The Terrace Optometrist is a family-run eye care practice at 21C The Terrace in Timaru Central, in South Canterbury. The practice describes itself as a primary eye health provider, seeing children, older people and everyone in between. The building was designed in the 1970s as an optometry practice with a home above it, and the present owners, optometrist Meredith Flack and her husband Philip, have run the practice since 2019.
Every first consultation is booked for an hour with the optometrist, so there is time to talk through concerns. The practice offers eye tests, contact lenses including soft and rigid lenses, dry eye care, myopia control for children and ocular therapeutics. It fits spectacle lenses and frames, sunglasses, safety glasses and eye drops. A frame in good condition can be sent away for new lenses, which typically takes about two weeks. Outside prescriptions are welcome, and glasses can be made from a prescription issued elsewhere. Simple adjustments and repairs are done in the shop, and complex repairs go to the lab in Christchurch.
Diagnostic equipment includes OCT scans, retinal photography, corneal topography, axial length measurement and automated perimetry. If a patient needs specialist or hospital care, the practice arranges a public or private referral. The practice says it does not set sales targets.