what to expect during your next eye exam

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING YOUR NEXT EYE EXAMBy Sylvia Hargrave, MD FACS The Hargrave Eye Center

EYE EXAMS?A comprehensive eye exam canbe more intense than an averagevisit to the doctor, so while it isimportant for your health, it canbe a bit daunting and surprisingfor some patients. Have a look atwhat you can expect during yournext comprehensive eye exam!

Medical History

Your exam will begin by filling out a medical

history and talking to your ophthalmologist

about any symptoms that you might be

experiencing. The doctor may ask you

questions about medications that you take,

any previous prescriptions for contact lenses

or glasses, your job, your hobbies, and more

to learn about factors that affect your vision.

Vision Tests

Next on the agenda are a series of visual acuity

tests to determine the sharpness of your vision.

Your ophthalmologist may use a Snellen Chart—

the instantly-recognizable diagrams with letters of

various sizes—and ask you to read the text until

you can no longer see it.

The ophthalmologist may also conduct a color

blind test to see if you have a color vision

deficiency.

Eye TestsBeyond testing your vision, your

ophthalmologist will also test how well your

eyes work together, and the simplest way to

do so is through the cover test in which the

doctor will “cover” one eye at a time and ask

you to focus on an object across the room

and then an object nearby.

Other exams the ophthalmologist may

perform include eye motility tests to see

how quickly your eyes can follow a moving

object, depth perception tests, and more.

Tests for Diseases

With a slit-lamp test, the doctor can see

structures in your eye ranging from the cornea to

the retina and optic nerve at the back of the eye to

look for diseases such as diabetic retinopathy,

macular degeneration, cataracts, and others. In

addition, a “puff of air” test, also known as a non-

contact tonometry test, looks for glaucoma by

measuring the open eye’s resistance to a small

puff of air.

For More Information, Visit HargraveEyeCenter.net!