GET YOUR EYES CHECKED

kestral said:
Are the Hong Kong ones for distance or reading? are different strength lenses available left and right eye ?
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The outfit I buy from is called selectspecs . They make glasses from your prescription which you feed into their website during the ordering process.

There are some downsides:

You are on your own, typing in a load of prescription details you don't understand. You could easily mis-order.

Delivery is very slow, allow a month or so! Two weeks build, two weeks for the glasses to arrive in the post.

I have had one pair break. The nice customer services lady on the web chat thing asked me to send a photo of the crack and immediately offered to send me a replacement pair. I am waiting for those to arrive, ( that was a fortnight ago).

In short if doing this, buy one cheap set first to check it works for you and pay via PayPal for security.
 
Hi everyone.

I thought that it was about time that I dug this thread back up and post an update.

Its been around 18 months since I first posted up and since then a lot has happened. The first thing I want to stamp home again is

GET YOUR EYES CHECKED...

After a lot of trial, error and tests they came up with a diagnosis.
All being well they now have it stable but it may mean that I on my current treatment for the rest of my life ( still a lot better than going blind).
My eye sight has suffered but is still better than even the doctors recon it should be.
Some of the treatment has really left its mark and I am still going through withdrawal from it.

The main reason I wanted to update this post was to stamp home again the following message.

GET YOUR EYES CHECKED...
 
and that would be the reason why we should take good care of our eyes especially that it is needed in photography :)
 
I've just had my 2 yearly check up and my eye sight hasn't deteriorated in that time, so still where the same strength specs for reading.
However the puff test they do came back with high readings (which tests for glaucoma) and I'm now being refered to a eye clinic.
My sight is no different and I feel no different but this is something that needs sorting sooner rather than later.
I would sooner lose a limb than my sight.
 
The puff test tests for Optical Hypertension rather than Glaucoma. OH can be a symptom of Glaucoma but if caught early can be treated with drops (which need to be used every evening for the rest of your life. Not a big problem - having a memory like a sieve, I leave the bottle on my pillow every morning (or Mrs Nod puts it there if I forget...) so it's a reminder if I ignore the daily calendar reminder my phone gives me!

On top of the annual eye tests at Specsavers (no hard sell), I also get mine checked at a Diabetic clinic, although the Diabetes seems to have been "cured" by the tumour removal. The OH was picked up by Specsavers though - their puff test showed the IOP was elevated and a proper eye hospital check confirmed it. Luckily, my OH isn't Glaucoma and was picked up very quickly so is completely treatable at the moment; apparently, early treatment slows or may even stop it developing into Glaucoma. Here's hoping!

Just to reiterate the OP's point, GET YOUR EYES TESTED! There are other conditions that can show up in our eyes - high Cholesterol for instance. Then there's the matter of being able to see clearly enough to drive. It's quite scary just how bad your vision can be while being good enough to satisfy the legal requirement.
 
Had mine checked a couple of weeks ago. I'm pretty good about it as my mum had macular degeneration and my dad had glaucoma and other other eye problems so feel I need to keep in touch with what's going on. Having lost my old reading glasses I was using a pair I bought from Sainsburys!! Which I though we're ok. But my prescription is so unbalanced that they were causing more strain than benefit. Poundland specs???!!! .... No!!!

In other words, eye tests are cheap, painless and easily obtainable. Get it done for your own good. I go to our local Boots opticians where they sell a range of prescription specs for £25 so not too expensive. Tbh, can't tell the difference between those has the more expensive ones ....

No excuses folks ... Make that call tomorrow.
 
bl0at3r said:
Know the feeling - got diagnosed with Keratoconus in my left eye a year ago - it is pretty much useless now.

