Your appointment
Allow up to 3 hours for your appointment.
What to bring with you
Bring the following with you to your appointment:
- Your appointment letter.
- Your current distance glasses (the ones you use to watch TV or drive).
- A most updated eye examination prescription (sight test).
- A list of your current medications (including eye drops).
- Sunglasses or a sunhat, in case we dilate your pupils (make them temporarily wider).
- If you have had laser refractive eye surgery in the past, bring any relevant documentation with you.
- If this is your first visit to the Royal Eye Unit, bring with you any documentation relating to your eye condition (for example your referral letter).
If you wear contact lenses
If you wear contact lenses, we advise you to remove them before your appointment (see below).
This is so we can make accurate measurements of your eyes to help us plan for any cataract surgery.
| If you wear soft lenses | Take them out and stop wearing them 5 days before your appointment. |
| If you wear hard or gas-permeable lenses | Take them out and stop wearing them 2 weeks before your appointment. |
| If you must wear your lenses all the time |
For the small number of patients who rely on their contact lenses to see and do not have spectacles to wear, we advise the following:
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Driving information
We advise you not to drive yourself to your appointment.
We may need to put eye drops in your eyes to dilate (widen) your pupils and examine the back of your eyes. We may also need to insert padding on an operated eye if you had a minor-ops procedure.
If we give you eye drops, you will not be able to drive for at least 6 hours because you will experience temporary blurred eyesight.
Contact information
Kingston Hospital Royal Eye Unit