Spectacles without prescription?

[Oldie]

Is it possible to simply go to an opticians and purchase new glasses without obtaining a doctors prescription?

[Clair]

You need a prescription for all specs except reading glasses, which can be purchased from most shops.

To obtain a prescription in France, you need to visit an ophthalmologiste. Most of them have a long appointment lead-time and you might have to wait up to 3 or 6 months.

Once you have your prescription, you can go to any opticien-lunetier and choose your specs. Your prescription is valid up to 3 years and the optician may provide different corrections if the changes in your sight are slight.

If the changes required are important, the optician will refer you back to an ophthalmologiste.

[quote]Article L4362-9

(Loi nº 2005-102 du 11 février 2005 art. 81 I Journal Officiel du 12 février 2005)

Les établissements

commerciaux dont l’objet principal est l’optique-lunetterie, leurs

succursales et les rayons d’optique-lunetterie des magasins ne peuvent

être dirigés ou gérés que par une personne remplissant les conditions

requises pour l’exercice de la profession d’opticien-lunetier.

Le colportage des verres correcteurs d’amétropie est interdit.

Aucun verre correcteur ne pourra être délivré à une personne âgée de moins de seize ans sans ordonnance médicale.

Article L4362-10

(inséré par Loi nº 2006-1640 du 21 décembre 2006 art. 54 II Journal Officiel du 22 décembre 2006)

Les opticiens-lunetiers

peuvent adapter, dans le cadre d’un renouvellement, les prescriptions

médicales initiales de verres correcteurs datant de moins de trois ans

dans des conditions fixées par décret, à l’exclusion de celles établies

pour les personnes âgées de moins de seize ans et sauf opposition du

médecin.

L’opticien-lunetier informe la personne appareillée que l’examen de la

réfraction pratiqué en vue de l’adaptation ne constitue pas un examen

médical.

http://droit-medical.net/spip.php?article82[/quote]

[cooperlola]

I don't know if this applies to you, Oldie, but they are happy with UK prescriptions too.

[Ron Avery]

"but they are happy with UK prescriptions too".

Not sure about that Coops, somewhere on here there were posts to the effect that the prescription standards are not the same in France and a lot of opticians,  may be in the less Brit populated areas,  would not supply because they cannot intepret the UK prescriptions.  In addition, AFAIR you will not get CPAM or mutuelle reimbursement on glasses off a UK prescription.

[Pierre ZFP]

'Grand Optical' (aka Vision Express in UK) were quite happy with my prescription from a well-known UK High street chemist.  In fact they commented on how clear and well presented the information was.  Can't comment on the reimbursment aspect as I was paying full-whack prices - still not bad price though.

[cooperlola]

All I know is that my o/h and I have done this four times now - in both local and chain opticians.  The reimbusement amount is negligible but you do have a point.

[Oldie]

Phew! Many thanks to all. What a wealth of information. Basically I was hoping to simply change my specs without too much of a wait (wanted to change from bifocals to varifocals and tinted. Not having chenged my specs for the last three or four years, I expect there would be some change to my eyes. In the UK I could simply go to Boots or wherever (I think).

[cooperlola]

Unlike the UK, I have never been able to persuade a French spectacle shop to just analyse the current lenses and provide new specs on that basis, as they would do in the UK. Therefore you have little option but to follow Clair's line and join a queue for an eye test here, or get one done if you're back in the UK at any time soon.

[tj]

[quote user="cooperlola"] Therefore you have little option but to follow Clair's line and join a queue for an eye test here, or get one done if you're back in the UK at any time soon.[/quote]

Hi

If you want an appointment quickly, tell the receptionist you have broken yours and cannot see without them, worked a treat for me, had an appointment in 2 days rather than 2 months!

needs must!

 

 

[Chancer]

My eyes are still recovering and settling in after 7 operations and countless laser coagulation seances, I will need glasses at the end (which hopefully will not be much longer) and my chirurgien/opthalmogist will give me my final ordonnance without the usual wait, but at the moment the damaged eye is recovering 1/10 (with correction) each week.

So sometime soon I will have my final (but not long term) ordonnance and I will have to go shopping for lunettes, my question is what percentage of the cost is rembursable and at what taux de remboursement?

I am likely to need progressive or bifocals for one eye presbyte with a little myopie correction and for the other that is at the moment profoundly myopie with an intraocular lens implant that cannot correct for close vision.

I am not concerned at the moment with the cost of the glasses, that I can find out relatively easily, more so with the percentage and taux de remboursement.

[Clair]

The refund is very low and it pays to have a good mutuelle cover to make up some of the difference.

http://www.ameli.fr/assures/soins-et-remboursements/combien-serez-vous-rembourse/

[Chancer]

Looks like I was getting taux and bas de remboursement muddled up.

I dont have a mutuelle and have been paying the 35% or so myself.

So it looks like dependant on the glasses I could get back 65% of between 2 and 24 Euros! Can you confirm that I have got that right?

Knowing how much paperwork is involved in the system it hardly seems worth their while for such paltry amounts.