Best of luck (y)
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It doesn't have to be! I was diagnosed with keracotonus a year or so ago. My eyes had been slowly deteriorating for a couple of years, to the point where I wasn't far off not having good enough eyesight to drive. (I'm 25 right now). I've been going to Specsavers for years, who hadn't picked it up. I knew there was something a miss with my sight, so visited a local independent, who was fantastic. (When was the last time you had a 1hr consultation at Specsavers..?) I was referred to the hospital and then on to a local optician for further care. Move a year on, i'm currently on RGP lenses and have near 20/20 eyesight with lenses. None of this would have happened had I not gone independent (make of that what you will), I went for a corneal topography (which lets you see the shape and depth of your cornea) and get it done on a yearly basis. It's all free on the NHS, so don't worry about money. Honestly, don't let it go! There totally is light at the end of the tunnel - please see someone who knows what they're talking about!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to PM me.
 
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ohms12 said:
It doesn't have to be! I was diagnosed with keracotonus a year or so ago. My eyes had been slowly deteriorating for a couple of years, to the point where I wasn't far off not having good enough eyesight to drive. (I'm 25 right now). I've been going to Specsavers for years, who hadn't picked it up. I knew there was something a miss with my sight, so visited a local independent, who was fantastic. (When was the last time you had a 1hr consultation at Specsavers..?) I was referred to the hospital and then on to a local optician for further care. Move a year on, i'm currently on RGP lenses and have near 20/20 eyesight with lenses. None of this would have happened had I not gone independent (make of that what you will), I went for a corneal topography (which lets you see the shape and depth of your cornea) and get it done on a yearly basis. It's all free on the NHS, so don't worry about money. Honestly, don't let it go! There totally is light at the end of the tunnel - please see someone who knows what they're talking about!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to PM me.
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Wow - forgot about this (my post was July 2012!!)

Thanks for the advice, since posting I went to the hospital and an independent optician and I am wearing a kerasoft hybrid lens in my KerryKatona eye and you are right it pretty much corrects it to 20/20.

I had to pay 50 quid for the lens on the NHS, but the eye tests and aftercare are all free.
 
im currently experiencing bluring and other things, went to specsavers, apparently everything fine and wearing glasses will make my sight worse.
But ive got a referral to hospital now through GP, but takes 12+ weeks, and only getting worse as months go by.
When u mention the independents, what can i look out for/how can i find?
Told by someone at hospital to find a Ophthalmologist.
GP though Specsavers was this, apparently it isnt enough though.
 
I spent christmas eve in Northampton General eye casualty after waking up in the early morning with some pain in my eye. I went in to the optician first thing, and they sent me over. My girlfriend's dog had caught my eye when playing, and done some very minor damage and given me an eye infection.

I'm now on short intervals between my eye tests, and I really don't mind. Waking up with that pain was really quite scary.
 
I just recently had my eye check up, and my doctor told me to relax my eyes by merely looking into greenly things, also taking a nap when you really feel tired.
 
bl0at3r said:
Wow - forgot about this (my post was July 2012!!)

Thanks for the advice, since posting I went to the hospital and an independent optician and I am wearing a kerasoft hybrid lens in my KerryKatona eye and you are right it pretty much corrects it to 20/20.

I had to pay 50 quid for the lens on the NHS, but the eye tests and aftercare are all free.
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Brilliant. I tried the sole RGP lens first, but the pain was unbearable. I'm now piggybacking (soft lens with the hard lens on top), it works well - but I get a lot of dirt in between and such. Need to put drops in my eyes fairly regularly. My optician doesn't do kerasoft - are they hard or soft lenses?
 
Its good to hear that people do in fact get their eyes checked.
what was so surprising to me in the first instance is that I was 100% unaware that there was anything wrong.

I must admit there is a very good guy at my local spec savers, it was that guy that spotted something wrong in the first place.
There was moments during my diagnosis period that I thought I had just walked into an episode of house (3 or 4 specialist all talking to each other and taking turns to look into my eyes).
They have now decided that its sarcoidosis but it was hard to diagnose as its rare in the eyes and the fact that so far (touch wood) it has not gone to lungs etc... (this made it harder to pinpoint).

It does make you wonder however when you start being asked questions like "Have you ever been bit by a crane" or "have you been around racoons or bats".
Some of the strange questions I was asked are unreal.
 
I believe that's something that we should all do as professional photographers. TO HAVE AN EYE CHECK UP IS A MUST! :)
 
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