Eye Care for Raglan & Whaingaroa

People come to Rose Optometry from all over the Waikato, and a good number of them drive from Raglan. This page is for them: what the trip is for, what it is not worth making for, and what it costs.

Getting here. We are at 38 Lake Road, Frankton, Hamilton — about a 45 minute drive from Raglan over Te Uku on State Highway 23. There is parking on site, and Frankton is on the western side of Hamilton, so you are not driving through the middle of town to reach us.

What is worth driving to Hamilton for

We would not ask anyone to drive a 45 minute drive for something their own optometrist does perfectly well. What we do that is not available in most practices is the specialty work:

• Keratoconus and corneal ectasia — we are known as the home of the Rose K lens, fit Rose K, Rose K2 XL and custom scleral designs, and have Pentacam, Medmont and ANTERION imaging on site. We take referrals from optometrists around New Zealand for this work.
• Night lenses (orthokeratology) — overnight lenses that correct short-sightedness while you sleep, so there is nothing in your eyes during the day. Fitting these properly needs corneal topography and custom design capability.
• Myopia management for children — a structured programme that measures axial length at every visit, so you can see whether your child's short-sightedness is actually being slowed rather than taking it on trust.
• The dry eye clinic — IPL, Tixel, LipiFlow, BlephEx, Rexon-Eye, low-level light therapy and amniotic membrane, which between them cover treatments that are simply not available in most of the Waikato.
• Scleral and custom contact lenses for eyes that ordinary lenses will not fit — after corneal grafts, after injury, and for severe dry eye.

And what is not

Raglan has no permanent optometry practice, so most eye care means a trip to Hamilton anyway — Frankton is the first part of the city you reach. We are not trying to talk anyone out of their local practice, and if you already have an optometrist you like in Raglan, keep them — that relationship is worth more than a new pair of frames. Where we are useful is the layer above that: the problem that has not responded, the lens that will not fit, the child whose prescription keeps climbing, or the second opinion you want before agreeing to something.

Ordinary eye examinations too

That said, plenty of Raglan patients simply come to us for a normal eye test, usually because they work in Hamilton or they want the full imaging as standard. A new-patient comprehensive examination is 45 minutes and includes a full pretest and imaging — $129 for adults, $79 for children and school students, $99 for tertiary students. We publish the whole fee list rather than making you ask.

Making the trip worth it

If you are travelling, tell us when you book. We will group appointments so a family comes in together, put a longer slot aside where the problem needs it, and try to get imaging, fitting and review into as few trips as we can. For contact lens and ortho-k patients we can often do reviews less frequently once things are settled, and supplies can be posted.

A note for Raglan

Night lenses come up more often with Raglan patients than with anyone else, for an obvious reason. If you surf, swim or are on the water regularly, contact lenses are a genuine infection risk and glasses are useless — and night lenses leave you with nothing in your eyes from the moment you get up.

The water rule, which we do not bend. Night lenses are never rinsed or stored in tap water, tank water, bottled water, pool water or river water — only in the solution we prescribe — and they are out of the eyes before swimming, showering and spa pools. Acanthamoeba, the organism behind the most feared contact lens infection, lives in all of those. Our partner optometrist Jagrut Lallu is a co-author on a published case report of orthokeratology-related Acanthamoeba keratitis in a 13-year-old, so we would rather tell you about it plainly at the start than not at all. Nearly all of that risk is preventable with habits we can teach in a single appointment.

Referrals from optometrists

We take referrals from optometrists across the Waikato and nationally for keratoconus, scleral lenses, orthokeratology, myopia management and amniotic membrane treatment, and we send the patient back to the referring practice for their routine care. If you are a practitioner in Raglan, our referrals page has the details.

Optometrists for care for Raglan patients at Rose Optometry

You will be seen by one of seven therapeutically qualified optometrists — all University of Auckland graduates, all able to prescribe eye medication where it is needed, and all of whom examine patients from six weeks of age. Care for Raglan patients is part of their clinical practice.

• Jagrut Lallu — Partner Optometrist · BOptom (Hons), MSc Specialty Lenses (Hons), FIAOMC
• Jacqueline Rowe — Partner Optometrist · BSc, BOptom
• Emilie Lawson — BOptom (Hons) · Accredited Glaucoma Prescriber · ACO Certificate in Advanced Contact Lenses
• Jason Shen — BOptom (Hons)
• Jessica Wood — BOptom (Hons) · Clinical Research Optometrist, New Zealand Eye Research Centre
• Stella Wong — BOptom (Hons)
• Anjali Hira — BOptom (Hons)

Book from Raglan

Appointments can be booked online at any hour, or call us and we will find something that fits around the drive.

• New patient — book a comprehensive eye examination (45 minutes, includes imaging and full pretest), $129 for adults, $79 for children and school students.
• Already a Rose patient — book your eye examination here.
• Want to talk about night lenses first? — book a free 15-minute Ortho-K chat, no cost and no obligation.
• Ready to be fitted — new ortho-k / night lens fit (30 minutes).

Or call 07 847 3195, or get in touch. Rose Optometry, 38 Lake Road, Frankton, Hamilton. 07 847 3195

Reviewed by Jagrut Lallu — BOptom (Hons), MSc Specialty Lenses (Hons), FIAOMC, Therapeutic Optometrist & Contact Lens Specialist, Partner, Rose Optometry. Last reviewed 19 September 2026.