Optometry

Comprehensive Eye Examinations

OCB’s Optometrist’s provide patients with comprehensive eye examinations, including ocular health assessment, treatment, and management of ocular diseases, and therapeutic and cosmetic contact lens care. Our optometrists work closely with our Ophthalmologists and they can easily refer patients who may need other specialized care or surgical treatment. Regular comprehensive eye exams can detect eye diseases early, before you experience any symptoms and when they are most treatable. Many eye diseases such as glaucoma and diabetes do not have symptoms in the early stages.

What Do Optometrists Check During Eye Exams?

A comprehensive eye exam is simple and comfortable. Your doctor may have a staff member do portions of this exam. Here is what the exam should include:

Your doctor will ask you about your vision and your general health. They will ask about:

your family’s medical history
what medications you take
whether you wear corrective lenses

This is the part of an eye exam people are most familiar with. You will read an eye chart to determine how well you see at various distances. You cover one eye while the other is being tested. This exam will determine whether you have 20/20 vision or not.

Your doctor will ask you to look at an eye chart through a device called a phoroptor. The phoroptor contains different lenses. It will help determine the best eyeglass or contact lens prescription for you.

Your doctor may check how your pupils respond to light by shining a bright beam of light into your eye. Pupils usually respond by getting smaller. If your pupils widen or don’t respond, this may reveal an underlying problem.

Loss of side vision (peripheral vision) may be a symptom of glaucoma. This test can find eye problems you aren’t aware of because you can lose side vision without noticing.

A test called ocular motility evaluates the movement of your eyes. Your ophthalmologist looks to see if your eyes are aligned. They also check that your eye muscles are working properly.

Eye pressure testing, called tonometry, measures the pressure within your eye (intraocular eye pressure, or IOP). Elevated IOP is one sign of glaucoma. The test may involve a quick puff of air onto the eye or gently applying a pressure-sensitive tip near or against your eye. Your ophthalmologist may use numbing eye drops for this test for your comfort.

Your ophthalmologist uses a slit-lamp microscope to light up the front part of the eye. This includes the eyelids, cornea, iris and lens. This test checks for cataracts or any scars or scratches on your cornea.

Your ophthalmologist will put dilating eye drops in your eye to dilate, or widen, your pupil. This will allow them to examine your retina and optic nerve for signs of damage from disease. Your eyes might be sensitive to light for a few hours after dilation.

Optometry

Comprehensive Eye Examinations

What Do Optometrists Check During Eye Exams?

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