Pearle Vision could use a work on their customer service.

[Doug_K]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Exactly. Should it be required? Maybe. It is in the UK. Under existing law, however, an optometrist is under no obligation to provide a pupillary distance, as Doug said.

But again, measurements for eyewear are not the optometrist’s responsibility. They’re the dispenser’s responsibility. If someone selling glasses isn’t capable of taking those measurements, they have no business selling glasses.

[Cyros]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

It’s not. Under federal law, pupillary distance and other fitting measurements are part of the dispensing process, not part of the refractive testing process. The same is true in Canada, except in British Columbia. The regulations of your state may vary, but probably don’t.

This cite seems to indicate that, at least in Ontario, the optician is obligated to tell you your PD if they have it on file as per the Personal Health Information Privacy and Access Act.

A patient has requested information from their patient health record. Am I obligated to give out the patient’s measurements (i.e. pupillary distance measurement (PD), keratometry readings, etc.) if they make such a request?

Yes. Under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA), a patient has a right of access to his or her own personal health information and the optician has a corresponding obligation to provide access in accordance with PHIPA. Requesting access to and a copy of their records is a patient’s right. The physical record of a patient’s personal health information belongs to the optician, but the personal health information contained within the record belongs to the patient.

I would assume that all provinces would have similar requirements to allow access to your health information.

[Pork_Rind]

@Moonlitherial

This exactly. I lied to the eyeglass store my doctor sent the prescription to and told them my insurance company needed the PD filled in on their form. After transferring me to 3 different people they finally gave me the info.

There are a number of online tools for measuring pupillary distance. I tried one at one point, and this particular site had a cool trick where the software used the width of a credit card mag stripe as the calibration reference.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Cyros

This cite seems to indicate that, at least in Ontario, the optician is obligated to tell you your PD if they have it on file as per the Personal Health Information Privacy and Access Act.

I would assume that all provinces would have similar requirements to allow access to your health information.

Right: that’s opticians, not optometrists.

[Cyros]

True but it does supply an avenue for people to pursue to obtain their PD. They just need to visit an optician who has filled their prescription previously and get the information from their files. Although, past experience leads me to believe that you will find a number of opticians resistant to providing the information.

[Robot_Arm]

For anyone still following this saga, the glasses arrived today. Seem to work; I can read that typo so much more clearly now.