What Happens in an Eye Examination? And What is Eye Testing?
Everyone should have a regular eye examination for obvious reasons – who wants to have eye or vision problems? – and the examination is like testing your car, so it should be routine and regular and it’s done to make sure you avoid problems, detect any problems early so that they can treated more effectively, and generally make sure your eyes are healthy and working together well, so that your vision is as good as it can be, even without correction.
The eyecare professional doing the examination could be an ophthalmologist or optometrist but he or she will run through some important tests and ask questions about your family health and also about your own eyes and vision.
You need to be prepared and bring along any prescriptions, eye glasses or content lenses that you may be using, and talk to the eye doctor about any eye health problems you may have had, medications that you have been or are currently taking, and talking about any related issues from skin complaints to allergies. You may also talk about the kind of work you do – whether this is office/desk based and with heavy computer use, or perhaps outdoors in bright light, high temperatures and in a dusty environment, or driving for hours every day, for example. Beyond this, the examiner may ask about your hobbies, and any sports you may play or other activities that may make particular demands on your eyes or present a potential risk from injury.
All of this information helps provide the eyecare professional with a very clear picture of your general and eye health and medical history, even before the examination begins.
You can ask questions as well and make sure you tell the doctor about any changes to your eyes and vision, especially any sudden changes.
A comprehensive eye examination should only take about 20-30 minutes to complete, unless any additional testing is needed.
These are the main areas that the examination will cover:
- Your medical history.
- Your visual acuity.
- Your pupils.
- Your side vision.
- Your eye movement.
- Your prescription for corrective lenses.
- Your eye pressure.
- The front part of your eye.
- Your retina and optic nerve
As you can see from this list of tests, the eye is a complex part of the body and has many components to it, each of which can have problems and so each of them needs to be examined individually, in detail.
Remember, this is why an eye examination is so important – and at least every two years unless your history and age means they should be more frequent:
- Healthy vision is important for life and work gives you a better quality of life.
- You only have one pair of eyes and you may not be able to restore your eyesight if you have a serious problem
- An examination can detect early signs of eye problems before you notice them.
- It can help detect other health problems.
Eyes are not like teeth – there is usually no pain if there is something wrong.
Don’t forget to make an appointment for your next routine check up, before you leave the hospital or clinic.
Author Bio:
This content is written on behalf of Moorfields Eye Hospital in Dubai, follow us to get more information on eye test in Dubai.