About Your Eyes
A comprehensive eye examination evaluates how well you see, but also can identify potential eye diseases. Some of these diseases, such as glaucoma and macular degeneration, can result in serious vision loss if not detected and treated early. If you are over 35, you should have a comprehensive eye examination every two years. Patients over 65 or with a family history of glaucoma, diabetes, or diabetic retinopathy should have a yearly exam.
What Should I Expect?
Your doctor will most likely request that your eyes be dilated in order to better see the nerve tissue and retina in the back of your eye. You may want to consider making alternative transportation arrangements, as your vision may be blurry for several hours after dilation. You will be in our office for up to two hours, depending on the type of appointment.
Eye Testing
There are many different eye tests that provide doctors with the information they need. Here are some of them.
- Visual Acuity. To test the sharpness of your vision, you will be asked to read the letters off a chart that is 20 feet away.
- Manifest Refraction. This test is done for diagnostic purposes, but also will determine a patient’s refractive error and potential eyeglass prescription if finalized by the doctor.
- Muscle Function Test. This will determine the eye muscle movement in all directions and at specified angles. It alerts staff to any muscle weakness or involuntary muscle movement.
- Binocular Vision Skills Assessment. To ensure that your eyes work together, your eyes are evaluated for proper depth perception, eye muscle coordination, and the ability to change focus from near to far objects.
- Confrontation Fields. This tests your peripheral vision and the width of the area you can see while looking straight ahead.
- Eye Pressure Test. With this test, intraocular pressure (IOP) of your eyes is reviewed. High eye pressure along with physiologic changes of the nerve tissue within the eye can be signs of glaucoma.
- Eye Health Assessment. Using a variety of lenses and equipment, both the anterior and posterior parts of your eye are examined.
