Comprehensive Exam (Routine Visit)
Optometry is your primary health care for your eyes. As your primary eye health care provider, we need to obtain a complete medical history at your exam. A complete medical history is more than your current symptoms and address, below is a list of what is included in your medical history.
Patient demographics ( name, address, date of birth, telephone number and email, etc.)
Chief complaint (what was your reason for your appointment)
History of present illness (how long have you had your current complaint, what symptoms you have, what helps relieve your symptoms)
Family and social history (family health conditions that may be hereditary, do you smoke or drink)
Medication history (medications can change your body including eyes, it's important to see what you are taking and why)
Allergies (do you have medication allergies, or physical allergies that may require us to alter our exam rooms/equipment)
Review of symptoms (what is your current health conditions, and current symptoms)
Patient demographics ( name, address, date of birth, telephone number and email, etc.)
Chief complaint (what was your reason for your appointment)
History of present illness (how long have you had your current complaint, what symptoms you have, what helps relieve your symptoms)
Family and social history (family health conditions that may be hereditary, do you smoke or drink)
Medication history (medications can change your body including eyes, it's important to see what you are taking and why)
Allergies (do you have medication allergies, or physical allergies that may require us to alter our exam rooms/equipment)
Review of symptoms (what is your current health conditions, and current symptoms)
|
Pre-testingTonometry (checking your eye pressure)
Yes, we know no one enjoys it, but getting your eye pressure is a vital part of your exam. Having uncontrolled intraocular pressures (IOP) can lead to vision loss. If you prefer not to sit for the NCT (non contact tonometry, let our technician or doctor know so that we can arrange a different method. Auto Refraction and Keratometry This provides the doctor with a starting point or basic measurement for your glasses prescription based on the shape of your eye. It also gives us measurements of the cornea (front of eye) which is important for contact lenses fittings. While it gives us a base prescription, the doctor refines the numbers to determine your final prescription that will get you seeing with your best vision possible. Screening Visual Field Your field of vision is how much you see and how well you see. The screening test will quickly measure your central and side vision. This is important to any eye exam. Failed screenings usually lead to a further workup to check for other problems that can affect your vision, such as glaucoma, retinal detachments, strokes, brain tumors and other neurological or retinal conditions. |
Entrance TestingIn the exam room, the doctor will go over your reason for being here and your medical history. Additionally, the doctor will do some basic visual testing, this will be done unaided or with your current prescription. These will test several aspects to your visual system and may include the following:
Visual Acuities (how well you can see, can you get to 20/20?) Pupil testing ( do your pupils react to light equally, are they equal in size) Cover test (eye alignment screening, do you have an eye turn) EOMs (extra ocular muscle testing, do your muscles move your eye correctly) |
|
Refraction
While the other parts of your exam may be more important to your overall eye health, your refraction is also equally important and probably why you're in the office. The refraction is the portion of your exam where the doctor will manually determine your final glasses prescription.
You may have several prescriptions for your different visual needs, such as driving or distance only, reading or near only, bifocals or progressive, over contact lenses, computer or intermediate, sunglasses and more. The doctor will go through and determine the best prescription for your needs.
They will have you go through and compare different levels of prescription and you let us know which is better. While most people know the options of 1 or 2, there is a third option "no difference". We are not looking for a certain answer each time, everyone is different, all we want is to know which is clearer or if there is no difference.
You may have several prescriptions for your different visual needs, such as driving or distance only, reading or near only, bifocals or progressive, over contact lenses, computer or intermediate, sunglasses and more. The doctor will go through and determine the best prescription for your needs.
They will have you go through and compare different levels of prescription and you let us know which is better. While most people know the options of 1 or 2, there is a third option "no difference". We are not looking for a certain answer each time, everyone is different, all we want is to know which is clearer or if there is no difference.
|
|
Anterior Segment Exam |
& |
Posterior Segment Exam |
|
The anterior segment exam is done using the slit lamp. The slit lamp is a binocular microscope that has options for light color and width (hence "slit" lamp).
We will use the device to look for abnormalitlies of the front part of your ocular system. It will include your eye lids, lashed, conjunctive (clear covering over the sclera), sclera (white of eyes), cornea (clear window of the eye), anterior chamber, iris, lens angles among other things. During this part of the exam we find conditions such as cataracts, dry eyes, blepharitis, demodex, styes, chalazions, etc. We also use the slit lamp to perform certain procedures such as, foreign body removal, punctal plugs, and contact lens evalutaions |
The posterior segment includes parts of the eyes behind the lens, such as the vitreous (gel or jelly of eye), retina (tissue that lines the back of the eye, optic nerve, etc.
This is arguably the most important part of the comprehensive exam so we do not take short cuts. New patients will be dilated on their first visit. We dilate because the bright examination devices would cause your pupils to close and limit our view. Dilation drops open the pupils and allow us to evaluate the inside of your eye to look for signs of eye conditions such as glaucoma, retinal detachment or tears, tumors, bleeding (retinopathy from hypertension or diabetes), nevus (freckle), retinal scars and more. |
Further TestingAt the conclusion of your exam, we may recommend further testing if abnormalities were found. This may include testing for glaucoma, retinal scans, more in-depth visual field tests, dry eye work up, cataracts eval, and more.
We work closely with many local ophthalmologists should you need a referral to a specialist or surgeons office. Interested in contact lenses? At this point you would see the doctor for either an initial contact lens fitting or an evaluation and update of your current contact lenses.
Click here to learn more about contact lens evaluations. |
|
