In case you’re new to all of this endmyopia stuff, a quick note:
That optometrist shop is just a retail store.
Most of them are in shopping malls, all of them exist to sell a product – glasses. They’re not in business to diagnose your eye health, they’re not in business to keep your eyes healthy, they’re not in business to know or teach you about biology. Some of those things could happen as ancillary incidental moment, but that’s not what they’re selling, or what you’re paying for.
What they’re selling and you’re buying is simple. Just look at what it says on your receipt.
The receipt is the simple proof of the transaction. They sold glasses, you bought glasses. That’s the business. All the talk about “exam” and “prescription” and “mysteriously genetic condition affecting your eyes” … that’s all window dressing, sales pitch, obfuscating the average 5,000% profit margins at your regular high street optic shop.
Furthermore and their least favorite subject – the optician is not a medical doctor. An optician is a lens seller.
An optometrist is not a medical doctor, either.
“Licensed to prescribe corrective lenses”.
Or as we simple folk would say, selling glasses.
Yes they can diagnose some basic vision health issues. Guess what though – if they find real medical issues, they will refer you to an actual medical doctor. Optometrists are doctors the way a tow truck operators are auto mechanics. They can confirm that your car is broken down and tow you to an actual shop to fix it.
These statement don’t make your favorite Jakey very popular with the establishment. They can’t exactly deny the principal validity of these statements. But still, they don’t like somebody pointing it all out. Because what’s next, you asking why the lenses they pay $2 for suddenly are on your bill at $200? That wouldn’t do! Therefore we need the ‘exam’ and ‘prescription’ and ‘I’m a doctor of sorts but not really a medical one’.
What’s the point of this rant Jake, you’re thinking. We’ve heard this all before.
This post in our Facebook group:
Ohhh, juicy insider info!
Yes, we do have opticians and optometrists in our group. For all the obvious reasons, they tend to be low key. One does not want to bite the hands that feeds them.
Selling you more glasses, or just making more money is certainly the main interest of the retail optometry business. The site that Jia is referring to, just a fine piece of marketing. They basically claim that they can take your (optometry) business and teach you how to gauge customers for way more money.
From their sales page, targeting optometrists:
Wouldn’t you look at that. And that’s you they’re talking about – or rather, your wallet.
We already know that retail optometry is a giant ripoff. Executives of the largest US optometry chain have admitted so themselves. And if you keep looking, as in above example, you’ll find that this is just true, no matter what.
You may already know that the wholesale cost of lenses can be as little as $0.83. Which is why you can pop online and buy full pairs of glasses, frames and all, for as little as $10 to $20 on lots of sites.
I’m also not saying that the entire industry is evil charlatans. Not at all – some are just misinformed or simply don’t care. And also there are plenty that are pretty good. Because of course any amount of reading peer reviewed clinical science will explain the cause of nearsightedness to anyone curious.
There are even plenty of optometrists that will confirm your eyesight improvements.
It’s a swamp out there. If there’s money to be made vs. your well-being considered, you know which way that tide will turn. You have the fancy titles and pretty shops on one hand, and the deep end of the Internet on the other, ready to claim all sorts of conspiracy and outlandish alternatives.
Hopefully you find endmyopia somewhere in the middle. Outlandish only in rants and sarcasm, otherwise attempting to remain grounded in functional approaches and scientific curiosity.
Go forth and make some 20/20 gains.
Cheers,
– Jake
