RE: ARE YOU PAYING THROUGH THE NOSE FOR YOUR SPECS?
| Published: 14th October 2008 16:19 |
I am writing in response to the article from Joyce Aydiner entitled 'Are you paying through the nose for your specs?' Yet again, the opinion appears to be that spectacles are over-expensive and that spectacles should be a bargain that you purchase over the internet.
When you buy anything mail order you are taking a risk, whether it be clothing, furniture, etc or spectacles. Perhaps the clothes don't fit very well or the item does not appear to be the colour you thought it was, but with spectacles please think about what you are doing.
The eye is a marvellous organ that can define colour, shape, distance, speed and spatial awareness, and to obtain the optimum vision the human has invented spectacles for those of us who are visually challenged.
In a basic pair of single vision lenses (for near or distance vision) the geometric centre of the lenses has to be aligned with optical centres of the patient's eyes. If this simple but important procedure is not made correctly by a professional who has studied dispensing optics for three years then problems are going to arise, for instance blurred vision and in some cases diplopia - double vision.
If a patient has a particularly high myopic (from the Greek meaning short sight) prescription, not only do the optical centres have to be taken carefully but the optical height that the eye looks through the spectacle has to be measured too. When the patient is having an examination a pair of trial lenses are placed on the patient's face. The distance the back of the trial frame sits from the patient's eye is called a vertex distance and if the spectacles are not fitted at the same vertex distance as the trial frame then the prescription by geometric calculation becomes altered and the power of the lenses are not what the optometrist prescribed.
The calculations for bifocals, trifocals and varifocals are, if anything, more important and I won't bore you with details or the problems that arise if not carried out correctly.
But I would urge you to consider your sight as being a precious commodity and, in this time of economic challenge, not a commodity that can necessarily be corrected with budget spectacles.
This publication encourages the readers to champion local businesses. One of those happens to be a local optometrist: an independent; not a get rich quick gimmick, but an established practice of some 30 years standing.
And when those cheap spectacles need an adjustment or a replacement screw where will you turn to, Joyce? And will you be indignant when we charge you a fee for our professional time? No, you won't, because invariably we ask you to place a donation into a charity box.
I agree there is a place for the internet spectacle wearer: those who only require a reading magnification and nothing more.
What do you think?
You will need to sign in to post a comment to this article. if you do not have an AboutMyArea account, you can join now for free.
