Frequently asked questions

No. The form emails an enquiry to reception. Appointments are arranged directly with the practice; nothing is booked online.

Choose the concern closest to your needs or select “Unsure”. A short description, any established diagnosis and the correction you currently use will help the practice guide you.

Appointment length can vary, especially for complex contact-lens assessments. Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

The forms are for non-urgent requests and are not monitored as an emergency service. For sudden pain, injury or a rapid change in vision, seek prompt advice from an appropriate emergency or medical service.

Eksteen Optometrists is at Vergelegen, 137 Milner Road, Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7700, South Africa (opens Google Maps in a new tab). Contact reception if you need exact entrance or arrival guidance.

Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

It may include your visual and health history, distance and near vision, refraction, eye coordination where relevant and an eye-health assessment. The exact tests depend on age, symptoms and findings.

Yes. Bring the spectacles and contact lenses you use, together with previous prescriptions or reports if available. This gives useful context for change over time.

Dilating drops may be clinically useful in some examinations, but are not required for every person. The clinician should explain the reason, temporary effects and driving implications before proceeding.

An optometric examination may identify findings that need monitoring, further assessment or referral. It should not be described as ruling out every possible disease, and medical or surgical care may require an ophthalmologist.

It is a larger gas-permeable lens designed to vault the cornea and land on tissue over the sclera, the white of the eye. A fluid reservoir is held beneath the lens.

They may be considered for selected irregular corneas, keratoconus, post-surgical corneal changes or other complex visual and ocular-surface needs. Suitability and current availability must be confirmed individually.

No lens can be guaranteed comfortable. Diameter and corneal vault can be useful for some people, but fit, surface, handling, fluid, eye health and wear time all matter.

Yes. Application, removal, filling, cleaning and warning signs need supervised instruction using the products and routine prescribed for your lens.

It is a small, shape-retaining, oxygen-permeable lens that rests on the cornea. The tears between the lens and cornea can help create a more regular optical surface.

A corneal RGP is smaller and moves on the cornea; a scleral lens is larger, vaults the cornea and lands farther out. Each has different fitting, handling and visual considerations.

Some awareness can occur while adapting to a corneal rigid lens. Pain, increasing redness, unusual light sensitivity or sudden blur is not something to push through and needs advice.

Replacement depends on the lens, condition, wear, surface and clinical findings. Follow the individual review and replacement plan rather than a generic online interval.

No. Keep lenses and cases away from tap, shower, swimming-pool and other water because of infection risk. Use the products prescribed for your lens.

Remove it. Do not continue wearing or reinsert a lens into a painful, markedly red, light-sensitive or suddenly blurred eye; seek prompt professional advice.

No. Soft, corneal RGP, scleral and hydrogen-peroxide systems have different requirements. Follow the exact products and steps prescribed for your lens.

A video can refresh steps after teaching, but it cannot check your technique or adapt it to your eyes, hands and lens. Supervised instruction remains essential.

Up-to-date spectacles provide a safe back-up when lenses must be removed because of discomfort, a lost lens, illness or another problem.

Keratoconus is a condition in which the cornea becomes thinner and changes shape. The resulting irregular focusing can cause blur, ghosting, glare or frequent prescription changes.

No. Contact lenses may improve optical correction while they are worn; they do not treat the underlying progression of keratoconus.

Spectacles correct regular focusing errors well. As the corneal surface becomes more irregular, they may not neutralise all of the distortion. Spectacles can still be useful in some cases.

An ophthalmologist may assess progression and medical or surgical options such as corneal cross-linking. The optometrist and ophthalmologist can have complementary roles.

No. Irregularity may relate to keratoconus, another corneal condition, scarring, injury or previous corneal or refractive surgery.

The clinician combines history, refraction, eye-health findings and corneal-shape measurements where relevant and available. No single colour map should be interpreted in isolation.

There is no universal best lens. A custom soft, corneal RGP, scleral or other design may be considered after assessing shape, eye health, vision, comfort and handling.

A lens may create a more regular optical surface and improve vision. It does not treat every underlying disease or surgical issue.

Orthokeratology uses specially designed rigid gas-permeable lenses during sleep to temporarily change corneal shape. The lenses are removed in the morning.

No. The cornea tends to return towards its original shape after wear stops. Continued prescribed wear is needed to maintain the refractive effect.

Some suitable wearers may have useful daytime vision without spectacles or daytime lenses, but the response and how it changes during the day vary. Clear vision cannot be guaranteed.

No. Sleeping in contact lenses increases the risk of complications, including sight-threatening infection. Careful selection, hygiene, regular aftercare and prompt response to symptoms are essential.

It may slow eye growth for some suitable children, but no option can promise that myopia will stop. An assessment should compare the benefits, limitations, risks and practical demands of available options.

It describes evidence-informed approaches intended to slow the rate at which childhood myopia progresses, while also providing clear vision.

No. Management does not cure myopia or promise to reverse the eye's growth. Effects vary, and progression may continue despite treatment.

Contact the practice to discuss which myopia-management options are currently available and appropriate.

Regular outdoor time is a positive habit, particularly in relation to myopia onset. It supports, but does not replace, prescribed correction, assessment or clinically indicated management.

There is no universal end point. Age, change over time, response, adherence, risks and preferences all matter, and longer-term evidence continues to develop.

Possible signs include squinting, moving close, closing one eye, headaches, visual tiredness, avoiding sustained near work or difficulty seeing a classroom board. These signs are not a diagnosis.

Yes. Children may assume their way of seeing is normal or may not have the words to describe it.

Some can when the lens is clinically appropriate and the child and family can follow safe handling, hygiene and aftercare. Readiness is individual rather than defined by one universal age.

No. It can identify relevant vision and eye-health findings, but reading, attention and learning have many influences and may need assessment by other appropriate professionals.

Optometrists, ophthalmologists, hospitals and other healthcare professionals can contact the practice to discuss whether a referral is appropriate.

A concise reason for referral, relevant diagnosis and history, current correction, best available vision, previous surgery and useful reports or corneal measurements may help. Send only necessary information through the confirmed secure route.

Discuss with the practice whether feedback to the referrer is appropriate, and agree the method, timing and consent process.

Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

Do not send sensitive records through an unconfirmed channel. Contact the practice for the current secure transfer process.

No. Contact the practice, describe your needs and wait for confirmation of the appointment and likely requirements before making travel arrangements.

Bring current spectacles and lenses, lens products, previous prescriptions, referral letters and relevant reports or scans that you have been asked to provide.

Do not assume so. Assessment, diagnostic fitting, manufacturing, teaching and refinement may require more than one visit.

Remote pre-assessment has not been confirmed. Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

Fees can depend on the assessment and possible lens pathway. Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

Please contact the practice to confirm current arrangements.

Ask the practice when fees and likely stages can be discussed. Do not rely on prices from another clinic or jurisdiction.