If you’ve never had an eye examination before, this is a quick guide to what you should expect:
History & Symptoms
Our optometrist will ask you about your general health, and any medications you may be taking, and will find out about your previous eye history. We can measure the prescription from any existing spectacles you may have so that we know what you have been using in the past. If you have been to us before, then we will have detailed records.
Assessment Of Vision
The next step of your eye examination is an assessment of your unaided vision and your vision with any existing correction you may have.
Refraction Including Muscle Balance & Accommodation
Once we have looked at your vision with and without your current eye wear, a refraction will then be carried out to determine your current requirements, if any. We firstly do this by shining a light into each eye and then fine tune it with your help. During your eye exam, we will also check your ability to focus at close range and carry out a muscle balance test to check that your eyes are working well together.
Ophthalmoscopy
Your eyes will then be examined with an ophthalmoscope to ensure that everything is physically healthy. The eyes are said to be the windows to the soul. They are certainly the only place on the body where arteries and veins can be seen working, and they can reveal all sorts of things about you and your general health.
Tonometry
Tonometry is the part of the eye examination where we check that the pressure in the eyes is normal. The eye is a fluid filled ball – too much fluid or poor drainage can lead to Glaucoma, which can cause serious vision loss if untreated.
Visual Field Testing
A Visual Field Test reveals any defects or “holes” in your field of vision. In recent years we have carried out regular work for the DVLA, testing drivers whose fitness to drive has been called into question. We have Henson 8000 machines in both practices, which we will use during this part of your eye exam.
Retinal Photography
We have been using Retinal Cameras since 2006 to capture high quality images of the back of the eye. In fact, over time, we have built up quite an impressive library of images for some of our longer standing clients. Unlike the ophthalmoscope, our cameras provide highly detailed images of the back of the eyes, which we can zoom, filter and compare side-by-side with images captured at previous visits.
Best of all, though, we can show you what we are looking at and our optometrist will take the time to explain everything to you. Our clients regularly tell us how reassuring this is.
Optomap
In 2017, we installed a Daytona Optomap in our Haslingden practice. This incredible device gives us a better, wider view of the retina than ever before; in fact, a 200⁰ angle is possible, which equates to 82% of the retina. Traditional retinal photography used in eye exams gives us around 45%.
If you would like to book your eye exam, get in touch with us.