Eye Tests

[Fi]

This has probably already been covered somewhere, or I am being particularly dim, but I need to organise eye tests for the children and me.  I know the form in the UK (i.e. go to the optician) and in the Netherlands ( for children GP does basic test and refers to specialist if any problem, adults ditto UK) so how does it work in France?  Even with mutuelle cover the reimbursement for glasses seems feeble (both parents are short-sighted so chances are the children will be too) - or is that adults only?

Many thanks

Fi

[Clair]

See here for basic CPAM refund:

remboursement-des-moins-de-18-ans

remboursement-des-plus-de-18-ans

[Pommier]

Once you have the prescription it's cheapest to buy glasses on-line from somewhere like http://www.glasses2you.co.uk/ the last pair I bought cost £18 including postage.

[Fi]

Thanks for that info, but, where do I go to get the eye test/prescription?

Thanks

[dragonrouge]

Both here and in Normandie we obtained ours from the Local Clinic and where you find the specialist hang out! He gives the prescription.

Word of warning but simply on a personal basis here in France they tend to use a computer based programme for eye testing as against say the tried and tested approach in the UK.

We and others have had let us say some bad experiences and we both returned to the UK with our glasses and prescriptions to Specsavers and where we had been clients for years. They were aghast at what they had in front of them. We now have new glasses and can see!

[auxadrets]

I have had a rather different French experience from yours, Dragonrouge.

I started by going to an optician and, after testing my eyes with her computer-based equipment, she asked when I'd last seen an ophthalmologist. When I said 10 years ago she suggested I had better see one to get a prescription as my eyes should be checked properly, for health as well as vision. She gave me the address of a specialist, who, two weeks later, duly tested my eyes (computer-based test) and gave me a prescription. I went back to the optician who then had my glasses made. I can now see better than I ever have with glasses prescribed in the UK or Holland. So I have nothing negative to say about computer-based testing in France.

French opticians usually give at least one month's guarantee on new lenses and for top-of-the-range ones, six months.

I'd be interested to know what Specsavers' tried and tested methods are, as I have never been to one of their shops.

Angela

[dragonrouge]

We did it the other way around the Clinic first then the optician with the prescription. Generally I would agree that their standard of care here is good and I say that as someone who had a detached retina plus a hole in the retina and which they fixed in Normandie.

However our experience is different and I think there are others on another forum who would support the argument that the computer based examination can be somewhat doubtful.

As to Specsavers the do it the old fashioned way as well as checking the overall health of ones eyes.

I am sorry I dispute what you say as for six months guarantee on top of the range glasses. Would you call 900 euros top of therange? Then if so the optician in Percy did not want to know and blamed the specialist who blamed the optician. As a matter of interest do you know where the lenses in their base form come from? Yes you have guessed China so who is making the profit here?

[Limousin_girl]

How do you arrange an eye test and how do you know which ones speak good English? We live in the Limousin (87) region.

[Ron Avery]

They all speak reasonable English in Specsavers[:P]

French opthalmologists however which is where you have to go to get a prescription in the first place, (opticians in our part of the world only dispense glasses). 

These specialists usually have a waiting list of up to 3 months and tend to talk French unless you are lucky and find one who speaks English.  If language is a problem you are better off going to the UK and getting your eyes tested and your glasses there, its far easier and quicker, OK you lose any CPAM/or Mutuelle refunds but are likely to get your glasses far cheaper and a lot quicker.

[dragonrouge]

Ron is absolutely correct on this point. Combine it with a visit to the UK and put it on your shopping list.

[odile]

Make sure that if you are over 50 your eye test includes checking the pressure in your eyes. If you do have high pressure, and it is picked up early, it can be easily treated with drops - if high pressure continues over a period of time the result will be glaucoma and blindness- as happened to my mother. The local optician never tested her for this- just changing prescription and selling her new glasses, and by the time I realised, it was too late.