Optician doesnt seem interested in fitting me properly. How do i switch ?

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Jlee1905
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Optician doesnt seem interested in fitting me properly. How do i switch ?

Postby Jlee1905 » Sun 28 Mar 2021 7:22 pm

Hi

So first of my optician has me with a hybrid lens in my left eye which is the worse eye, which improves vision but doesnt perfect it. And he has me with soft toric lenses in my right eye, the right eye mostly corrects my vision but since my last hospital checkup which was quite a while ago my right eye has now aquired some ghosting which the toric lenses cant correct. Ive explained this to my optician but he will only give me the option between 2 strengths of toric lenses neither of which actually reduce the ghosting at all. Being someone who loves watching movies and cant stand seeing the imperfections its quite upsetting to have an optician that just seems to want to make a quick buck (as he also sees me at his private practice which he owns and sometimes it feels as though some of his methods of prescribing lenses are the most cost effective way for him to make money). So im wondering if anyone has any experience in switching hospital opticians as ive completely lost faith in mine, either he is really bad at his job or he is just super lazy and when it comes to my vision i would prefer it be someone whos passionate about eyesight that is taking care of my eyes. Also does anyone have any idea about how we get an appointment at the hospital for a proper progression check since my hospital cancelled all appointments at the start of last year and i havent heard anything from them since, they also have no phone number to get directly in touch with them.

Thanks for any replies .

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Anne Klepacz
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Re: Optician doesnt seem interested in fitting me properly. How do i switch ?

Postby Anne Klepacz » Wed 31 Mar 2021 4:18 pm

Hi,
I've copied your post to this forum, where more people are likely to see it. It's a difficult time, with so many 'routine' appointments having been cancelled and I guess hospitals vary a lot in how quickly they're able to catch up on the backlog when new referrals are also coming in all the time. And if you've been able to see your optometrist in his private practice, you may not be a high priority to be seen at the hospital. But there must be a way of contacting the clinic. If the hospital switchboard can't give you a number, then can they give you an e-mail address , or failing that, a contact for the PALS service? PALS might also be able to help with changing optometrists, though I wasn't sure if you're saying you want to change the person you see or change hospitals. If it's the latter, then I think that would need to be done through your GP.

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gsward
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Re: Optician doesnt seem interested in fitting me properly. How do i switch ?

Postby gsward » Wed 31 Mar 2021 4:27 pm

Hi, maybe give us a clue where you are located. The normal route if you wanted to change hospital is to go back to your GP and ask for a new referral most GPs given the circumstances will be happy to do this. If it is just the optometrist in the hospital where you are being seen a call to PALS for the hospital is the best way and explain the whole situation as Anne has suggested.

Some of us with KC are seen in ophthalmology departments in general hospitals but there are quite a number of specialist eye hospitals/units across the UK that can be worth travelling to.

Jlee1905
Newbie
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Posts: 3
Joined: Wed 06 May 2020 5:40 pm
Keratoconus: Yes, I have KC
Vision: Contact lenses

Re: Optician doesnt seem interested in fitting me properly. How do i switch ?

Postby Jlee1905 » Sat 10 Apr 2021 10:53 pm

Thanks for your responses and sorry for the delayed response, didnt get a notification. I dont see my optometrist as a private patient but rather he sees NHS patients in his clinic as he works at both my local hospitals as well. I managed to get in touch with the hospital and got an appointment to get fresh scans and see a doctor a couple days ago, apparently the new scans show there hasnt really been any change with my keratoconus which is both good and annoying since if there hasnt been any change then where has this ghosting come from. The doctor was really good about it and gave me some advice for handling the optician but i will have to see the same one unless i switch hospitals as he is the only one that serves both of my local hosptials. So I will see my optician and try to be a bit firmer with him about what i want and if that doesnt work out i may have to look at travelling to further away places.


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