Beware prescription of unneeded glasses

Photo: Toomas Huik

As revealed by journalistic experiment performed by Postimees, a person with decent vision may be prescribed glasses in the name of a sales transaction – as happened in one of the five large eyeglasses stores of Tallinn, secret-tested by the newspaper.

The idea for this article actually came from our Swedish colleagues: during an investigative journalism training, they advised that we repeat an experiment done in their homeland – visiting a professional eye doctor obtaining a certificate of excellent eye sight; thereafter to enter several local spectacle shops and let the resident optometrists reassess the vision.

The Swedes said it would be quite granted that, in the interests of their business, in most stores some weaker glasses would be prescribed. We decided to find out if there was reason for such Swedish pessimism. When it comes to quality of eye doctors, East-Tallinn Central Hospital’s eye clinic is said to be Estonia’s best, maybe even the Nordic Countries’ top. So that’s where we headed.

Though for decades my eyesight has been good and I’ve had no complaints whatsoever, still the 20 years of computer work made me cautious. After examining my sight for about half an hour, Dr Maarja Villemson explicitly said: I need no glasses. My right eye sees a little worse than the left one, but the left being that much better is totally compensating for it.

«With no complaints, no need to prescribe glasses, but due to age one may guess that in about five-six years these still might be needed,» thought the eye doctor. Might. In five-six years. A perfect diagnosis for the journalistic experiment.

I never expected the spectacle shops to try and totally fool people i.e. prescribing glasses for no reason at all. This diagnosis allowed me to see whether the stores would go for the business of advising some weaker glasses or be totally honest with the customer.

As the checking of eyes tires them, we booked times at various spectacle stores at sufficient intervals and the experiment was on.

1 pm on December 17^th, at Norman Optika: optometrist took a quarter an hour with me. One eye compensates the other, he said, so broadly speaking there were no problems; still, sooner or later I would need glasses to read. He was especially pessimistic with his time-line: in a year, latest (with emphasis on that word – RB). Therefore, with full confidence, the optometrist prescribed glasses to me. What a poor start, I thought, as I paid the €12 for him checking my sight.

11 am, December 18^th, at Tallinna Optika: in this store, the assessment was performed by licensed eye doctor Mari-Mall Luts. Whether it was due to higher qualification or not, the check took some five six minutes and was not nearly as wearisome on the eyes than what happened yesterday. The judgement was definite and fast: I need no glasses.

«You see well,» said the experienced Dr Luts. «You may use glasses to read, but my advice is to take eye drops, for the next three weeks, to soothe your eyes. That will ease the irritation.» The bill was €25.

5 pm, December 18^th, at Pro Optika: optometrist checked me for a dozen minutes. Thoroughly. To the degree that there came a moment of fear – I’m not seeing the lowest row of numbers on the wall. Half of the numbers (i.e. two out of four) I was right about, with the others I started to hesitate. This was the first time I really took to doubting my sight. My eyes were tired and I had not fully recovered from the check this morning. I feared I’d get a negative result.

And then, to my great surprise, the optometrist announced: «You see very well, you definitely need no glasses.» on the health certificate, the summary read: sharpness of eyes sufficient, needs no glasses. I paid the €15 and left.

10:30 am, December 19^th, at Eagle Vision: no other clients at the company’s main facilities while I was there. The young and friendly optometrist dealt with me about a dozen minutes, asking to look at letters of various sizes. While in doubt about the middle letter in lowest row, if confessed I couldn’t tell if it was B or S; the optometrist admitted she would not be sure either – from that distance. «Your vision is super, you definitely need no glasses,» she said with finality. I paid the bill, with discount: €12.75.

15:20 pm, December 21^st, at Instrumentarium: a remarkably optimistic optometrist only took seven-eight minutes with me. For a swift assessment, that was enough. «You definitely need no glasses, as your vision is very good. Yes, the left eye is a bit weaker, but that plays no role at all when it comes to needing glasses,» she announced.

According to her, even seeing the upper row of the table of the wall is considered normal vision; I, however, was successful with the very lowest. «Yes, basically everybody could be prescribed 0.5 reading glasses; however, I would recommend that as eyes start to tire, use drops. And overdose is ruled out, as excess liquid just runs out the eye,» explained the optometrist. I paid the €9 bill and left, satisfied. 

And that marked the end of the experiment. Final results: one in five; objectivity did trump business interests, this time. An optimist would call this a pretty good result. A pessimist would ask: how come that, at one place, they did prescribe glasses for no reason? Let the reader judge.