As we ring in a new year, it’s always a good time to take stock of your health. If you want to see more clearly in the new year, and beyond, a comprehensive eye exam is a great place to start.
At Vision and Ortho-K Center, we offer eye exams that not only help with your vision, but also screen your eye health for potential problems. Under the direction of Dr. Curtis Frank, our exams can help you stay one step ahead of your eye health.
Here’s a look at what you can expect during your eye exam.
After we’ve reviewed pertinent medical information, we get straight to assessing your eyesight through acuity testing. You’re likely familiar with the eye chart full of rows of increasingly smaller letters, but acuity testing can be a bit more complex than that.
If we test each eye with the chart and you ace the exercise, your acuity testing does end there. If, like millions of others, you struggle with certain distances, we then test your vision with a phoropter that contains different lenses to determine the degree of correction you may need.
After measuring your ability to see straight ahead, we also test your peripheral vision. Loss of peripheral vision can be an early sign of glaucoma, so this screening is important for both your visual acuity and your general eye health.
Finally, we do a quick check of your eye movement to ensure that your eyes track properly and that your eye muscles are working well.
Once we’ve evaluated the state of your vision, we turn to the health of your eyes themselves.
First, we test the pressure of your eyes to see if there’s higher-than-normal intraocular eye pressure (IOP), which is a sign of glaucoma. This testing is extremely important as IOP doesn’t often lead to symptoms until it’s too late and you’re already losing vision.
Next, we can check for early signs of cataracts or corneal damage with a slit-lamp microscope that lights up the front part of your eye.
If Dr. Frank feels there may be an issue he wants to investigate further, he may recommend closer examination of your optic nerve and retina. To do this, he places dilating drops into your eyes, which allows him a better view of the inner areas of your eyes. The test is painless, but your eyes may be a little more sensitive to light for a few hours afterward.
If you’re not experiencing any vision problems, we recommend that you come in for an eye exam every two years so we can monitor your eye health. If, however, your eyesight is starting to struggle with certain distances or you already wear prescription lenses, an annual visit with us is always a good idea.
After the age of 65, eye and vision problems can crop up more frequently, so we recommend annual eye exams that go a long way toward preserving your eyesight.
To schedule your eye exam today, simply contact our office in Boston, Massachusetts.
