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Eye examinations · glasses · contact lenses
A sight test is a health check that happens to give you a prescription.
Twenty-five minutes, most of which is not the letters chart. We photograph the back of your eye, measure the pressure inside it and compare both against last time — because that is where several things show up before anyone notices a symptom.
What happens in the twenty-five minutes
We ask about you first — Screens, driving, headaches, medication, and what anyone in your family has been treated for
The letters chart — The part everyone knows. It gives us the prescription, and it is roughly a third of the appointment
Photographs of the retina — Kept and compared with last time. A change over two years is far more useful than any single image
The pressure test — The one with the puff of air. Quick, harmless, and worth doing every time
Your field of vision — Checked where it is relevant. Some changes happen at the edges long before the middle
Then we talk — We tell you what we saw and give you a copy. Where something needs a doctor's opinion we refer you, and the decision from there is theirs
The letters chart — The part everyone knows. It gives us the prescription, and it is roughly a third of the appointment
Photographs of the retina — Kept and compared with last time. A change over two years is far more useful than any single image
The pressure test — The one with the puff of air. Quick, harmless, and worth doing every time
Your field of vision — Checked where it is relevant. Some changes happen at the edges long before the middle
Then we talk — We tell you what we saw and give you a copy. Where something needs a doctor's opinion we refer you, and the decision from there is theirs
Nothing in the appointment is a diagnosis of anything beyond your eyesight. What an examination can do is spot a sign early and put it in front of the right clinician — that is the whole reason for the two-year rhythm.
How often, and when not to wait
Most adults — Every two years is the usual interval unless someone here says otherwise
Every year instead — Over sixty, diabetic, on certain long-term medication, or with glaucoma in the family
Children — Before school and then as advised. A child who has never seen clearly does not know to mention it
Contact lens wearers — A separate check on the lenses themselves, alongside the sight test
Do not wait for an appointment — Sudden flashes, a shower of new floaters, a curtain across your vision, or losing sight in one eye
Where to go instead — Straight to an emergency eye service or your doctor, the same day. Ring us and we will tell you where the nearest one is
Every year instead — Over sixty, diabetic, on certain long-term medication, or with glaucoma in the family
Children — Before school and then as advised. A child who has never seen clearly does not know to mention it
Contact lens wearers — A separate check on the lenses themselves, alongside the sight test
Do not wait for an appointment — Sudden flashes, a shower of new floaters, a curtain across your vision, or losing sight in one eye
Where to go instead — Straight to an emergency eye service or your doctor, the same day. Ring us and we will tell you where the nearest one is
That last pair matters more than anything else on this page. Some things are urgent, we are not an emergency department, and saying so plainly is the useful thing to do.
Appointments
Eye examination
$45 · 25 minutes
- Full examination with retinal photographs
- Written prescription to keep
- No charge if we ask you back to recheck something
- Free under any scheme you qualify for
Contact lens fitting
$65 · first fit
- Measurement, trial pair and teaching
- As long as it takes to get them in and out
- Follow-up two weeks later included
- Aftercare check $30 a year
Children
$0 · always free here
- Under 16, whatever scheme you are on
- A longer, slower appointment
- No pressure to buy frames on the day
- Repairs and adjustments free forever
Replace these figures and any scheme names with the ones that apply where you practise. What should stay is the shape: the price of the appointment stated before anyone walks in.
What makes a pair of glasses cost what it costs
The frame — From $39 to whatever you like. It is the one part of this list that is purely a choice
Single vision lenses — Included in the frame price at the lower end. Everything below is an addition, and each one is optional
Varifocals — A genuine step up in price and in fitting time. Worth it for most people over about forty-five, and we will say when it is not
Thinner lenses — Only worth paying for above a moderate prescription. Below that you are buying a thinner edge you would never notice
Anti-reflective coating — The addition we do recommend. It is the difference between seeing and being seen at night
Blue-light filters — The evidence for the screen-fatigue and sleep claims is weak. We will fit one if you want it, and we will not tell you it does something it does not
Your prescription — Printed and yours. Take it anywhere, including online — that is your right and we are not going to be strange about it
Single vision lenses — Included in the frame price at the lower end. Everything below is an addition, and each one is optional
Varifocals — A genuine step up in price and in fitting time. Worth it for most people over about forty-five, and we will say when it is not
Thinner lenses — Only worth paying for above a moderate prescription. Below that you are buying a thinner edge you would never notice
Anti-reflective coating — The addition we do recommend. It is the difference between seeing and being seen at night
Blue-light filters — The evidence for the screen-fatigue and sleep claims is weak. We will fit one if you want it, and we will not tell you it does something it does not
Your prescription — Printed and yours. Take it anywhere, including online — that is your right and we are not going to be strange about it
Every line here is either a choice or a recommendation, and we will tell you which as we go. Nobody at this desk is on commission.
What else we do
Repairs and adjustments
Free, forever, on anything we dispensed — and usually free on anything we did not.
Children's eye care
Longer appointments, patient staff, and frames chosen without an audience of adults.
Contact lens teaching
Nobody leaves until they can get them in and out themselves. That session takes as long as it takes.
Driving vision
Number-plate distance, glare and night vision checked and explained against the legal standard where you live.
Home visits
For patients who cannot get to a practice. Ask — the criteria are set by your health scheme, not by us.
Records that follow you
Photographs and prescriptions kept, and sent on request if you move to another practice.
Book an appointment
If something changed suddenly — flashes, new floaters, a loss of vision — please ring instead of filling this in, or go straight to an emergency eye service.
The practice
The practice
21 Lantern Street, Northgate
- Monday
- 09:00 – 17:30
- Tuesday
- 09:00 – 17:30
- Wednesday
- 09:00 – 17:30
- Thursday
- 09:00 – 19:00
- Friday
- 09:00 – 17:00
- Saturday
- 09:00 – 13:00
- Sunday
- Closed
Registered optometrists — put your own registration body and numbers here, and point patients at that register so they can check you themselves. Thursday is late night for anyone who cannot get here in working hours.
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