DVLA Eyesight and Fields Test

Hi All,

Just wondered if anyone on here has had experience of this or knows anything about it. Reason i ask is that my gf just had to do one of these. Has to do it every year due to a condition. Now last year as with every year she only missed a few. However today she missed 31 out of 50! That would mean she has a massive problem with her vision. Now we have seen no problems with her vision day to day.

Also she has to go to the Moorfields eye hospital every year in london to have her condition checked. We only went there a month back and her condition hasn't got any worse and there are no obvious other problems with her eye sight.

It looks more and more like this test at the optometrists was flawed or not done right. However i wanted to find out what the test should intail since this years one was different from the other ones she has done previously. This was her first visit to this optometrists as well.

I was cant believe that if the eye hospital and its experts could not see any degradation in her condition (which would lead to a tunnelling of her vision) then why it would show up at this local optometrists. Also its picked up the misses all over her vision, not just on the edges. It makes no sense.

Any advice welcomed

Cheers

slight correction. The missing vision was mainly along the top of her vision. Again still doesnt make sense cause her disease hasnt got any worse so why this would happen i dont understand

[gruntygiggles]

Go to a different Optometrist and get a second opinion. If they both come back with the same results, call the consultant at the London Hospital and explain.

As for the DVLA, if the second test shows better results, tell them and show them the proof. You may need a third test to confirm, but you'll have to discuss that with the DVLA.

cool. weren't sure if we could get second opinions on this or not. Was thinking she should go back to the one she went to last year.

[gruntygiggles]

You can get a second opinion on anything, it's a free world. You will probably have to pay for it yourself as I doubt the DVLA would accept that the original test is wrong. You need to take the initiative here and get the second/third opinions and go back to the hospital if need be. If the evidence is there, the DVLA will have to accept it, but again, they may require you go to certain places etc, so speak to them about that, but speak to them armed with those second/third opinions!

Good luck x

thanks GG. Understandably gf was upset since she was expecting to pass. We'll get some more tests done at another optometrist and fingers crossed. I've heard horror stories about the DVLA and how they hate to back down, but we'll stick with it.

Originally Posted by wizurd

Hi All,

Just wondered if anyone on here has had experience of this or knows anything about it. Reason i ask is that my gf just had to do one of these. Has to do it every year due to a condition. Now last year as with every year she only missed a few. However today she missed 31 out of 50! That would mean she has a massive problem with her vision. Now we have seen no problems with her vision day to day.

Also she has to go to the Moorfields eye hospital every year in london to have her condition checked. We only went there a month back and her condition hasn't got any worse and there are no obvious other problems with her eye sight.

It looks more and more like this test at the optometrists was flawed or not done right. However i wanted to find out what the test should intail since this years one was different from the other ones she has done previously. This was her first visit to this optometrists as well.

I was cant believe that if the eye hospital and its experts could not see any degradation in her condition (which would lead to a tunnelling of her vision) then why it would show up at this local optometrists. Also its picked up the misses all over her vision, not just on the edges. It makes no sense.

Any advice welcomed

Cheers

Mrs specialone is an opthalmic physiologist, ie does all the technical tests for our local NHS trust.
I could ask her to take a look at your post and ask her opinion if you want, she's not around at present but will be later.
Phil

Cheers Phil,

If thats ok and it doesnt put anyone out i would like any feedback from people in the know.

Originally Posted by wizurd

Cheers Phil,

If thats ok and it doesnt put anyone out i would like any feedback from people in the know.

Will do, if you wanna pm me any other info which you think might help please do.

I send a lot of time at Moorfields having field tests, and when I was still driving/riding the DVLA used to send me to an optometrist for field tests yearly as well.

Not sure what your gf's condition is, but one thing that can happen (it certainly happened to me) is that you can go along for months, even years, being relatively OK and then the vision can drop off very suddenly, before levelling off again. When my vision dropped off, Moorfeields tested me twice as you can get false positives, and they did some other tests as well (has she had the one where they attach electro-sensors to the eye to detect movement?).

the other thing is that you don't obviously notice it yourself when vision deteriorates as your brain and eyes can compensate for it - hence the wiring-up test to see if there's anything unusual going on.

BTW, I've been under the care of Moorfields for 15 years and always found them to be excellent. They are the best in their field internationally and have done some ground-breaking research,a s well as pioneering techniques.

hth. PM if you need to.