Posted on 06/13/2017 10:07:49 AM PDT by reaganaut1
One of the many holes in the social contract theory of government is that the power of the state is so often harnessed by interest groups to protect themselves against competition. Nobody ever agreed to that, but it happens all the time, inflicting losses on the consuming public.
A recent instance of this is the aggressive lobbying campaign being waged by the American Optometric Association (AOA) against innovations that now make it possible for Americans to get accurate eye exams and lens prescriptions over the Internet. By using such innovations, millions of Americans who need vision correction could save substantial amounts of money. But savings for them means less revenue for optometrists and they are trying to stop that by asking politicians for salvation.
As far as the AOA (with 37,000 members nationwide) is concerned, the villain is new technology that gives consumers less costly alternatives than the old-fashioned office visit. One of those alternatives is called Opternative. It gives consumers an eye exam that takes 25 minutes through a smartphone app. No need to drive, park, and wait. The eye analysis through the phone has been proven to be just as accurate as those done in professional offices.
Naturally, the AOA sees phone apps for eye prescriptions the same way the Luddite hand-weavers saw the development of power looms they must be shut down.
Lawyer Bruce Fein excoriates the AOA for its efforts at preventing this competition. In his May 8 Washington Times article, he writes, Their current well-financed efforts to strangle internet competition in contact lenses and eyeglasses are indistinguishable from standing athwart economic history yelling Stop.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
I've been using them since I discovered all the Nigerian email scammers have graduated to the optometry profession.
I am an optometrist and I feel no threat whatsoever from this technology because:
1. It can’t assure good physical eye health, which is the most important thing I provide to my patients
2. It is just another way to gather data. I use data from several sources to arrive on a final Rx, which seldom matches any one data source exactly. It is both art and science!
3. This is a classic case of caveat emptor. Most will be back.
4. Ditto for online eye wear dispensers, except perhaps for very basic lens designs.
Wearing a pair of Zenni glasses as I type..
Zenni was recommended by an ophthalmologist friend, after 0bamacare ate my glasses benefit.
He did suggest going with single vision, less chance of problems.
so that is what I did.
No problems.
I dunno, these online eye tests could be transmitting damaging subliminal messages to already overly-receptive millennial brains
How much money per eye?
Likely made by exactly the same folk.
There is a big difference between .....
Ophthalmologist vs Optometrist
One of the most common mistakes many patients make is to consider an optometrist and ophthalmologist as the same position, however there is a huge difference between the two.
Optometrists are usually the primary health provider for normal vision problems and yearly checkups. The position requires a Doctor of Optometry degree and a license, and allows the diagnosing for common vision acuity problems like farsightedness and nearsightedness, prescribing corrective eyeglasses, contact lenses, dispensing and prescription of certain medication, plus testing for eye diseases and conditions. Optometrists can handle all this, usually in their own office or for a firm.
Ophthalmologists can perform the same functions as optometrists, but are considered a higher position as they actually are medical doctors with Doctors of Medicine or Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine degrees who specialize in the eyes and vision care.
This means an ophthalmologist can diagnose and treat highly complicated eyes issues, can perform surgeries like Lasik and repair retinal damage, and can handle more area specific cases in vision care. The main difference between the two eye-related careers is that an ophthalmologist can handle surgeries and other issues that require more training on the medical side....
...and then there are opticians, those that most of us see to get a gross eye exam, determine corrective lens needed, take frame measurements, etc. Required education level for opticians is.... HS diploma.
Hardly ever find an opthomologist at a Lenscrafters or such.
I’m on medicare. That paid for basic and most of the other bills and I believe it was about 2 grand for the 2 lens. May have been a little more or less but that sounds about in the ballpark. My lens are by Alcon, AcrySol ReStor.
Really happy with the outcome.
“And then there are opticians, those that most of us see to get a gross eye exam, determine corrective lens needed,”
Opticians can’t do those things in my state, doubtful in others.
LAZY EYE PRESCRIPTION
Can an Optometrist modify a glasses prescription slightly so that the eyes must work a little to maintain perfect sight?
Instead of the perceived lazy eyes, perfect perscription that may degrade sight quicker over time?
It’s not the cost and time of an office visit that bothers me so much, it’s the hassle and cost of frames and lenses.
And I hear there is one big conglomerate that basically has a monopoly on those. I forget the name.
But I could see an app as a screening tool. The more info you get, the better.
You are right... I posted too quickly without a full read of the preview., meant to say they took facial measurements, eye distances and simple tech stuff.
Not all Optometrist are board certified. A lot of variability out there.
I know of a 13yo who was seeing the Optom for years at some glasses chain store. He saw an Ophthalmologist who discovered the little guy had end stage glaucoma!
“Likely made by exactly the same folk. “
Brand is “Serafina” which looks to be a major supplier to many different brand names, like Banana Republic, etc.
First I've heard of that. Manipulating the endocrine system with visual filtering. A finer spin on using full-wavelength daylight for SAD. And they used to talk about painting walls with various colors for different emotional effects.
I was having severe problems with daytime somnolence and intense light helped some but not enough. Solved the problem with modafinil.
My frames - which I love - are from Walmart and cost $9.00.
Oh-—this cartel system has been going on since 1920s in America...
“In 1924, Osram, Philips, General Electric, and other major electric companies met and formed the Phoebus Cartel under the public guise that they were cooperating to standardize light bulbs. Instead, they purportedly began to engage in planned obsolescence. To achieve this the companies agreed to limit the life expectancy of light bulbs at 1,000 hours — less than Edisons bulbs had achieved (1,200 hours) decades before; any company that produced a bulb exceeding 1,000 hours in life would be fined.
Until disbanding during World War II, the cartel supposedly halted research, preventing the advancement of the longer-lasting light bulb for nearly twenty years. “ (BTW, Shelby’s bulb has lasted over 113 years-—think of all the pollution, etc., caused by light bulb manufacturing and the waste of resources making lightbulbs that don’t last and have mercury in them.)
Actually they have controlled “research” forever, and since they had total control over “information” and “science” they could control the Narrative—like they do now where Vice is Virtue, boys can be girls and Up is Down.
Until the internet, we never EVER received the truth from the elites-—when politicians exposed “truth” like McCarthy, or slapped down like Gen. Patton, they would be destroyed or killed. Truth has been banned for 100 years at least in America.
Truth will set us free-—we must force the politicians to give us the truth—which we have NEVER gotten since before WWI..
https://priceonomics.com/the-mysterious-case-of-the-113-year-old-light-bulb/
I have ordered glasses from several online retailers. Haven’t tried the “exam app” yet.
I was quoted by an eye surgeon, 2k per eye. Did you get them at 1k each ?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.