10 minute eye exam

justawife

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My Son and I went to his I exam this morning. The Dr. took him in the back told me he would be back in 10 minutes and he was.

My questions are first she only had him read the chart with his glasses off. Didn't confirm his vision correction with glasses on. should she have?

Second she asked him if he had a stigmatism. He told he has a mild one-- it is less than 1.00 in each eye. He wears non toric contacts! She never measured anything. Not his glasses for the current script nor did she put lens up to his eyes to confirm. Does the form have a spot for axis?

Third she gave him the Ishihara plates in a room with little light in it. He said he saw numbers but was confident because of the lighting. Her attitude to him was if you don't pass this than you are not going to get in. He is not color blind. Isn't this suppose to be given in daylight?

She did not even speak to him after the exam...just told him to go. Also would not speak to me either, too busy with her one other person who was trying on glasses frames.

So I have a feeling he will need the falant test and I really think she should have measured his eyes with his glasses on and confirmed the size of the stigmatism.

So where can I get the falant done? I'd would like to do this before school starts. I hate to think that the goverment is paying this woman money for what she didn't do.

BTW we are military so I can go to a base it I need to get this test done.
 
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justawife,

The eye exam really shouldn't take to long. I'm sure that the optometrist did a corrected visual acuity with the phoropter (the big thing that gets put in front of your face where they say "better/worse"). That is how they get the corrected visual acuity as well as the refractive error with both the sphere and cylinder (it also states the axis for the astigmatism).

DoDMERB does not want what the current glasses prescription is, they want a new manifest refraction, which is why the current glasses were not measured. For the color vision test, it is supposed to be given in a darkened room, with a small lamp lighting the plates.

So from what you have told me, other than the optometrist having a bit of an attitude (unfortunately not much DoDMERB can do about that), it sounds like the exam was done correctly. The physicians and optometrists do not know what the medical standards are for admission, I'm sure they hear things, but they are not given the standards, and are not supposed to tell applicants if they are qualified or not.

If you wish to get the FALANT done now that is up to you, it can be done at any military medical facility in either the optometry or physical examinations department. I would wait and see what DoDMERB comes back with once they get the physical (30 days or less) and review it. I understand wanting to get any additional testing done before school, but if your son didn't have a problem with the Ishihara there will be no problem getting him cleared from a color vision standpoint.

If there is anything else I can help with, please feel free to ask!!
 
Wow, my "30 minutes or less" exam took well over an hour! He did everything like a regular eye exam. A bunch of different tests looking at the inside of my eyes, etc.

He told me everything was great. I don't wear glasses or anything. He said I have a little bit of an eye turn, but so minimal that it is barely noticable by him.
 
Unfortunately DoDMERB sees that a lot. There are physicians and optometrists out there who do a great job, and there there are others who are out to get as many through in as little amount of time possible. Unfortunately when the government goes out to buy things it goes for the lowest bidder. "You get what you pay for" is so true. hops_scout, it sounds like you had an examiner who cared, and went above and beyond what the contract calls for, that was that examiners discretion. While justawife's son got someone who was out to push as many through as possible. Roll of the dice, luck of the draw. I always hated getting calls from applicants and parents about cases like what justawife's son went through, but as long as the exam was done correctly (and it sounds like it was) there just isn't much DoDMERB can do to force people skills on them.
 
Thank you for your quick answer!!

Spoke with the spouse, he told me his eye exam was much longer-- close to an hour many moons ago (30 years). Told me son just needs to get there (AFA/CGA) the physical that matters is the one given you 2 degree year.

This stuff makes me crazy. With exams like the one my son had it is no wonder CGA had more people sent home as color blind.
 
Your husband is correct, the eye exam that really matters is the one for commissioning.

Also, with your last line you will get no arguments from me. The sea services (Navy, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine) place a much higher value on color vision than do any of the other services, and unfortunately when the powers that be in the Pentagon who write out the contracts and make the regulations are from a non-sea service they fail to see the importance of color vision.

From my standpoint it was a mistake for DoDMERB to get away from having the military treatment facilities do the DoDMERB physical exams, but with the military "right-sizing" 5-6 years ago, the war in Afganistan and Iraq, and an increase in the number of applicants to the SA's and ROTC programs the military treatment facilities just could not handle to workload, and now the quality of the physical exams overall from the contractor has increased vs. what now comes out of the military treatment facilities.
 
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