Eye Test
An Eye Test Could
Add Years to your Sight
An eye test takes around 30 minutes and could add years to your sight.
The process of an eye test is very simple. Vision Care recommends that you have an eye test at least every 2 years, or more frequently if recommended by your optometrist.
Questionnaire About Your General
& Eye Related Health
Before your eye examination, we need to complete a questionnaire about both your general and eye related health. This helps us to recommend spectacles and lenses that suit your needs. A reading of your current prescription may be taken from your old glasses. You will also be asked to look into a machine that measures the refection of your eye and gives your approximate prescription.
Pre-Test
Check
Internal Eye
Pressure
One of Several Important Tests
A machine blows a puff of air into your eyes to measure their internal pressure. This is one of several important tests that can indicate the early stages of glaucoma.
You & Your Family’s Medical History
The optometrist will ask about you and your family’s medical history. Several eye conditions are hereditary and many others are related to health, so it is important to take these factors into account.
Consulting
Room
Subjective
Tests
You Say What You See
These are tests where you say what you see. You look through an instrument at various images projected onto the opposite wall, while your optometrist flips different lenses in front of your eyes. These tests determine the best prescription to give you balanced vision.
Focus at Varying Distances
As you get older the lens in your eye becomes less flexible, making it difficult to focus close up, so your optometrist may test your ability to focus at varying distances. In one such test the optometrist asks you to focus on a sliding target while it is moved towards you until it becomes blurred.
Near and
Far
Color, Light and
Movement
Checking of Your Eyes Movement
To check that your eyes move and focus properly, your optometrist will move a pen around in front of your eyes and towards your nose.
Examination of the Health
of the Back of the Eye
Your optometrist shines a bright light into your eye and examines the health of the back of the eye and checks the clarity of the lens. During this part of the examination, any early indications of high blood pressure, diabetes, glaucoma or cataract can be picked up. At Vision Care we use a Fundus camera, which takes a picture of the inside of the eye, which helps us to identify health problems of the retina. This can be used a tool that allows us to observe changes in your eye.
Health of the
Eye – Inside
Health of the
Eye – Outside
Examination of the Health
of the Back of the Eye
A slit lamp – a powerful, illuminated microscope – is used to check the outside of your eye for abnormalities and certain conditions of the cornea.
Test for Glaucoma
Your optometrist may want to test for glaucoma by testing for loss of vision at the side, in the middle or in patches. This is done using a visual field screener, which flashes dark lines against a bright background and you press a button when you see them. If you fail to see some lines, you may have a blind spot.
Field
Screening
Retinal
Camera
Further Examination & Documentation
With every eye test, a picture from the inside of your eye will be taken for further examination and documentation. This makes it possible for us to compare the state of your condition once we examine you again.
Non-Invasive Imaging Test
Is a non-invasive imaging test that uses light rays to take cross section pictures of your retina. It combines a laser-scanning camera and specialized software that evaluates the optic nerve and the macula. It is a proven, essential tool for detecting and managing glaucoma (=high tension in the eye, can cause blindness) and edema.
With OCT, each of the retina’s distinctive layers can be seen. This allows their thickness to be mapped and measured. These measurements help with diagnosis. They also provide treatment guidance for glaucoma and diseases of the retina. These retinal diseases include age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic eye disease.
For the first time this revolutionary technology allows us to understand the progression of optic nerve involvement in regard to glaucoma and other eye conditions long before irreversible vision loss takes place.
Optical Coherence
Tomography (OCT)
Results
Prescription and Recommendations
After you have completed all the tests, your optometrist will give you your prescription and explain his/her recommendations.
SPH (sphere) – the amount of long (+) or short (-) sight.
CYL (cylinder) – the amount of astigmatism, or visual distortion, caused by an irregularly shaped cornea.
AXIS – the direction of the astigmatism, measured in degrees.
PRISM – correction needed to balance the eyes.