A complete eye examination does more than determine how clearly you see from a distance and which lens prescription, if necessary, will give you the best possible vision. Dr Hillson will also run a number of tests to check the health and function of your entire eye.
If you have never had an eye examination or are seeing Dr Hillson for the first time, one of our technicians will begin by asking you questions about your medical history, your family’s medical history, and any vision problems you may have. If you wear glasses, be sure to bring them with you to your appointment. Your technician will check them to make sure that they are the correct prescription your eyes.
A complete eye examination will include many or all of these painless tests:
A visual acuity test measures how well you can see from a distance. Covering one eye at a time, you will look at an eye chart and be asked to identify letters that get smaller as you read farther down the chart.
If your visual acuity test indicates that you need corrective lenses, you will be given a refraction test to determine the correct prescription. Your ophthalmologist may use retinoscopy to estimate your prescription by shining a light into your eyes to see the movement of the light reflected by your retina. Dr Hillson may finalize your prescription by asking you to look through a device called a phoroptor that has many different lenses in it. You may also be asked to compare a series of two lens choices and evaluate which lens combination provides you with your best possible vision correction.
To test the function of your eye muscles, Dr Hillson may have you follow the movement of an object in many directions, looking for weak muscles or poor control of the muscles that move your eyes.
To test your peripheral vision, which is what you are able to see to the sides of your visual field when you look straight ahead, our office uses a visual field test. You may be asked to cover one eye at a time and, while looking straight ahead, a computer program will be used to test your visual field. You will look straight ahead into a special lighted bowl-shaped instrument and press a button each time you see a flash of light. Dr Hillson can use your responses to see if there are any blind spots in your visual field.
Dr Hillson will use a slit-lamp microscope to examine the front part of your eye, including the cornea, iris, and lens. You will sit at the slit lamp, which greatly magnifies your eye and shines a bright line of light into it, allowing Dr Hillson to examine your eye closely. Before the test, you may be given eyedrops with fluorescein, an orange dye, to make your cornea easier to see. This dye will wash away naturally.
To test for glaucoma, a disease that can cause blindness when too much pressure in your eye damages the optic nerve, Dr Hillson will use a tonometer to measure your intraocular pressure. Dr Hillson or the technician will give you eyedrops containing an anesthetic and fluorescein dye to numb the front surface of your eye and will then use a manual tonometer to gently touch your cornea and measure the force required to flatten it. This procedure is quick and painless, and the anesthetic will wear off in 15 or 20 minutes.
Our technicians may also use pachymetry to measure the thickness of your cornea, which helps evaluate the accuracy of your intraocular pressure measurement. After applying numbing eyedrops, the technician will use ultrasonic waves to measure your corneal thickness. This test is also a critical component of evaluating a patient’s risk for glaucoma.
A retinal examination explores the back of your eye including the retina and optic nerve. First, your pupils will be dilated with eyedrops, which may sting briefly. Using a method called indirect examination, Dr Hillson will use a bright light mounted on his or her forehead to examine your eye while holding it open. Finally, to get the best look at the back of the eye, Dr Hillson may choose to perform a slit-lamp examination, which combines the use of the slit lamp and special lenses. Retinal examinations usually take about five minutes, but the eyedrops will continue to blur your vision for several hours. You may not be able to drive and will be sensitive to bright light, but this is temporary and should resolve in several hours.
