Sunglasses on and masked up for the bus and then appointment, had a walk, got on the bus into town in the first time like forever. The buses have have stopped coming up my side of the village at the moment due to our Covid situation.
So off I went to the appointment at Boots at their opticians.
A limited amount of customers were allowed in. You can’t just turn up. You have to have an appointment which you give your name to the staff member once inside.
Straight upstairs, you talk to another member of staff who was cleaning down the 2 machines that you have before your eye test. Distance and back of eye photography.
I saw the image of my eyes on the screen. I asked the optician if she could see my Macular dystrophy and she pointed out the middle of the screen which had a charcoal like smudge/fog on both eyes. Left eye just in the middle. Right eye, big patch in the middle and extended to and around the peripheral edges. Top to bottom.
She says my right eye is far worse than my left. Understandable. As this is where the blank spot seems to be and the black blob at nightime.
I’ve haven’t seen a photograph of my eyes since my first consultation at the eye hospital in 2015. They last time I went, the computer was down and he had to go to another room to view the images. I didn’t understand enough even a few years ago to be bothered to ask to see them. I wouldn’t have probably wanted to know or see it. I’m now excited to see the results of my Autofluorescence test when I go to hospital again. As it is a more advanced specialist machine than the opticians.
I’m so impressed that the opticians now have retinal photography. So, many eye conditions and other health problems can and will be picked up sooner.
Anyway, There is hand sanitiser you can use freely. Then you go wait and see the optician who is aproned up, and masked.
My prescription has changed as I thought it had, so stronger lenses for me. They have said they will be thick, but at this point I’m past caring.
My last change of reading glasses was a year ago. So she’s said that they will put me down for eye tests yearly. If I need them sooner, just to ring.
Eye test done. Back downstairs then, to chat about what your needs are and a look at glasses with a masked staff member, you keep your mask on too.
I showed her my screenshots of the glasses I liked. She brought them to me.
I had already picked out some glasses online so I didn’t have to spend any longer in there than I had to. Not necessarily for me, but for the staff. As they have to come into contact with so many people each day. They also have to clean each pair you touch, everytime.
Tried them on, got reflective lense coating too to try and give my peepers and me a fighting chance.
Now just waiting on the lenses being made to be popped in the frames then I was given the option to pick them up by appointment if I always needed them adjusting or posted to me. I chose them to be posted as they don’t usually need to be adjusted.
My eyes now are in pain because of the bright prism light the optician used to look right to the back of my eye.
Painkillers help so it doesn’t turn into an ocular migraine and a literal pain in the neck.
Cannot praise the Boots staff enough.
I’m going to keep getting glasses as long as they give me even the slightest help. They don’t solve wavy lines and blank patches. But they do help me with giving me the chance at reading anything at all.
One Vision Blog 