Eye doctor didn't ask to compare lenses (IE: which is clearer, #1 or #2?), is this normal?

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also just want to go on record as saying that the pretty ones are not ALWAYS crazy....the one on this thread might be but they aren't ALL that way.

The one on this thread almost sounds like some militant optician from British Columbia, rather then an optometrist. YOU MUST BE REFRACTED, AND I WILL REFRACT YOU!!!
 
PBEA said:
there are a few states that spell out testing for "routine exams", but the majority do not. From what I can tell, those regs are throwbacks from a time when optometry was trying to prevent the kind of "quickie" evals that so often took place in corporate offices, the mall, etc. Now we just pretend it doesn't happen. I doubt the regs help anyway. What Eye love lamp is alluding to is correct, for a large segment of the population frequent refractions are unnecessary. IMO, "blurred vision" is often due to some other problem anyway. However as you point out often the pt expectation is there, and if there is a concern it makes sense to address it.
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2001 is a throwback?

Granted I'm no eye doctor (of the OD or MD variety), but my expectation, which I would think is representative of the general public, is a once/year refraction unless vision is 20/20 or better.
 
GroverPsychMD said:
I had him look at signs in the distance to see if he could read them.
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With teenagers who are nearsighted, the prescription tends to quickly rise. I don't know how old the glasses were, but six months could be enough for a noticeable change.

If we're talking about a person with high astigmatism, the glasses could be decent and he still might see worse than you in the distance.
 
VA Hopeful Dr said:
2001 is a throwback?

Granted I'm no eye doctor (of the OD or MD variety), but my expectation, which I would think is representative of the general public, is a once/year refraction unless vision is 20/20 or better.
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and that is false, or what I should say is that sometimes a once a year refraction is necessary, and sometimes a refraction is not necessary for many years.....or sometimes a refraction is necessary several times within a year. You have no way of knowing when it is necessary and when it is not, not really, and neither does the general public. You (or they) might guess correctly but that's about it.

I know when a refraction is necessary, I always know.
 
GroverPsychMD said:
Doesn't mean it's correct either
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you said

"My 16yo patient said the same thing. His prescription is not very good for distance with the exam his optometrist did."

All this tells us is that the teenager has some blurred vision, maybe it is the rx, maybe it isn't. You have no way of knowing either way, and reading some "signs" isn't really helpful. As an example, consider that many of the medications you prescribe in your field (assuming you are in psych) are notorious for screwing with vision and "blurred vision" is a very common complaint. Accomodative spasm, pupil size, refractive shift, cataract, etc all pretty common side effects of those meds. Again you would have no way of knowing why a person has blurred vision. I do though.
 
PBEA said:
and that is false, or what I should say is that sometimes a once a year refraction is necessary, and sometimes a refraction is not necessary for many years.....or sometimes a refraction is necessary several times within a year. You have no way of knowing when it is necessary and when it is not, not really, and neither does the general public. You (or they) might guess correctly but that's about it.

I know when a refraction is necessary, I always know.
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So you're honestly telling me that if a patient comes to you for their yearly eye exam and can't do better than 20/40 uncorrected, you're not going to attempt to refract them?
 
VA Hopeful Dr said:
So you're honestly telling me that if a patient comes to you for their yearly eye exam and can't do better than 20/40 uncorrected, you're not going to attempt to refract them?
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that depends. for example if their bcva has been 20/40 on their last visits, and I have refracted them previously, then its likely that I will not refract them.
 
PBEA said:
that depends. for example if their bcva has been 20/40 on their last visits, and I have refracted them previously, then its likely that I will not refract them.
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And that's not unreasonable (although I think a quick 60 second refraction wouldn't be a bad idea: "Yep, we still can't get your vision any better than it already is"), but that doesn't sound like the OPs case which is what this is about.
 
PBEA said:
you said

"My 16yo patient said the same thing. His prescription is not very good for distance with the exam his optometrist did."

All this tells us is that the teenager has some blurred vision, maybe it is the rx, maybe it isn't. You have no way of knowing either way, and reading some "signs" isn't really helpful. As an example, consider that many of the medications you prescribe in your field (assuming you are in psych) are notorious for screwing with vision and "blurred vision" is a very common complaint. Accomodative spasm, pupil size, refractive shift, cataract, etc all pretty common side effects of those meds. Again you would have no way of knowing why a person has blurred vision. I do though.
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I know which meds I prescribed could cause that. And he is not on them. You are making assumptions.
 
VA Hopeful Dr said:
And that's not unreasonable (although I think a quick 60 second refraction wouldn't be a bad idea: "Yep, we still can't get your vision any better than it already is"), but that doesn't sound like the OPs case which is what this is about.
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again it was just an example, and in my example re-refracting someone that I already know cannot be made to see better via refraction is not what I'd call a good idea, it's just typically unnecessary, not helpful, etc. It will waste time, drive up the bill and lead no where. As for the op's case it is impossible to say with any confidence whether something else should have been done.
 
GroverPsychMD said:
I know which meds I prescribed could cause that. And he is not on them. You are making assumptions.
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sir, you are wrong. just because the patient can't see doesn't mean it is the refraction. refractive error is one of 4023948023984 other possible causes of blurry vision, of which only 1 or 2 are known and able to be diagnosed by those who do not routinely provide eye care.
 
SCCpharm said:
I took my 10 year old son to Lenscrafters today. The eye doctor didn't ask my son at all to compare lenses, like asking is #1 better than #2, #3 or #4?

She came in and asked a very brief history. Put lenses in front of him and asked him to read the letters on the board (They weren't the very fine print, maybe medium print). He read them perfectly. And then she was done. Gave him his prescription.

I asked "don't we need to do the lens comparison thing?" and she said "No, already done."

Is this normal? I'm hesitant to ask them to re-do my son's test. I just don't want him to be wearing glasses that are the incorrect prescription for the next year. He doesn't have any verbal communication issues, so I don't understand why we didn't do the lens comparisons.

I was trying to do my own research and it said he must have got an "Auto-refraction?" done versus a "subjective-refraction". Are these the correct terms?
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Two things: One, this is not a forum for seeking medical consultation.

Two, refraction (i.e., the method by which one determines what eyeglasses a person needs) neither necessarily involves asking for subjective responses (e.g., "Which is better: 'One,' or, 'Two'?"), nor is even imperative to performing a comprehensive eye examination.
 
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