Comprehensive Eye Examination
A comprehensive eye examination consists of two parts:
The Visual Evaluation and The Eye Health Evaluation
The Visual Evaluation
Assesses how well a person sees and how well their eyes work together
What’s the lowest line of letters you can read on the chart?
- Visual acuity testing determines the current level of what a person sees on the eye chart
Can you tell me which dot looks like it is coming toward you, or can you pinch the fly’s wing?
- Stereopsis helps us to ascertain your level of depth perception
What number can you see on this page?
- The Ishihara test allows us to determine if there are any color deficiencies, or color blindness
Follow the light with your eyes without moving your head…
- EOM testing allows the doctor to determine the extent of your eye movements and can help determine if there are any contstriction with your eye muscles; it can help assess how effectively the eyes can move from one target to another
Without looking away from my nose, can you tell me when you can see the target coming from the side?
- Confrontational fields will let us know if you have any gross difficulties with your peripheral, or side, vision
Look straight ahead while I shine this penlight in your eye…
- Pupil evaluation allows us to detect if there may be any neurological deficiencies in the neural pathway from your eyes to the brain
Which choice looks better: 1 or 2?
- Refraction is the determination of whether a prescription with glasses or contact lenses will improve your vision
- Accommodative testing determines how well you can see up close
Can you tell me when the letters line up one above each other, like buttons on a shirt, or when they align side-by-side like headlights on a car?
- Binocular testing assesses how well the eyes work together and can aid in determining whether there is a “lazy” eye
- Cover tests are performed preliminarily to see if there is any eye turn or gross binocular vision problem
The Eye Health Evaluation
Monitors systemic conditions that can affect your vision and ocular health such as diabetes and hypertension, as well as evaluations for cataracts, macular degeneration and glaucoma
The Slit Lamp Examination
- This allows us to assess the health of the outer structures of your eye like the eyelashes, eyelids, the cornea, conjunctiva, tear film and lens
Tonometry
- This test determines your eye pressure—eye pressures that are outside the normal limits may be an indication of sight-threatening eye conditions like glaucoma
The Dilated Examination
- Eye drops are instilled to help the pupils widen so that we can look at the back of the eye
- When you are dilated, it allows us to comprehensively evaluate the eye and its parts from front to back
- We can also assess the health of your retina when you are dilated
- Typically, dilation eye drops last for a few hours—you will be light sensitive during that time as the pupils are letting more light into the eyes
