# Why don't optometrists believe their patients?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-optometrists-believe-their-patients/489619>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 16, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-optometrists-believe-their-patients/489619 "2009-03-16T14:38:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-optometrists-believe-their-patients/489619/81 "2009-03-20T04:33:26Z")

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I have this problem with eye doctors a lot here. Thailand is great if your eyesight is not too bad, but I have some major astigmatism problems that screw up many prescriptions. It has to be precise. Even back in the US, it was common for me to return a new pair of glasses to have the lenses remade.

Here, though, I have actually had an eye doctor at Bumrungrad Hospital, supposedly a top Western-style hospital, tell me flat-out that he did not believe I could not see out of the lenses he prescribed for me. I never could convince him otherwise. Did not go back to him, needless to say, and a complaint to the hospital was met with silence. (Bumrungrad is interested only in praise and generally will not act on complaints. I know quite a few people who have had a variety of problems with them.)

I now rely on a five-year-old pair. Maybe six years by now. I see okay, but it’s really a chore for me to get new glasses. For those with only mildly poor eyesight, Thailand is a bargain.

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