Getting an Eye Test in the Netherlands

A few weeks ago, Chris decided to get his eyes checked and I noticed it had already been three years since I last got mine checked. Since that is quite some time, and I had strived for getting my eyes checked every other year, I decided to make an appointment for us both at Mr. Brown Beans & Specs here in Eindhoven, an optician-café combo.

This was my first time getting an eye prescription in The Netherlands, and it is quite different than in Portugal. In Portugal, I usually went to the ophthalmologist - the eye doctor. I had been going to the same eye doctor for more than a decade, and my prescription had remained the same for the past 8 years.

In The Netherlands, however, you only go to the eye doctor if you do really have big eye problems. For regular eye measurements, you go to the opticien and get checked by an optometrist. This is someone that has a more practical education around eye measurements and eye care.

I was a bit hesitant - read “scared” - since I’ve had the same prescription for 8 years and I do not have new headaches or felt that I saw worse. And I’ve had a higher prescription around 10 years ago, and then the ophthalmologist said my eyes were too stressed and lowered the prescription.

I’ve been at Mr. Brown before, since that’s where I bought my last glasses - frame and lenses -, but at the time I just used my prescription from Portugal. This time, I didn’t have that, so I got my measurement there. Still a bit reluctant. Eye measurements are actually much more subjective than one might think, and I’ve been having the same measurement for almost a decade now.

They have this fancy machine from Essilor, which allows to measure the diopters in increments of 0.01 instead of 0.25. From that point on I knew: my prescription was bound to be different. Different measurement accuracy would certainly give a different result.

Well, it did. In general, I have a bit more myopia and astigmatism than last time. But only one of the measurements differed in more than 0.25 diopters. My left eye had a 0.10 lower myopia and a 0.11 higher astigmatism. My right eye, however, has both a 0.32 higher myopia and a 0.24 higher astigmatism.

At the end I could compare my current prescription with the new one. I definitely could see better with the new one, so I ordered new lenses for my glasses. I’m not changing the frame since this one is still in very good condition, and my favorite frame until now. To note that the lenses also have the higher accuracy diopters.

I got them Sunday. So far, so good.