Following on from my post earlier in the week about glasses and my eyesight, I’m now sharing all about a recent experience that I had at Leightons Opticians and Hearing Care. When you wear glasses, you are meant to have eye tests more regularly than people that don’t. But even so, I have been pretty terrible at have regular checkups. But having had plenty of optician appointments in my time before, I was intrigued by some of the tests that they do there.
For starters, you have your normal checkup with the crazy glasses and reading letters from a board. But one other thing that you can have done at Leightons Opticians and Hearing Care is to have retinal photography as part of the standard eye exam too. Optical Coherence Tomography (or OCT) is kind of like an ultrasound for your eye. But it isn’t as odd as it sounds. You just sit with your eyes open and look at a flickering red light. It doesn’t hurt and wasn’t bothersome in any way at all. it can then check on the retina surface behind your eye.
I have had plenty of eye checks in the past, even with ophthalmologists at an eye hospital, but this was the first time my retina has even been scanned.
It is good to have this scan as it can detect any problems with your eyes pretty early on, even up to five years early. I have had issues with my eyes before and know how painful things with your eyes can be (not mention scary as it is to do with your sight). Luckily all was well with my eyes! I think this is brilliant and all opticians should be doing it. As a glasses and contact lenses wearer, I would definitely favour Leightons going forward when it comes to getting a checkup.
The kind of images that you get to see as a result (all explained to you):
The pressure in my eyes was checked as part of the eye exam, which is just a puff of air going into your eye. I’m pretty use to things being close to my eyes as I put in contact lenses. But if you’re not use to it, it doesn’t hurt, but can make you jump a little. But just to stress, no part of the eye exam was painful. All painless and completely professional.
I was so impressed by the team that I encountered at the Epsom branch. All were friendly, helpful, and professional. The store itself is modern and stylish. I mean, just look at the waiting area below. It was light airy, and even thing was explained, such a what was going to happen next. So if you haven’t had your eyes checked for a while, you can understand what is going to happen next. I couldn’t recommend it enough!
Have you ever used Leightons? When was your last eye exam? The ultimate eye examination experience at Leightons cost £69 and includes all that has been mentioned. I think this is pretty good value for what you get, and comparable to others that offer the same service.
*thanks to Leightons for my eye examination. All opinions are my own.
I’ve never been to Leighton’s before but as I wear glasses I find myself going back every year or so for a check up x