Before your first visit, please utilize our Patient Portal to fill out the appropriate information and online form(s) to ensure that you are seen as quickly as possible when you arrive. Please enter your insurance information into the portal prior to your appointment to allow us to verify your benefits in advance. You will need to bring the following with you to your exam:
- Insurance card
- Photo ID
- List of medications
- Current prescription glasses
We suggest you bring a pair of sunglasses to wear after your appointment as your eyes may be dilated during your exam. A dilation checks your retinal health, and the drops used to dilate your pupils can cause sensitivity to light and blurred vision for a few hours.
Your doctor will ask you about your vision and your general health. They will ask about:
· your family's medical history
· what medications you take
· whether you wear corrective lenses
This is the part of an eye exam people are most familiar with. You will read an eye chart to determine how well you see at various distances. You cover one eye while the other is being tested. This exam will determine whether you have 20/20 vision or not.
Prescription for Corrective Lenses
Your doctor will ask you to look at an eye chart through a device called a phoroptor. The phoroptor contains different lenses. It will help determine the best eyeglass or contact lens prescription for you.
Your doctor may check how your pupils respond to light by shining a bright beam of light into your eye. Pupils usually respond by getting smaller. If your pupils widen or don't respond, this may reveal an underlying problem.
Loss of side vision (peripheral vision) may be a symptom of glaucoma. This test can find eye problems you aren't aware of because you can lose side vision without noticing.
A test called ocular motility evaluates the movement of your eyes. Your ophthalmologist looks to see if your eyes are aligned. They also check that your eye muscles are working properly.
Eye pressure testing, called tonometry, measures the pressure within your eye (intraocular eye pressure, or IOP). Elevated IOP is one sign of glaucoma. The test may involve a quick puff of air onto the eye or gently applying a pressure-sensitive tip near or against your eye. Your ophthalmologist may use numbing eye drops for this test for your comfort.
Your ophthalmologist uses a slit-lamp microscope to light up the front part of the eye. This includes the eyelids, cornea, iris and lens. This test checks for cataracts or any scars or scratches on your cornea.
Your ophthalmologist will put dilating eye drops in your eye to dilate, or widen, your pupil. This will allow them to examine your retina and optic nerve for signs of damage from disease. Your eyes might be sensitive to light for a few hours after dilation.
Your ophthalmologist may suggest other tests to further examine your eye. This can include specialized imaging techniques such as:
· optical coherence tomography (OCT)
· fluorescein angiography (FA)
· topography, which is a scan of the surface of your cornea
These tests help your ophthalmologist detect problems in the back of the eye, on the eye's surface, or inside the eye to diagnose diseases early.
Each part of the comprehensive eye exam provides important information about the health of your eyes. Make sure that you get a complete eye exam as part of your care for your overall health.