According to a recent Women In Optometry Pop-up Poll, only 39 percent of respondents said they routinely get a comprehensive annual eye exam every 12 to 15 months. Another 39 percent said they get elements of the exam at different times, while almost 20 percent said they do not routinely get a comprehensive eye exam. One respondent said they get a comprehensive eye exam more than once a year.
Respondents were split on where they go for their eye exams, with equal percentages (nearly 27 percent each) saying that they do their own exam, ask a colleague inside the office to perform the exam or go to a colleague in town. However, nearly one-in-five respondents said they’ve been putting off their eye exams.
That caused one respondent to say, “Eek – I feel guilty for not practicing what I preach.”
Others, however, noted that exam elements can be a teaching component. One said, “I have a tech do my photos (Optos) and pressure; I refract myself and can do anterior seg with our anterior camera. I let new techs do other tests on me for their training, like visual fields and OCTs.”
And another says she does what she can. “I like to do my own refraction and OCT interpretation, but as for DFE, of course, I let my colleague examine that.”
Eighty-seven percent of the respondents were women ODs.
