Adult and Pediatric Eye Exams

Comprehensive Eye and Vision Examination

Periodic medical eye and wellness exams, including contact lens examinations are an important part of preventive health care. Many eye and vision problems have no obvious signs or symptoms. As a result, individuals are often unaware that problems exist. Early diagnosis and treatment of eye and vision problems are important for maintaining good vision and eye health, and when possible, preventing vision loss.

Visual Acuity

Reading charts are often used to measure visual acuity.Visual acuity measurements evaluate how clearly each eye is seeing. As part of the testing, you are asked to read letters on distance and near reading charts. The results of visual acuity testing are written as a fraction such as 20/40.

When testing distance vision, the top number in the fraction is the standard distance at which testing is done, twenty feet. The bottom number is the smallest letter size you were able to read. A person with 20/40 visual acuity would have to get within 20 feet of a letter that should be seen at 40 feet in order to see it clearly. Normal distance visual acuity is 20/20.

Preliminary Tests

Preliminary testing may include evaluation of specific aspects of visual function and eye health such as depth perception, color vision, eye muscle movements, peripheral or side vision, and the way your pupils respond to light.

Keratometry

This test measures the curvature of the cornea, the clear outer surface of the eye, by focusing a circle of light on the cornea and measuring its reflection. This measurement is particularly critical in determining the proper fit for contact lenses.

Refraction

Determining refractive error with a phoropter and retinoscope refraction is conducted to determine the appropriate lens power needed to compensate for any refractive error (nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism). Using an instrument called a phoropter, your ophthalmologist places a series of lenses in front of your eyes and measures how they focus light using a hand held lighted instrument called a retinoscope. The doctor may choose to use an automated instrument that automatically evaluates the focusing power of the eye. The power is then refined by patient’s responses to determine the lenses that allow the clearest vision.

This testing may be done without the use of eye drops to determine how the eyes respond under normal seeing conditions. In some cases, such as for patients who can’t respond verbally or when some of the eyes focusing power may be hidden, eye drops are used. The drops temporarily keep the eyes from changing focus while testing is done.

Eyeglasses and Contact Lenses

Lenses for correcting or improving vision:
There are two types of lenses prescribed for correcting or improving vision. These include:

Eyeglasses (Also called spectacles.)

Eyeglasses, the most common form of eyewear used to correct or improve many types of vision problems, are a frame that holds two pieces of glass or plastic, which have been ground into lenses to correct refractive errors. Refractive errors can include nearsightedness or myopia (difficulty seeing far away), farsightedness or hyperopia (difficulty seeing close up), and astigmatism (blurring due to an irregularly shaped cornea). Eyeglasses perform this function by adding or subtracting focusing power to the eye’s cornea and lens.

Contact Lenses

A synthetic lens that is fitted over the cornea of the eye to correct various vision defects, multiple lens options are available to suit various prescriptions and lifestyles.
The contact lens is a device worn in the eye to correct vision, although some people wear colored contact lens to enhance or change their eye color. The synthetic lens floats on a film of tears directly over the cornea. For some forms of eye disease, contact lenses correct vision better than conventional spectacles. Many people prefer contact lenses over glasses for cosmetic reasons, and active sports enthusiasts prefer contact lens because ofthe freedom it provides them.

There are basically three types of lenses: soft, hard, and gas-permeable. Soft contact lenses are usually more comfortable to wear, but they also tear more easily than hard contact lenses. Hard lenses also tend to “pop” out more frequently. Gas permeable lenses are a compromise between the hard and soft, allowing greater comfort than hard lenses but less chance of tearing than soft lenses. Contacts are usually worn during the day and taken out every night for cleaning. Extended-wear lenses allow users to leave in their contacts for longer periods of time, even when they’re sleeping.

More recently, one-a-day contact lenses are gaining popularity among lens wearers. These contacts are worn for only one day and thrown away, eliminating the hassle of cleaning them every night. Contact lens prescriptions can be different from eyeglass prescriptions and require different measurements.

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