How an Eye Test Could Save You More Than Money By Mitesh Gandhi

Mitesh Gandhi, Clinical Director 
Clamp Optometrist Ltd

Why does a sight test cost £120?

We get this question. And it's a fair one — until you understand what's actually happening during that hour.

At our practice, an eye examination isn't a quick prescription check. It's a clinical health assessment that can take up to 60 minutes. Here's what that time covers:

Screening for conditions like glaucoma, diabetes, and hypertension — diseases that often show their earliest signs in the eye before symptoms appear anywhere else.

Assessing the optic nerve, which is a direct extension of your central nervous system. Changes there can signal far more than a vision problem.

Using Heidelberg OCT technology to capture detailed cross-sectional images of the retina — the same equipment used in hospital ophthalmology departments.

Precision refraction that accounts for how your eyes actually work together, not just whether you can read a line on a chart. That difference is what separates a prescription that "works" from one that eliminates the low-grade headaches and fatigue you've been chalking up to screen time.

There's a reason GPs and ophthalmologists refer patients to us. I recently diagnosed temporal arteritis — a rare autoimmune condition — from what a patient thought was just double vision and headaches. That referral to Addenbrooke's led to emergency treatment within 24 hours.

A prescription is one output of the examination. But it's a small fraction of what we're actually looking for.

Should we still be calling this an "eye test"?