A colleague contacted me recently to ask about a situation that had happened to a friend of hers. The friend had recent onset flashes of light. My colleague was unable to examine her friend, as she wasn’t in practice nearby, so the friend went to a local practice. My colleague warned the friend not to drive to the appointment as she would be dilated. At the end of the sight test, the friend asked the examining optometrist if she was going to put the drops in, to which the optometrist replied that she didn’t have time to do it as she finished at 5.30. The optometrist gave the friend information about what to do if her symptoms worsened, and booked her to return for dilation in a week’s time.