Your store visit explained

Patient Registration

When you arrive in-store, you’ll be greeted by a team member. They’ll check you in, confirm your Medicare details, and take you to the waiting area.

If you have an existing prescription and have brought your glasses along to your appointment, they’ll use a focimeter to measure your existing prescription. This provides useful information to assist your optometrist in making decisions about the prescription you need.

Diagnostic Testing

Before you see the optometrist, one of our trained clinical assistants will conduct some diagnostic tests. These tests are performed on all patients and provide the optometrist with vital information to help them assess the health of your eyes.

Optometrist Consultation

Once your diagnostic tests are completed, you’re ready to see the optometrist. Your optometrist will talk to you about your eye health history, your family history and any issues you may be experiencing. They will also review your diagnostic tests and discuss the results with you.

During the your consultation, your optometrist will further check the health of your eyes, look for signs of other medical conditions and check your vision.

To check your vision, the optometrist will perform a refraction test which involves using an eye chart and phoropter to determine whether your vision needs correcting.

To check the health of the front and back of your eyes, your optometrist will use a slit-lamp and lens. A slit-lamp is a powerful microscope which is used to examine the front surface of the eyes and allows the optometrist to check for abnormalities or scratches on your cornea, iris and lens. With the lens, the optometrist is then able to examine the structures of the eye and the back of the eye. This is important as it provides additional clinical information and confirmation of what is visible in the OCT scan, and allows the optometrist to look further into the peripheral areas of your eyes.

Depending on the results of your eye test, you may require additional assessments to help the optometrist accurately determine what’s going on with your eye health and make a recommendation for you.

One of these additional assessments is a visual field check which tests the sensitivity of your peripheral (side) vision. This helps to detect blind spots and other visual field defects, which can be the sign of a problem. Visual fields are usually recommended for patients at risk of having glaucoma, but can also be recommended for various other reasons. The test takes about 20 minutes and is a bit like a hearing test but instead of detecting sounds, it involves detecting flashes of light in your peripheral vision.

In the instance that your optometrist has trouble gaining a clear view of the structures of your eye during your eye test, or would like to take a closer look at the back of your eyes, they may recommend a dilated fundus examination. This involves some painless eye drops that enlarge your pupils to allow the optometrist to get a better view of the structures in the back of the eye with a lens to thoroughly assess the health of your eyes, and obtain clear images with an OCT. Eye dilation can make your vision blurry and your eyes sensitive to light for a few hours, which can affect your ability to drive or work, so your optometrist will normally recommend that you arrange for someone to drive you home if you require this test.

Making your glasses

After your eye test, you will be given a copy of your prescription and our friendly team will help you choose frames and lenses, or contact lenses, to suit your prescription and lifestyle needs.

The dispenser will take careful measurements to ensure your new glasses fit correctly. This is done using Digital Precision Eyecare technology, which assists the dispenser to obtain the important measurements needed to fit your lenses.

Using state-of-the-art software, your dispenser can show you how different lens options will enhance your glasses in line with your lifestyle needs using a ‘real time’ demonstration.

Once they have taken your measurements, the dispenser will send your chosen frames, your measurements and lens selections, to the lab where your glasses will be custom-made for you. They will also arrange an appointment for you collect your new glasses.

Making your lenses

Many prescription lenses are stocked at the in-store lab, but more specialist lenses are ordered in from our central manufacturing laboratory.

When they arrive, the lab technician checks that the power of the lenses is correct, and that there are no imperfections. They then carefully fit the lenses into the frames.

Contact lenses

Before your contact lens consultation begins, your optometrist will talk you through what type of lenses would most suit your lifestyle, and the best option for you, such as daily disposable, monthly disposable and continuous wear lenses

You won’t need another eye test, but the optometrist will want to check the front surface of your eyes to make sure there’s nothing to stop you wearing contact lenses safely and comfortably.

Then, the optometrist checks to see that the lenses fit well and tests vision, as well as one further check to make sure they’ll stay comfortable. Once the optometrist is happy that the lenses are right you will be handed over to an optical advisor, who will talk you through everything you need to know as a new contact lens wearer. The optometrist will also explain why aftercare is so important with contact lenses, so you will be asked to return to the store in a few weeks’ time to check you are still happy with your choice.

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