muladhara | (no subject)

So yesterday I learnt that if I want to have an eye test before the obligatory two years are up, if the change in my eyesight is not significant enough, or there's no change at all, I may have to pay for said test. Which is £27 a throw. For reference, I have an exemption certificate, which means I get stuff free, but apparently this "you might have to pay for it" thing is a new introduction because too many people are getting eye tests before they need them and the NHS (read: actually the govt.) want to cut down on people doing that.

Like.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

Your eyes are really fucking important.

Usually I can last between eye tests, and once I went for years and years and years without one, because I couldn't afford new glasses (I had to deal with my old ones, but I didn't realise how badly I'd needed the new ones until I got them, if you see what I mean). But recently, I've had a bit of fuckery go on with my eyes, which was down to taking a certain brand of antidepressants, and I don't know if I'm not still coming out the other side of that (probably not, my eyes are probably just changing now because life, the universe, and I'm getting older).

I'm not having massive problems, but it's enough that I wondered if I should have a test. But my next one is due in January, so I might as well wait till then. It's not like I can't see, things are just a bit out of focus (and it's not like those stupid times where people went "HEY LOOK AT THIS THING!" and I looked, and couldn't see it, and pretended like I could. The only time I admitted to it was when Annette went "HEY A WELSH STREET NAME SIGN HOW DO YOU SAY THAT!" and I had to get her to literally shove my nose against it because I didn't know where she was pointing).

So yeah. I will wait till January, and see how it goes.

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Yeah, I ran into the same problem last year, except I got told by one person that I might have to pay and another person that I wouldn't at all because I was exempt, but I went and had them tested anyway because otherwise I knew I wouldn't have the money to buy new glasses this summer (when I was meant to have my eyes tested). Luckily there was a change, I guess.

Honestly, I find the prices for glasses themselves are ridiculous... it's like... I'm so short-sighted that I literally cannot see without these, I kinda need these, why are they so goddamn expensive for things that only last about two years anyway?!

Hmm, that was lucky.

Yeah I know! I'm the same with my eyesight, so my lenses are really frikken expensive even without the frames, and then nice looking frames are a ton on top of that. I sort of understand because obviously whoever makes them needs paying, but mostly I don't because the prices are ridiculous. So many people have sight problems, you would think they would be cheaper *sighs*

Exactly, they're a necessity for a lot of people, so I don't understand why they're so expensive? Or at least why you can't get help for them if you have a certain prescription...

Ultimately getting help with stuff is down to what the government thinks we ought to pay for, which is shitty, because it's getting so we have to pay for more stuff, and pay more for that stuff (I'm so glad I have my exemption because prescriptions are ridiculous prices these days, too).

There is some help available for complex lenses, but even then, the maximum amount isn't much.

That is a problem :'| it's good if you can wait 'til January but the free certificate thing would have been excellent.

I think I've only had my eyes tested once when I was 12 but eye health is important.

I think I should be OK. Like I said above, it's been worse, but I've definitely noticed a change.

It is, it is. I mean, imagine how impared you are if you can't see. UGH.

...yeah it's been like 6+ years since I was last tested. Which is bad because I need glasses. (Well, I don't need need NEED glasses, but, I definitely don't see perfectly without them.) I haven't done it bc tests are expensive, I'm not going to add an eyecare plan to my health insurance (yay USA in being comepletely daft there), to pay even more per month for something I'll use once a year, and yeah, glasses are stupid expensive. Ugh. I need to get it done though. I've worsened enough that I can tell even with my glasses on.

*nods* I know what you mean.

I'm so glad I don't live in the US because the thought of needing insurance to cover anything medical is mind-boggling to me. But I can understand you not wanting to have to pay for something you're not going to use very often, that makes total sense.

Glasses are ridiculous prices, especially if you're chronically short-sighted (like I am - I assume it's the same for bad long-sight, but I don't know anyone who is, so can't ask them). I just don't understand why that is when, as I said in a comment above, so many people have sight problems.