Eye Exams
At Weber Vision Care, your comprehensive eye and vision exam will include some or all of the following steps or procedures
Eye Examinations
Your History
During the initial component of your eye examination, one of our optometric techs will discuss your general health, including:
- Your general health history;
- Any medication usage and allergies;
- Your family’s eye and medical histories;
- Specific vision requirements for your work or hobbies;
- The nature of any specific problem(s); and
- Your visual and ocular history
Preliminary Testing
During the preliminary testing, one of our optometric techs will check your visual function and ocular health by checking a variety of factors, including your pupil size and pupillary responses, your near point of convergence (the closest point of fixation just before the image becomes double); your stereo vision; and your color vision. We’ll also test you using a computerized auto refractor, which gives us your corneal measurements, used in contact lens fittings. It also gives us an estimate of your distance vision. We also might test your spectacles using our computerized lensometer, which lets us read the prescription in an existing pair of glasses.
Your Visual Acuity and Refraction
We measure your visual acuity both with and without your most recent spectacle or contact lens correction to establish your vision baseline. Our visual acuity test includes: distance visual acuity; near visual acuity; acuity at distances specific for your job or hobbies.We’ll then work with you to determine the lens correction needed to provide optimal visual acuity for all viewing distances. This is when we ask you the famous question, “Which is better, one or two!”
Slit Lamp Testing
You’ll work with Drs. Williams or Bloom during the next portion of the examination, who will examine your eyes using the slit lamp, a binocular microscope that permits the doctor to examine your eyes under high magnification and allows her to perform a detailed examination of your eyes.
Glaucoma Testing
The measurement of eye pressure involves touching each eye with a probe, called an applanation tonometer, for just a few seconds.
Fundoscopy: About Dilated Eye Exams
Many eye diseases and disorders have no symptoms or early warning signs. Drs. Williams and Bloom recommend dilated eye exams at appropriate intervals to detect changes in the retina, the optic nerve, or both. That way, the doctors can examine the back of your eyes for subtle changes and, if necessary, initiate treatment at the right time.Why do we administer eye drops? As you know, your pupils dilate when it’s dark and they contract when it’s bright. The eye drops dilate your pupils so when the doctors shine a light into the back of your eye (to see what’s going on), the pupil won’t contract. Some of our patients experience the side effect of an inability to focus — especially up close — for up to six hours (depending on the type of drop and the patient’s sensitivity). Students can return to school after a dilation; however, they may have trouble reading or doing homework for several hours. Adult patients may or may not be able to drive home, depending on their sensitivity to the drops. If you are not sure how you’ll react, you should plan to have someone pick you up from our office.After we administer the drops, your eyes eventually become fully dilated. At that point, the doctor can now examine the very back of your eyes with a binocular indirect ophthalmoscope. This instrument provides a high magnification view of the very back of your eye, allowing the doctor to evaluate your retina (the nerve layer in the back of the eye that contains the sensory cells, or photoreceptors), blood vessels, and optic nerve. This examination is crucial to help identify age-related macular degeneration, abnormalities of the optic nerve (like damage from glaucoma), and other problems.
Recommendations
After evaluating your ocular health, Drs. Bloom and Williams will review your status, discuss it with you, and recommend the best way to proceed. The doctor will answer any questions you may have and, if necessary, escort you to the optical dispensary to work with our friendly, knowledgeable opticians, or to the contact lens room to work with our equally friendly and knowledgeable contact lens technicians.
Contact Lens Exams
Your Eye Exam for Contact Lenses
Before anything else, you should have a comprehensive eye exam for contact lenses. During this contact lens exam, your eye doctor will check your vision and determine the prescription you need. She’ll also check for any eye health problems or other issues that may cause problems with contact lens wear. Click here for a description of the comprehensive eye examinations we provide here at Weber Vision Care.Your Contact Lens “Talk”
The first part of the consultation is a discussion about with your lifestyle and preferences regarding contact lens options. We’ll discuss the options, and the advantages and drawbacks of various types of lenses for you including:- The choice between contact lenses that are designed to be replaced daily or those which can be worn for more extended periods.
- The choice between soft contact lenses for their ease and comfort and hard, or rigid gas permeable lenses, which have advantages in certain situations.
- The choice, if you need bifocals, between multifocal contact lenses or monovision (a prescribing technique where one contact lens corrects your distance vision and the other lens corrects your near vision).
- The choice between maintaining your eye color or selecting lenses that allow to change your eye color.
The Contact Lens Fitting
Our eyes come in different sizes and shapes, which means that a single contact lens size doesn’t fit all eyes. If the curvature of a contact lens is too flat or too steep based on the shape of your eye shape, it won’t be comfortable, and it even could damage to your eye. Your eye doctor will measure your eye kin the following ways to ensure the best contact lens size and design for your eyes.Trial Lenses
No matter how comprehensive the eye exam for contact lenses, most eye doctors will give you a set of trial lenses just to confirm that they are the right choice for your eyes. Most people wear trial lenses for at least 15 minutes so that any initial excess tearing of the eye stops, and your tear film stabilizes. With lenses in place, your doctor will use the slit lamp to evaluate the position and movement of the lenses as you blink and look in different directions; she’ll also discuss with you how the lenses feel.Contact Lens Class
Then, you will learn about how to care for your lenses and how long to wear them. You will also receive training on how to put in and take our your new lenses. While it may seem difficult at first, most people quickly learn how to contacts lenses.Your Prescription for Contact Lenses
Once you settle on the correct lenses for your needs, we’ll write a contact lens prescription for you. This prescription designates the contact lens power, the curvature of the lens (called the base curve), the lens diameter, and the lens name and manufacturer. In the case of GP contact lenses, additional specifications are included in the contact lens prescription.Follow Up Contact Lens Eye Exams
We’ll schedule a few follow-up visits so your doctor can confirm the lenses you chose fit properly and that your eyes are able to tolerate contact lens wear. Even if the lenses are working fine, you should schedule a contact lens exam at least once a year to make sure your eyes are continuing to tolerate contact lens wear and show no signs of ill effects from the lenses.