Whanganui optometrist John Mellsop retires after 45-year career

Wanganui Eyecare optometrist John Mellsop is retiring after 45 years of looking after people's eyes. Photo / Eva de Jong

A Whanganui optometrist who devoted part of his career to helping children with vision-related learning difficulties is retiring after 45 years.

After 39 years at Wanganui Eyecare, John Mellsop is preparing to give up his long-serving job.

“I wanted to finish while I’m still enjoying and doing well at the work; I don’t want to get old and doddery and not be as good,” Mellsop said.

During his time there, Mellsop has witnessed significant technological developments in optometry and has watched the business expand to include Eyes on Victoria and Hawera Eyecare.

Whanganui Optometry Group director John Boyle said Mellsop had made a huge impact on children with vision-related learning difficulties, helping “countless kids see and learn more easily”.

Mellsop said part of his work involved helping children whose eye muscle movement developed more slowly than others' to get special glasses or do eye exercises to be able to learn to read.

“That’s been the most satisfying thing that I’ve done,” he said.

“If they don’t get that help, they’ll be stuck all through school.”

Any child with reading difficulties should be given an eye test and this was something schools had become more proactive about over the years, he said.

Mellsop spent time seeing schoolchildren who were sent in a minivan from Castlecliff School to ensure they did not have undiagnosed vision issues and were wearing properly fitted glasses with accurate prescriptions.

The cost of an optometrist appointment was often a barrier for families, and the support offered by Work and Income New Zealand for glasses subsidies was vital, he said.

Over his career, Mellsop had noticed a growing awareness among optometrists about the impact visual-related learning difficulties could have on a person’s life.

“If you were to screen people in the prison population, a lot of these people have got visual problems that have never been picked up or treated,” he said.

“They’ve struggled and not been able to keep up; so they act out.”

Advancements in stronger instruments for optometrists had allowed the industry to spot patients’ eye diseases at much earlier ages, he said.

But the rise of mobile phones and computer-based work meant increased screen time was impacting people’s eyes.

“When you’re sitting looking at a screen, your eyes are at a set distance, and so they’re not moving around much and it’s quite stressful on our visual system,” Mellsop said.

“If you’ve got any small visual error, it’s more obvious and so people who would get by if, say, they were working on a farm, now can’t if their job is on a screen.”

This meant people who previously would not have used glasses now needed them, he said.

New Zealand’s ageing population had also created more demand for optometry with a higher prevalence of eye diseases needing treatment.

In his retirement, Mellsop plans to spend more time tramping and volunteering at community events through the Central Baptist Church and Whanganui parkrun, while maintaining a connection to the eye industry through mentoring up-and-coming optometrists.

“I think now’s the time to give it up, and I’m ready,” he said.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.