Examinations & fees
Three tiers. One of them is free.
What separates them is what gets measured and how long it takes — not how nice the room is. Below: the three compared row by row, the enhanced examination drawn to scale, and every price we charge.
Everything measured
gets written down
and everything written down
is yours to take anywhere you like
Lines step down the Snellen decimal series — a ratio of 0.794 per line, which is the ratio a real chart uses.
Compared
What each examination includes
If you qualify for an NHS sight test, take it — it is a full clinical examination and we do not treat it as a lesser one. The private tiers buy time and imaging, not attention.
| Included | NHS sight test | Standard £45 | Enhanced £75 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appointment length | 25 min | 30 min | 45 min |
| History, symptoms and family history | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Refraction and best corrected acuity | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Binocular vision and cover test | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Non-contact tonometry (eye pressures) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Slit lamp anterior eye examination | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Direct view of the retina | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Retinal photography | Where indicated | Yes | Yes |
| Visual fields | Where indicated | Where indicated | Yes |
| OCT cross-section, both eyes | £25 to add | £25 to add | Yes |
| Images stored and compared year on year | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Written prescription, itemised, on the day | Yes | Yes | Yes |
"Where indicated" means the optometrist decides on clinical grounds, not on what you paid. If a field test is needed on an NHS examination you get one, and it costs nothing.
The 45 minutes
Where the time actually goes
Drawn to scale — each block is its real share of the appointment. Refraction is a quarter of it; the discussion at the end is nearly as long, because a finding you do not understand is not much use to you.
Contact lenses
Fitted by the person who teaches you to use them
The fitting fee covers the assessment, the trial lenses, the teaching session and two aftercares. Nobody leaves this practice with lenses they cannot get in and out on their own — if that takes three visits, it takes three visits, and it costs the same.
Ade fits rigid gas permeables and ortho-K, which matters if you have keratoconus, an irregular cornea or a graft. Soft lenses from the high street will not correct those, and being told so early saves a year.
- Soft fitting
- £65
- RGP fitting
- £145
- Ortho-K fitting
- £395
- Annual check
- £40
Myopia management
Slowing it down, and showing you the graph
Short sight in children usually progresses until the late teens, and the higher it ends up the greater the lifetime risk of retinal detachment, myopic maculopathy and glaucoma. Management does not reverse it. It aims to slow the rate.
We measure axial length — the physical length of the eye — at every visit and plot it against the normal growth curve, then fit MiSight daily disposables, Stellest spectacle lenses or ortho-K depending on the child and on what the family can realistically keep up.
It is not NHS funded anywhere in England, so it is £39 a month, everything included, cancel with a month's notice. If we do not think your child needs it yet, we will say so and see you in six months.
Dry eye
Assessed before anything is recommended
Gritty, watering, tired-by-four-o'clock eyes are usually meibomian gland dysfunction rather than a lack of tears, which is why over-the-counter drops so often do nothing. The 45-minute assessment measures tear break-up time, looks at the lid margins under the slit lamp and images the glands.
Most people leave with a lid hygiene routine and a £9 bottle of something. A minority need intense pulsed light, which is four sessions at £480, and we will tell you honestly which group you are in — including when the answer is that your eyes are fine and it is the office air conditioning.
Urgent eye problems
The same-day list
Ring us the same day for: flashing lights, a sudden shower of new floaters, a curtain or shadow across the vision, sudden loss of vision, a red painful eye, or something in the eye that will not come out.
We hold slots every morning for these and we have an NHS minor eye conditions contract, so for most people there is nothing to pay. If it needs a hospital, we ring the eye department at the RVI ourselves rather than sending you to sit in A&E with a letter.
Published fees · August 2026
The whole price list
Reviewed every January and published here the same day it changes. If you are quoted something different at the desk, the desk is wrong.
Examinations
- NHS sight test (if eligible)
- No charge
- Standard eye examination
- £45
- Enhanced examination with OCT
- £75
- OCT added to any examination
- £25
- Driver vision report (DVLA / occupational)
- £30
- Dry eye assessment
- £70
- Intense pulsed light, course of four
- £480
- Repeat pressures / fields (glaucoma monitoring)
- NHS funded
Lenses
- Single vision, 1.5 index
- £65
- Single vision, thinned 1.6
- £95
- Single vision, 1.67
- £140
- Single vision, 1.74
- £195
- Bifocal, D-segment
- £110
- Varifocal, standard corridor
- £145
- Varifocal, wide corridor
- £240
- Varifocal, individualised
- £320
- Occupational / desk lens
- £130
- Photochromic
- +£55
- Polarised sun tint
- +£45
- Prism
- +£30
Anti-reflection coating and a two-year scratch warranty on every lens. We do not sell an uncoated lens.
Surfaced to your measured frame position. Worth it for high prescriptions and small frames; often not worth it otherwise, and we will say so.
Contact lenses, plans and frames
- Soft lens fitting, including two aftercares
- £65
- Rigid gas permeable fitting
- £145
- Ortho-K fitting
- £395
- Annual contact lens check
- £40
- Myopia management programme
- £39 / month
- The Priestpopple Plan
- £14 / month
- Frames
- £59 – £340
- Repairs and adjustments
- No charge
Whoever sold them to you. If a part is needed we charge for the part and nothing else.
NHS optical vouchers. Deducted at the current national value for your band, with the arithmetic shown. We do not print voucher amounts here because they are set nationally and change — quoting a stale figure would be worse than quoting none.
Your prescription
How to read the card
You get this on the day, signed, whether you buy here or not. It is worth two minutes to understand, because with it you can price the same lenses anywhere in the country.
| Eye | SPH | CYL | AXIS | ADD | PRISM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Right | −2.25 | −0.75 | 150 | +2.00 | — |
| Left | −2.00 | −1.25 | 015 | +2.00 | — |
Interpupillary distance 63mm. Recommended review two years. Signed by the optometrist who tested you, with their GOC number — a prescription without both isn't one.
- SPHSphere, in dioptres. Minus is short-sighted, plus is long-sighted.
- CYLCylinder — the amount of astigmatism. Under −0.50 is usually left uncorrected.
- AXISWhere the cylinder sits, 1° to 180°. An orientation, not a strength.
- ADDThe reading addition. Appears from about 45 and is almost always equal in both eyes.
- PRISMOnly where the eyes need help aligning. Most prescriptions never carry one.
- PDInterpupillary distance in millimetres — the number online retailers ask for.
Book an examination
Thirty minutes or forty-five — tell us which when you ring, or say what's bothering you and we'll tell you which you need.