LENS / OPTICIANS COSTS

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rosemary johnson
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Re: LENS / OPTICIANS COSTS

Postby rosemary johnson » Tue 16 Sep 2008 5:59 pm

Uh-uh, Andrew! No rule against saying which practitioner(s) one has being seeing - and there's enough people on here who've mention Our Ken by name, wherever they've seen him.
I seem to remember you mentioning the name of your consultant before now.
Only concern would be someone saying something libellous about someone indentifiable, whch I don't think has happened here. NOt from me, anyway.
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Andrew MacLean
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Re: LENS / OPTICIANS COSTS

Postby Andrew MacLean » Wed 17 Sep 2008 6:22 am

As you know, Rosemary, it is all a matter of the context in which we name our practitioners.

I live in a jurisdiction where there really is no such thing as defamation, but others on the forum do not. It is in the context of a complaint that a member has been dissatisfied with the attention of a particular consultant or firm or ... ... ... that we need to avoid giving identifiers such as name, descriptions etc. The forum has a global reach and the charity that owns and maintains the site does not have infinite resources.

I hope that this brings this discussion to an end.

Andrew
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GarethB
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Re: LENS / OPTICIANS COSTS

Postby GarethB » Wed 17 Sep 2008 11:38 am

Actually forum rules say we shouldn't be naming anyone, we just take a liberal view like many other forums ond allow the positives to stay.

There has been three occasions where I can recall posters stating their situation and the consultant concerned where as a group we have been threatend with legal action.

We have discussed this on many occassions at length during committee meetings and with other charities that run a support group web site (we are talking huge organisations that have full time staff) and it is the author of the post and the trustees of the group that represents tha charity who are deemed to own the web site so are accountable. From what we can determin, as the forum is hosted in England it is English and UK law that presides so that is the law we try and stay on the right side of.

It is probably more difficult for forums such as this that are hosted by an individual as they could be held liable for any action taken due to someone taking offence to what may have been posted.

The author may have evidence to back up their case but the group funds and my personal finances I am sure are insufficient to support such an action however well meaning.

We have even talked about editing any post that names a consultant or hospital just for consistency across the board.
Gareth

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Re: LENS / OPTICIANS COSTS

Postby rosemary johnson » Wed 17 Sep 2008 11:10 pm

SOrry, I can't help a bit of a wry smile here!
It would seem from this thread that for a practitioner not to ensure that his/her patient knew his/her name before referring said patient on to the optometrists next door is an accusation of malpractice that might bring about a libel action.
Much as I don't care for being "seen" by someone who mumbles their name too fast for me to catch and has a name badge I can't read, I fear I'd not get anywhere trying to protest of this as bad practice.
Nor would I think it is an optom's "fault" if the solution they recommend goes out of production a while later, though I can well imagine the patient in question being miffed at this turn of events.
ANyway, Pauline's getting a new referral now, and we all, I'm sure, hope it works out well for her.
It does strike me that interactions with "the professionals" are things that really depend on building up a long-term working relationship - KZC is a cndition that takes long-term management on our part, and the "pros" are the advisers whose expertise is there for support on an ongoing basis as we go about this long-term management. Any one-time appointment can only be a short part of this - ideally a first part of what turns out to be a long-term eneficial partnership - beneficial both ways, hopefully, too!
Rosemary

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pauline collins
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Re: LENS / OPTICIANS COSTS

Postby pauline collins » Mon 16 Feb 2009 6:26 pm

I now have a referral to Moorfileds for 2nd March!!! I have put a few feelers out to find some information on the chap I am due to see.......I know I cant name names on here.....I dont want to go all the way there and find that I am seeing someone who cant / wont /doesn't know how to help...........
I will let you know how i get on!!

BR
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Re: LENS / OPTICIANS COSTS MARCH 09 UPDATE

