, then it is necessary to have a cataract operation. The waiting list is not long and the procedure usually only takes 15 to 20 minutes. What is glaucoma? Glaucoma is damage to the nerve at the back of the eye caused by high pressure of the fluid within the eye. It is easily treated with eye drops if the raised pressure is detected early. This is one reason why it is important to have regular eye examinations even if you are not experiencing any difficulties. We measure the pressure with an instrument called a tonometer. If left untreated it will cause blindness. It can follow in families. What is age related macular degeneration (AMD)? The macula is the part of the back of your eye that gives you your clear central vision and as you get older this part of the eye can ‘wear out’. You don’t go blind, but you are unable to see anything when you look directly at it. There are 2 types of AMD: wet and dry. The wet type is less common and is when your vision deteriorates quickly. You notice straight lines such as window frames looking wavy or distorted. Some types of wet AMD can be treated, so patients with wet AMD need to be referred to a hospital urgently. Vision of those people with dry AMD tends to deteriorate slowly and so gives them time to adjust, but there is no treatment. The macula is protected by a layer of yellow pigment and it is thought that if this pigment level is low you might be more at risk of getting macula degeneration, because it offers less protection against sunlight, UV and blue light. Eating a healthy diet in dark green veg and some fruit helps build up the macular pigment. Smokers, relatives of AMD sufferers, people who are obese and people who have circulation disorders are more prone to having low pigment levels. We at MKO have an instrument that can measure your pigment thickness and if it reads low we suggest that you eat a healthier diet or you can take a supplement called Macushield. Macushield is the only supplement that contains all three pigments that the macula needs. It can be bought from any MKO branch or from us online. What is colour blindness? The back of the eye contains three receptors, one for red, one for green and one for blue. Every colour you see is made up from these three colours. If one of these receptors is defective you will have trouble identifying that colour. For example yellow is made up equally of red and green, and if a person has a defective green receptor he will add more green with the red to make yellow. So what appears yellow to that person would look a greeny yellow to someone with normal colour vision. Colour blindness follows strongly in families and is not correctable. What conditions of the body can show up in your eyes? Raised blood pressure, diabetes, hardening of the arteries can be detected by looking at the blood vessels in the retina at the back of your eyes. Brain tumours can be detected by examining the optic nerve. High cholesterol can show up as a white ring around the coloured part of the eye. How much will my new specs cost? Martyn Kemp Opticians specs can vary enormously in price. In these harsh economic times we have introduced a range of specs for just £39.95 complete. We have a range completely free of charge with an NHS voucher. We have designer frames which can cost £180 and upwards (including lenses). And we have lots in between. MKO have been appointed SEIKO lens specialists and all our frames shortly will come with lenses from SEIKO as standard; and for no extra cost! Watch our website for future details. Do you have special offers? Most months we have a special offer, such as free prescription sunglasses as a 2nd pair, or coated lenses at a special price. What are varifocals, or multifocals? They are lenses where the power of the lens increases gradually as you look further down the lens. The top section is for your distance vision, the middle section for intermediate distances such as computer use, DIY etc and the bottom area for reading and other close work such as knitting. There are dozens of different designs of varifocals; the better ones give you a wider clear field of vision. The cost accordingly varies enormously from about £65 per pair. The ones worn by our chairman, Martyn Kemp, are SEIKO and he says they are the best he’s ever had, giving him the widest area of clear vision. What are high index lenses? These are lenses which are made of materials that enable high powered lenses to be made much thinner than conventional plastic. There are several indices offering different thicknesses and prices. SEIKO make a lens that is made of the thinnest material and also computes the curves on the lenses to make them thinner still. What is an anti-reflection coating? This is a coating applied to the surface of the lens to reduce reflections. There are usually several layers-multi anti-reflection coating (MAR). MAR lenses are particularly useful when driving at night as they reduce reflections from on coming headlights and from headlights in your rear view mirror, and MAR lenses are also useful when using a computer. The lenses need to be kept clean because any marks on them are more noticeable, but the newer coatings have an easy clean layer. All SEIKO lenses have a MAR as standard. What are Transition lenses? These are plastic lenses that darken in the sunshine and then clear when you come indoors. They do not react very much behind a windscreen because windscreens block out ultra violet light which is what activates the lens. So drivers are better having a prescription sunspecs for driving in bright sun. There is a lens available that does react behind a windscreen and is also polarised which means it cuts out reflected glare off wet roads or snow or water. This lens is called Drivewear. It has a medium tint in it’s unactivated state and so is a bit dark to wear as everyday glasses. They are perfect for skiers and fishermen as well as drivers. Both transitions and drivewear block out UV which makes them ideal for children, and people who have had cataract operations. What is the advantage of having a UV blocker on your lenses? Ultra violet radiation can cause damage to your eyes. 80% of a lifetimes UV enters the eyes before you reach the age of 20, and so protecting your children’s eyes when they are young will delay the onset of age related changes such as macular degeneration when they get older. A clear UV blocker can be added to your lenses, and for children MKO will put this coating on new specs free of charge. When people have a cataract operation, the lens inside their eye is replaced by a plastic implant. The original lens helps to filter out UV, ironically more so as the cataract gets worse! The implant doesn’t block out as much UV and that’s why people that have had cataract ops are advised to have a UV blocker. Am I likely to be suitable for contact lenses? These days contact lenses are available that can correct virtually all types of spectacle prescriptions. Disposable lenses are the most popular. You can have daily, fortnightly, and monthly disposables. The range of powers of these lenses is increasing all the time, and you can now even get dailies that can correct small amounts of astigmatism, and there are monthly varifocal disposables. Extended wear lenses are available that you can wear for a whole month without removing them. These are also available to correct astigmatism and presbyopia. If you are considering laser refractive surgery and are worried about the risks then these lenses might be for you. At least they are reversible. See our section on Contact Lenses… |