The time limits for prescription glasses will finally be able to be reduced. A decree published Sunday in the Official Journal now authorizes orthoptists to renew, under certain conditions, the prescriptions of corrective glasses and contact lenses, a "victory to improve access to visual care" according to one of their unions.
The National Autonomous Union of Orthoptists (SNAO), which "has been campaigning for more than a decade to obtain alignment of its skills in terms of renewing optical corrections with those of other actors in the visual field (ophthalmologists and opticians)", welcomed this measure.
While "in some regions the waiting times are very long and the kilometers traveled by patients for a consultation explode", this "will allow a real saving of time within a visual sector in tension for years, as well that substantial savings for thousands of patients and for Social Security accounts, "said the union in a statement.
Renewal under conditions
The decree of April 24 published on Sunday in the Official Journal specifies that, for a renewal of contact lenses, “the orthoptist may adapt, after carrying out an examination of the refraction and unless the doctor expressly objects to the prescription, the optical corrections to initial medical prescriptions' dating from less than one year for patients aged less than 16 years, and less than three years old for patients aged 16 years and over.
For corrective lenses, renewal by orthoptists is possible, under the same conditions, for prescriptions dating from less than a year for patients aged under 16, from less than five years for patients aged 16 to 42 years, and less than three years for patients over 42 years of age.