Your First Eye Visit
We know your vision is important to you – and it’s important to us. Our office provides complete eye care for both adults and children. Our comprehensive eye examinations will check your eyes inside and out for any potential eye disorders or diseases. Your visual skills and abilities are carefully evaluated and appropriate treatment is prescribed from eyeglasses and contact lenses to medical and surgical treatments of the eye.
We are prepared to handle whatever your eye care needs are, and will treat them with the latest in diagnostic equipment and are committed to keeping up with eye care technology.
A comprehensive eye exam will evaluate not only how well you see, but also identify potential eye diseases. Some eye diseases, such as glaucoma and macular degeneration, can result in serious vision loss if not detected and treated early. Often patients with these diseases don’t experience any visual symptoms before vision loss occurs.
If you are over 35, you should have a comprehensive eye exam every two years. Patients over 65 or with a family history of glaucoma, diabetes or diabetic retinopathy should have a yearly eye exam.
What to expect at your eye exam:
Your doctor will most likely dilate the pupils of your eyes, in order to better see the retina at the back of your eye. While most patients drive dilated, you may want to consider making transportation arrangements, as your vision may be blurry for a few hours after dilating especially for near. They will remain dilated approximately four (4) hours.
Please bring with you:
- Valid Photo ID
- Your insurance card and any referral from your insurance or doctor.
- Your current glasses and/or wear your contacts in and bring the contacts container they came in if you have it.
- A list of your medications
- Your complete medical history.
Your exam may include a:
- visual acuity or refraction test to determine the degree to which you may be nearsighted, farsighted or have astigmatism.
- muscle function test to check the movement of your eyes in each direction and at specified angles. This test will identify any muscle weakness or involuntary eye movement.
- binocular vision skills assessment to ensure that your eyes work together properly as a team.? This is important for proper depth perception, eye muscle coordination and the ability to change focus from near to far objects.
- visual field test to measure your peripheral vision, the width of the area you can see when you are looking straight ahead. This test may also detect diseases of the eyes or neurological disorders.
- eye pressure test. Your doctor may administer one or more tests to evaluate your intra-ocular pressure. High intraocular pressure may be a sign of glaucoma.
- color vision screening to see if you perceive colors properly.
- eye health assessment using an ophthalmoscope. This tool allows the doctor to evaluate your pupil responses, optic nerve, retina, cornea, and lens.
The doctor will evaluate your test results and examine the health of your eyes to determine if any medical problems exist or the need for a new prescription. You should expect the doctor to discuss the findings of the exam and any necessary treatment options. Be sure to ask the doctor questions or address concerns you may have at this time.
A complete eye examination will typically take 1 ½-2 hours from the time we welcome you to the office until the exam is completed. This time is needed due to the time for form completion, checking of insurance, measurements including refraction, and dilation time, which can vary among patients from 20 minutes to an hour. We recommend leaving spacing for other appointments or work you may have that day.