{"id":175249,"date":"2021-02-10T20:30:42","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T17:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/will-the-pandemic-force-canada-to-embrace-online-eye-tests\/"},"modified":"2021-02-10T20:30:42","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T17:30:42","slug":"will-the-pandemic-force-canada-to-embrace-online-eye-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/will-the-pandemic-force-canada-to-embrace-online-eye-tests\/","title":{"rendered":"#Will the pandemic force Canada to embrace online eye tests?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Will the pandemic force Canada to embrace online eye tests?<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Getting new eyeglasses during the pandemic has been an unattractive prospect for Canadians anxiously guarding their health, or their spare time. A conventional, in-person visit with an optometrist typically entails an examination in a small, enclosed space, followed by an app<\/a>ointment-only trip<\/a> to a shop\u2014perhaps in a half-shuttered mall, mask required\u2014to try on frames that must be cleaned after each customer touches them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Eyecare professionals have scrupulously adhered to guidelines around social<\/a> distancing, masking and cleaning. Still, many lens-wearers are choosing to forego the bother and stick with their outdated glasses. Even before the province\u2019s latest lockdown, the Ontario Association of Optometrists reported patient volumes were down 50 per cent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Canadians are still buying glasses, of course. They\u2019ve just gone digital more quickly than the sector itself. Until 2010, it was illegal in Canada to sell prescription eyewear online; that\u2019s when B.C. deregulated the business, prompting digital entrepreneurs to start shipping glasses and contacts from that province to much of the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

To make use of that service, you must still go in person and get a doctor\u2019s prescription\u2014but that too may soon change. Online optical exams pioneered in the United States\u2014where so-called \u201cdigital acuity products\u201d have been temporarily approved by the FDA during COVID\u2014are popping up online in Canada<\/span>, <\/b>despite their murky legal status here. One B.C company has partnered with Visibly, an American firm operating in the U.S. under provisional approval. Vancouver-based KITS says it hopes to bring online eye exams to Canadians, allowing consumers in this country to get updated prescriptions, <\/span>as opposed to mere renewals, from the comfort of their homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether it can do so legally isn\u2019t clear. Vision care in Canada is regulated at the provincial level, by colleges of optometrists. But none offers a process to approve the services of a company like KITS. Joe Thompson, the company\u2019s founder, says it hopes to \u201cpartner\u201d with Health Canada before launching, but has not yet had discussions with the federal department.<\/p>\n

I tried a beta version of the KITS test, which requires a computer, a smartphone, any standard-sized credit card as a makeshift ruler and three metres of floor space. After using the credit card to calibrate font size and maximizing the screen\u2019s brightness, the site asks for a shoe size. \u201cTake 12 heel-to-toe steps,\u201d it says, then declares: \u201cYou\u2019re in the right spot for the exam.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From there, the test is not entirely unlike reading from an eye chart in a doctor\u2019s office: the screen flashes a letter backwards, sideways or upside-down while the user types multiple-choice answers into their phone, which is<\/span> synced up via text message. Positive encouragement comes via audio in a soothing voice. (\u201cGood job! We\u2019re moving along nicely.\u201d) From start to finish, the test took me six minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems impressively efficient, but as with many digital innovations, the full implications have yet to be seen. On one hand, it offers a level of convenience homebound Canadians have come to expect during the pandemic. Yet it\u2019s also raising concern among eye doctors about what services can and cannot be safely provided over the internet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though the Canadian Association of Optometrists has for years warned consumers about the safety of online eye exams, the laws surrounding tele-optometry\u2014especially during COVID\u2014are in flux. In 2019, the College of Optometrists of Ontario lost its bid to the Supreme Court to prohibit Vancouver-based Clearly Contacts from dispensing glasses and contact lenses in Ontario using an existing prescription. At the debate\u2019s core, says College President Patrick Quaid, is a continuing tension between eyewear as a medical device and as a commercial commodity. Even he sees both sides: \u201cAs a doctor and a regulator, I cringe,\u201d Quaid says. \u201cBut as a consumer, now more than ever, I understand.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s much more to a full eye exam than many people understand, he says. \u201cDo you know how many visual skills you need to function as a human? <\/span>Fifteen. <\/span><\/i>Visual acuity is just one of them.\u201d Others include depth perception, eye tracking and convergence, none of which can be measured online\u2014yet. Other components\u2014eye drops to dilate pupils, the \u201cpuff test\u201d that measures ocular pressure\u2014seem impossible in anything but an in-person setting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cOur vision test is not a comprehensive health exam,\u201d reads KITS\u2019 disclaimer, which pops up often. The test repeatedly reminds users that health problems,\u00a0 eye conditions, discomfort or medications that affect vision all require a visit to a doctor. \u201cWe recommend you do a full eye exam every five to 10 years,\u201d says KITS\u2019 founder Joe Thompson, \u201cbut for someone who can\u2019t or doesn\u2019t want to go into the office right now, or someone who just wants to check in and reorder, this is a great alternative.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For procrastinators, though, digital exams could exacerbate bad habits. \u201cIf you roll in five years later because you finally need your doctor,\u201d warns Dr. Quaid, \u201cthey could measure your eye pressure, turns out you have glaucoma and the vision you\u2019ve lost won\u2019t come back.\u201d Despite all his expertise, up to five per cent of Dr. Quaid\u2019s patients return complaining of glasses that aren\u2019t quite right. A wrong prescription can cause eyestrain, headache, dizziness and nausea. An American study from 2011\u2014admittedly a lifetime ago in tech years\u2014found almost half of glasses bought online didn\u2019t meet patients\u2019 optical requirements. To Quaid, KITS\u2019 promised 100 per cent satisfaction guarantee is a logistical nightmare in the making.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, COVID-19 has accelerated every industry\u2019s move toward e-commerce, and eye care is no exception. \u201cUnlike contact lenses, which everyone buys online, glasses were lagging behind, just because we hadn\u2019t developed the tools,\u201d says Thompson. <\/span><\/p>\n

So alongside virtual try-ons and customized online fittings, digital eye exams will soon be a tool the field will have to address. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping optometrists will be happy to partner with us,\u201d says Thompson. And here, Dr. Quaid concurs: \u201cLots of doctors want to do more doctoring and less selling.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
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“#Will the pandemic force Canada to embrace online eye tests?” Getting new eyeglasses during the pandemic has been an unattractive prospect for Canadians anxiously guarding their health, or their spare time. A conventional, in-person visit with an optometrist typically entails an examination in a small, enclosed space, followed by an appointment-only trip to a shop\u2014perhaps…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":175250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/EYE-EXAMINATION-COUNTER-FEB11-750x422.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[67806,92739,92740],"class_list":["post-175249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-editors-picks","tag-online-eye-examinations","tag-vision-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}