Specs on the Net

It has been 3 years now since spectacles were sold directly to the public over the Internet by Glasses Direct.  But why do I make a fuss?  Am I angry that my qualifications are devalued?  That my business is threatened?  Or am I just merely irritated, as like most good ideas: why did I did I not think of it first!

Like it or not, spectacle sales on the Internet are here to stay and as web-retailing becomes more common, the number of companies offering “remote dispensing��? could, and most probably will, increase too.

As a Dispensing Optician, I am angry and unhappy: how it is possible to sell prescription spectacles from afar, where no patient contact is made?  And what about necessary adjustments and significant alterations to visual comfort or performance?  In my opinion it also ignores the expertise of every DO in the country and devalues the knowledge and hard work needed to achieve our professional qualifications. 

In itself there is nothing illegal about the sale of spectacles via the Internet, as long as it does not include dispensing to minors, persons registered blind or partially sighted, or patients with complex prescriptions. 

We will all encounter spectacles from the Internet through the course of our daily business, perhaps for repairs or adjustments, or to be asked to measure a PD.  But how we deal with theses scenarios is also decided by us;  I will adjust frames from the Internet, but it will be at the patient’s own risk and there will be a charge to that person.  I am also charging for the time it takes for the expertise and ability to repair or adjust those frames.  Likewise, I will measure a PD or a near centration distance but will charge for that service.  It is, after all, not part of the optical prescription.

From a business perspective, however I congratulate Mr Murray-Wells.  He has identified a gap in a market, fought against the resistance from a long-established and closed profession,  and now has a very successful online business.  Strangely enough though, I feel the presence of him, and other like-minded Internet retailers, could have a positive effect on our profession. However, we would need to alter our businesses plans to compete with online sales; we would need to adjust our unique selling points to our patients if we are compete successfully with this new ‘threat.’ 

Part of me does wonder in some respects whether the advent of Internet retailing and the resultant negative publicity was not all self-inflicted; after all the true cost of an eye examination is not covered by the actual fee commanded.  I appreciate that there is a large disparity between the private eye examination fee and the NHS fee but surely as professionals the higher charges are warranted?  It also makes me wonder about the future of the General Ophthalmic Service.  15 years ago, I am sure we all expected to have an NHS dentist in the year 2000 but due to “funding difficulties��? this is now not the case.  Could this happen with Optometry?  A controversial area I know, but one which could indeed become a reality. 

I would like to charge £15 for a complete pair of low-cost, low-quality spectacles but at the same time will ask, who will fund the slit lamp examination, the new visual field analyser, the tonometry readings, etc.?

Which leads me on to my final point, what is it that people need in order to buy spectacles off the Internet?   A prescription!   And who controls the issuing of those prescriptions?  Optometrists!  Perhaps it is time for the Multiples and Independents to unite and find thar common ground on the true cost of issuing a prescription?

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