Unlike the other reviewer I had a lovely time here. I called at the beginning of the week to check their prices and booking schedule and was greeted over the phone by a wonderful receptionist who then transferred me to one of the doctors I believe, upon deciding they would be able to give me a better description of services and cost. I was informed that I should probably come in with $300.00, which while more than I had wanted to spend I found reasonable as we did not know what kind of frames I would be buying there and wanted to have all the bases covered. Extra insurance, so to speak.
Upon arriving early our service was very prompt. The receptionist I spoke with initially was lovely and gracious and immediately went to let them know I had arrived. About five minutes later after checking out their lovely selection of frames (there were a couple of pink metal ones I was quite enchanted with) both myself and my mother were ushered into the back. I am over 19 but I am very close with my mom and she helps to ease my anxiety.
I was asked right away if I wore contact lenses which I do not. The exam was set up into three stations, with a preliminary eye health exam I believe in the front, and then the actual eye exam set down the hallway. The ladies I dealt with were all smiles and did their best to keep me comfortable, as I will admit the 'eye pressure' exam was distinctly uncomfortable. However they guided me through it and were nothing but patient with me, which is more than I can say for other optometrists I've been to.
The Doctor who performed my eye exam was Mr. Alloway who was even so gracious as to send me a copy of the picture they took of the back of my eye upon request. His candor and patience was delightful and he did not mind in the least when I had to back away from the lense machine for a moment once I felt a bit of eye strain begin to kick in.
During the eye exam we came to the conclusion that the optometrists I had seen previously had misdiagnosed me, and recommended that I use the readers you can buy at any pharmacy at the LOWEST prescription, instead of getting the expensive custom lenses which it turns out are unnecessary. So while I do have astigmatism it is incredibly minor and really not enough to effect much of anything and my distance vision, as it turns out, is exemplary (which my previous custom glasses had in fact hindered). Needless to say this was a pleasant surprise!
I would certainly go here again! Not only had they cleared up a misdiagnosis which could have actually harmed me, but they were very gentle, incredibly friendly and it was smiles all around. It felt like going to a friends for a cuppa, and I cannot say enough how much I enjoyed this experience.
Thank you so much, Shuswap Optometric Centre. I greatly appreciate it!