What to Expect in a Comprehensive Eye Exam by an Optometrist
Yearly eye and vision examinations by an optometrist or ophthalmologist is an important part to preventive health care. As we discussed before in our earlier articles an eye exam may not only detect eye and vision problems but may also detect some overall health issues including high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.
A comprehensive eye exam by an optometrist in general will include the following tests.
1. Patient History – A patient’s history of any previous eye and health conditions of you and your family members are important to understand before the eye examination. The optometrist will ask about your current state of health. Questions the optometrist will ask include: if you have any eye or vision problem, when the issues may have started, if you are currently taking any medications, and if there are any occupational or environmental factors that maybe affecting your vision. Understanding a patient’s history will allow the optometrist to tailor their eye examination specific to the patients needs.
2. Preliminary Tests – evaluate general function and eye health including peripheral vision, depth perception, eye muscle movement and color vision.
3. Visual Acuity – This test assess how clearly each eye is seeing. You will sit down in front of a chart, cover 1 eye and read a loud the letters line by line. The letters on each line get smaller and smaller. The goal of the test is to see the smallest line of letters clearly with each eye.
4. Keratometry – measures the curvature and overall shape of the eye. This is very important for contact lens fitting.
5. Refraction – the optometrist uses instruments called a phoropter and retinscope to determine the appropriate lens power needed for your glasses to correct far sightedness, nearsightedness or astigmatism.
6. Eye Muscle Movement – the optometrist will evaluate how the eyes focus, move and work together.
7. Eye Health Testing – includes:
Slit-Lamp Examination- evaluation of the structure of the eye and surrounding eye tissue.
Glaucoma Test – commonly called the “puff” test. The Glaucoma Test measures the pressure inside your eye.
Dilation – is the evaluation of the internal structure of the eye. The optometrist puts dilating drops in your eyes. This makes the pupils larger creating a better view of the eyes internal structure.
In summary these are the most common tests performed in a comprehensive eye exam. It is highly recommended to have your eyes examined on a yearly basis.
If you have any further questions please feel free to contact us at info@northvalleyoptometry.com
Dr. Tarryn Uyen Ngo is an optometrist serving Milpitas. San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara (CA).
Visit our San Jose Vision Care Articles section for more articles on eye and vision care.
