Eye Exams

Regular eye examinations are essential to maintaining eye health and are important even if our eyes and vision are fine – because many blinding eye diseases have no warning signs until they have taken away some or all of our vision.

For Example: Diabetic eye disease is the most common cause of blindness in the United States. Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness. And for Americans over age 50, age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of blindness.
To be safe, you should have a thorough eye examination on a regular basis to be sure your eyes are as healthy as you think they are.

How Often Should You Have an Eye Exam?

Children should have their first eye exam, including a measurement of vision, before they begin kindergarten to help determine whether they need glasses for schoolwork and to verify that their eyes are healthy. After this, their vision should be measured at least every few years to make sure that sight is developing normally.

It is a good idea for teens to have a full eye exam before beginning to drive, to make sure they will be safe behind the wheel.

After that, adults should consider having an eye exam every year or two beginning at age 20, and at least once a year after age 50, when blinding diseases listed above become more common.

There are a few exceptions to these guidelines. People with diabetes should have an eye examination every year starting when they are diagnosed with diabetes, no matter how old they are. Younger adults with medical conditions should have dilated eye exams annually to check for cataracts or other vision problems. And people who have relatives with eye diseases, such as glaucoma or macular degeneration, should have examinations once a year beginning as soon as age 30.

What to Expect During Your Exam

Eye doctors use a wide variety of tests and procedures to examine your eyes. These tests range from simple ones, like having you read an eye chart, to complex tests, such as using a high-powered lens to visualize the tiny structures inside of your eyes. Regardless, when you have an eye exam, it will usually take anywhere from half an hour to an hour or more, depending on the doctor, his or her caseload and the number and complexity of tests required for your eyes.

Dilation

Dilating drops are drops that the eye doctor puts in your eyes to make the pupils bigger in order to get a better view of the internal structures of the eye. The pupil is like a window to the inside of the eye. Essentially, dilating drops open the window wider to allow the doctor a better view of the eye's internal structures. Dilating drops usually take about 20 to 30 minutes to start working. While the dilating drops are working, you will be sensitive to light (because more light is getting into your eye) and may notice difficulty focusing on objects up close, and, to a lesser extent, distance vision may be affected for 3 to 5 hours.

Once the drops have taken effect, the doctor will use a variety of instruments and light sources to look inside of your eyes. At the end of your exam, you may drive home, with caution. We provide sunglasses and will provide pupil dilation reversal drops if desired.

Dilation is very important for people with risk factors for eye disease, because it allows for the most thorough evaluation of the health of the inside of your eyes.

Visual Field Test

In some cases, your eye doctor may want to check for the possible presence of blind spots in your peripheral or "side" vision by performing a visual field test. These types of blind spots can originate from eye diseases such as glaucoma. Analysis of blind spots also may help identify specific areas of brain damage caused by a stroke or tumor. When the test is complete, the doctor will have a complete map of your peripheral vision. The pattern of this map tells your doctor where you can see and where you can't see.

Specialized Tests

Contact-lens evaluations, laser-surgery work-ups and pediatric eye exams often require additional, more specialized tests. Your doctor will select the right tests for your eyes and explain each test as it is performed. Regardless of the type of test being performed, it is important that you follow directions closely and be honest in your answers. This will ensure accurate results and the most thorough evaluation of your eyes.