Postby pauline collins » Sun 15 Mar 2009 8:01 pm

WELL WELL WELL.......what can I say.........got to moorfields half an hour before my scheduled appointment and booked in to the red clinic ..... saw one of the consultants registrars and before he even looked in to my eyes told him about my previous so called 'professional' experiences.......he acknowledged my distrust of all people professional and gave me a thorough eye exam followed by some colour topography....wow!! last time i had this done it was a much more prehistorical machine.....any way back to the registrar......he told me that the scarring on my left eye warranted a graft but i told him that i wanted to exhaust every possible alternative before i considered surgery. the vision i get with the lenses is good - its just that i cant wear them for too long which impacts on ones daily life quite conisderably....
I travel abroad in my job but MUST drive in my lenses as I dont have the same good vision with my glasses as i do with my lenses and the glare from driving is awful.......so a typical trip consists of: drive to airport in lenses, park car, go to airport, by the time i fly my lenses are unbearable..travel on plane lenses unbearbale, land and wait for luggage with unbearable lenses, travel to hotel via train & taxi in lenses i now want to rip out and dont care if i lose them....get to hotel room and rip lenses out ! wow what a relief and yes i rub them- my eyes that is.......i could take my lenses out as soon as i get to the airport but two things stop me 1. my solutions are in my case which i have checked in as cant take them in hand luggage 2. as i have paid £200 for left lens do not want the lens to pop out and down the sink in the ladies loo (no plugs in sink) or anywhere else in airpport without fear of losing them......so dont dare to take them out until i am at hotel........
The following day i put them in for the meeting.....by the time i leave for the airport my eyes are unbearable.....travel to aiprort...find a disabled toilet......set out my solutions...take lenses out and clean them, store them for landing in the UK...when landed make way to baggage collection check how long my case will be....go to ladies......prepare my hands and pop lenses in ( i think when people see my little lens case and me leaning down covering all areas that the lens could possibly fall in - they think i am doing drugs!!) collect bag and make way to car to drive home.......and thats just a trip abroad never mind driving in the UK..... :D
Anyway back to Moorfields... :D the registrar wass going to arrange for me to see the optician......next time.......when lo and behold the conustant arrived - they talked in a foreign language then the consultant looked into my eyes...... :D and said mmmmmm.......you have had hydrops........i said what do you mean and he said you now have resolved hydrops......well i would never have heard of hydrops had it no been for this wonderful website. He explained it to me and asked how long i can wear my lenses i told him a few hours...he turned to the registrar and told him to get me in with the optician that day to save me a return journey ...how wonderful is that!! thus not having to fork out train fares for another appt in the not too distant future.........he asked did i mind waiting as they were all busy but i would be seen today? Not at all i told him...Rosemary did suggest taking change for the coffee machine...she was right it was a very long day......i actually saw the optician quite quickly........Now based on my previous experiences I was a little off with her to start with...i think it was because she looked old enough to have just walked out of school never mind university...........how wrong was I !!!! i have to say she was very patient, informative and suggested i try a differnet lens and she would get another optician to check that what she was suggesting |(she did say my current lenses were a very good fit so a gold star to my optican that i thought wasn't very good)...She told me to try this lens for a couple of months and give it a good test...if it wasn't succesful the next step would be a sclerical lens.....if that wasn't any good then it was surgery........so here i am sitting typing with this my new lens in at 19.50 - i have had it in since noon......i must admit for the last hour and a half i have been needing to take it out as it has a dry spot on it.....but have been working on a spreadshseet for work and you know how it is you want to but cant be ar*ed.........SO the result is i have a nice new lens that seems ok.....it does move about a bit as it is not resting on the cone as was my previous lens was but is more constrictive around the edges of the lens - i can feel it but it is more bearable than the previous
one......so until I have tried it for a few weeks i can currently score it 50/100....hopefully this score will increase over time ( i have only been trying it for a few days)

So the future looks relatively bright.......

Thanks to all who have posted replies on the forum and privately it really is appreciated. So until the next update.....byeeeeeeeeeeeee

Po
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Andrew MacLean
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Re: LENS / OPTICIANS COSTS

Postby Andrew MacLean » Sun 15 Mar 2009 8:23 pm

Sounds like an interesting day.

I pop out my lens before I leave the car. I have a little quantity of solution that stays in the car. I have my lens case with me and it slips into my pocket so that my lens is still with me when I get where I am going and have been reunited with my luggage and lens fluid.

I am so glad that you had a good experience of the hospital clinic. I hope that your new lenses work out well with you.

The Scleral was my favourite lens of all time. :D

When you are working at your screen make sure that you blink frequently, and take breaks from the screen.

Every good wish.

Andrew
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rosemary johnson
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Re: LENS / OPTICIANS COSTS

Postby rosemary johnson » Mon 16 Mar 2009 1:12 am

Pauline, hallo again.
That all sounds very positive! - I@m glad you've been getting some decent service.
Do I understand you aright - you weren't aware that you'd had a hydrops, but they think you have done and not known at the time?
If so - wow! But it's not impossible. My third one, it was so much smaller than the first two, I didn't immediately think it was a hydrops, just a period of some very bad eye days, poor lens tolerance, vision not seeming very good.... and next time I went tothe hospital, I said I was wondering if I'd had something like a baby hydrops, and explained what had been going on. Got told "Shouldn't think so, people don't normally get a hydrops again inthe same eye" - then he looked at my eye down the slit lamp and said "Errrm.... I think you're right!"
Did they give any idea when this might have been? - it might certainly explain porblems of poor lens tolerance, as even without the white-out and intense pain some people get from a severe acute hydrops, one can leave the eye a bit ore tender and sensitive for a few months.
Glad to hear you had such a positive experience, anyway - even if it did take long enough to get to know the coffee machine well! Your consultant certainly sounds both on the ball and helpful.
Rosemary

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pauline collins
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Re: LENS / OPTICIANS COSTS

Postby pauline collins » Mon 16 Mar 2009 10:03 pm

Hi Rosemary, yes when the consultant checked he pointed it out to his registrar...I asked him how I would not have known and what signs I would have had...he told me it was probably a mild one and my eye would have teared a bit...as it was, it had obviously healed leaving the scarring, he called this 'Resolved Hydrops'. Not sure when it would have happened and if I am honest never thought to ask, I was just so surprised to find all this info out. I do remember going through a phase of having a very runny eye and some pain in it, but bearable......high pain threshold!!!

I am doing not too bad with the new lens......I was a bit disappointed today as I had to take it out at 11.30am after only 4 and half hours wear...not sure if this is good or not compared to other peoples wearing time?? When I drove home this evening I had to take it out as soon as i got home and that was after only 45 mins wear..........however I will keep on trying.......

Thanks for you note
Po
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Re: LENS / OPTICIANS COSTS

Postby GarethB » Tue 17 Mar 2009 7:54 am

Pauline

Don't push the wera time if you feel you will have problems and I know I am probably teaching Granny to suck eggs!

Some people here have only managed to build wear time by 15 minutes per day. For me when I was having lens tolerance issues, before puting a lens in I really had to plan my day. Like you I could only get upto 4 hours and found even if I only used the lens when I needed it was a total of 4 hours, so 30 minutes here, 20 minutes there until I hit a total of 4 hours. Never found out why. At that time too I did have problems with lens stability so could not alternate between eyes either.

Work was very understanding and they went so far as making adjustments which would allow me occassions to work from home or when in the office to print documents for meetings and presentations in a format suitable for me.

All the best.
Gareth


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