Medical Eye Exam

During a medical eye exam, the eye doctor will assess your vision and check for any eye problems or diseases. The exam may include several different tests and procedures, such as:

• Dilated Eye Exam: This test involves dilating (widening) the pupils with eye drops, allowing the doctor to get a better view of the interior of the eye, including the retina and optic nerve. This may cause your vision to be blurry for a few hours.

• Cover Test: This test measures the ability of the eyes to work together and track objects.

• Pupil Response Test: This test checks how the pupils respond to light and dark, which can indicate problems with the eye muscles or the optic nerve.

• Glaucoma testing to evaluate the health of the eyes and determine if there is any damage to the optic nerve which is often associated with glaucoma, a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness.

  • Visual Field Test: This test measures a person's peripheral (side) vision and can help detect conditions such as glaucoma, brain tumors, and strokes.

  • Tonometry Test: This test measures the pressure inside the eye, which can be an early sign of glaucoma.

  • OCT A non-invasive imaging test: It uses light waves to take cross-section pictures of your retina to see its distinctive layers. It allows the doctor to map and measure the thickness of the layers.

• Dry eye assessment to diagnose and assess the severity of dry eye syndrome, a common eye condition that occurs when the eyes do not produce enough tears or the tears evaporate too quickly, causing discomfort and sometimes even vision problems.

  • Meibography: It takes images of the meibomian glands (oil glands). The glands are responsible for producing the oily layer of your tear film which helps stabilize our tears to prevent dryness.

  • TBUT (Tear break up time): This test checks how long your tear film lasts after you blink. The doctor will place a small amount of dye in your eye, and you’ll blink to make the dye fully cover your eye. Then the doctor will see how long the dyed tear film covers your eye.

A medical eye exam is important for maintaining good eye health and detecting any potential problems early on. It is generally recommended that adults have a medical eye exam at least every two to four years, depending on their age, health, and risk for eye problems. Children and adults with certain risk factors, such as a family history of eye disease or diabetes, may need more frequent eye exams.