For example I wait until I have say 10 feuilles de soins to process (at the moment I have at least one surgeons appointement and ordonnance per week) to save paperwork for my local social security office. They send them off together for me to the Assurance Maladie who invariably send me 10 seperate letters with statements of remboursement

[Clair]

[quote user="J.R."]So it looks like dependant on the glasses I could get back 65% of between 2 and 24 Euros! [/quote]

Sounds about right...[:'(]

[Rob Roy]

[quote user="Oldie"]Phew! Many thanks to all. What a wealth of information. Basically I was hoping to simply change my specs without too much of a wait (wanted to change from bifocals to varifocals and tinted. Not having chenged my specs for the last three or four years, I expect there would be some change to my eyes. In the UK I could simply go to Boots or wherever (I think).
[/quote]

If you have not changed your specs for about 4 years don't you think it would be sensible to get a new eye test done before buying new glasses? Especially as you also want to change the type of lens you are using. I don't quite understand your reluctance to get a prescription and have them properly made up for you.[8-)]

[ColinE]

Hi People dont know if this is of any use to you, my wife just had a set of lenses fitted to her own frames due to an eye operation, the local shop cocked it up, they had to retun the glasses to where ever, which took about 4-5 weeks, she still thinks they are not correct. and cost just the lenses £230.

I decided I was not going there, I thought I would try the internet, I have a perscription that is about 18 months old, I had transision lenes (change colour) varifocals these were £92, then decided to have new frames, I picked the ones I wanted from the pictures on their site.

Had the glasses back in 7 days, perfect. Try Specs4less.

 

Colin

[Oldie]

Rob Roy - my reluctance is paying everybody and his dog for the same service. Why cannot it be done by visiting one outlet?  It seems to me that it's simply another paying link in the chain. Perhaps your understanding is a little better now?

[Bugsy]

Hi Oldie,

If you time it right and get a really cheap flight from dear Mr O'leary, combined with a pre-booked appointment with Vision Express or Specsavers, it can actually be cheaper than buying your glasses here.

[8-|]

 

[Chancer]

[quote user="Oldie"]Rob Roy - my reluctance is paying everybody and his dog for the same service. Why cannot it be done by visiting one outlet?  It seems to me that it's simply another paying link in the chain. Perhaps your understanding is a little better now?
[/quote]

Because in France there is a difference between an opthalmogiste and an optician, they would have had different training and qualifications.

That said is it not the same in the UK? Do the opticians also do the eye testing? Have they taken a seperate qualification or do they have to employ seperate opthalmogistes?

I have always been very satisfied with the professionalism of the "eye testers" (as I am still not sure what to call them) in the UK and whilst I can understand someone wishing for the same service in France you have to accept that this is a different country with different ways and systems.

Personally with the cost of glasses and the potential damage that an out of date ordonnance could do to the eyes I think it is false economy to rely on an old one.

PS whilst driving in 62 I saw a small estate car signwritten with something like "opthalmogie à domicile" it was a visiting opthalmogiste, it looked to be part of a franchise and no doubt was linked to a spectacle manufacturer, perhaps if you do some research this may be available in your area and suit your needs.

[Colonel Mustard]

An optician can give you a simple eye test, but they can't spot glaucoma and diabetes and macular degeneration and all the other things that an opthalmologist would pick up. My optician checked my current glasses, gave me an eye test and told me which way my eyesight was going. But she did point out that the older you are the more sense it makes to have a proper jobby eye exam.

[danabu]

[quote user="Colonel Mustard"]An optician can give you a simple eye test, but they can't spot glaucoma and diabetes and macular degeneration and all the other things that an opthalmologist would pick up. My optician checked my current glasses, gave me an eye test and told me which way my eyesight was going. But she did point out that the older you are the more sense it makes to have a proper jobby eye exam.[/quote]

 

I hope you aren't referring to UK opticians (optometrists)! A UK optom is capable of picking up these problems and more.

[Oldie]

I do have an annual check up with a heart specialist and also with a Diabetic specialist.  On top of that I have a yearly check up with my specialist eye doctor in Agen (last one July 2007) who says I have no problems with my eyes other than a slight change.

[Ron Avery]

[quote user="Colonel Mustard"]An optician can give you a simple eye test, but they can't spot glaucoma and diabetes and macular degeneration and all the other things that an opthalmologist would pick up. My optician checked my current glasses, gave me an eye test and told me which way my eyesight was going. But she did point out that the older you are the more sense it makes to have a proper jobby eye exam.[/quote]

I'd change your optician Colonel.  As Danabu says all eye tests in the UK have included tests for glaucoma, diabetes etc for a long time now. I did what Gary suggested, I had mine done in the UK whilst on a visit, fixed an appointment beforehand, had all the tests for all the things above and picked up the glasses an hour later. The reimbursement from CPAM is quite low and outweighed by the more competive offers,  buy one get one free etc you can get in the UK because of the competition between optical chains for your custom, yet to arrive in France.

[Sunday Driver]

For the Colonel's comment to make sense, he must have been speaking about his French optician....[;-)]