If you're seeing a new eye doctor or you have never had an eye exam before, expect someone on the medical staff to ask about your eyes and your medical history. Here is a sampling of the questions:
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| Questions During Eye Exam |
- Are you having any eye problems now?
- Have you had any eye problems in years past?
- Do you wear glasses or contacts? If so, are you satisfied with them? (Be sure to bring these with you so that the doctor can make sure they're the correct prescription.)
- What health problems have you had in recent years?
- Are you taking any medication? If so, what?
- Do you have any allergies to medications, food or other substances?
- Has anyone in your family had eye problems, such as cataracts or glaucoma?
- Has anyone in your family had diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or any other health problems that can affect the whole body?
Your visual field is the area in front of you that you can see without moving your eyes. In a perimetry test, you look at a testing screen on which a computerized machine flashes spots of light. The flashes will be at different locations on the screen and of varying brightness. Your job is to press a button each time you see a flash. The machine records your responses and maps areas where vision is good. Blank holes or gaps in your field of vision may indicate a serious eye disorder, such as glaucoma or macular degeneration. These disorders, which often develop unnoticed without testing, can be identified by characteristic patterns of visual field loss.
Another test uses the Amsler grid, named after the Swiss ophthalmologist who developed it. The square grid looks like graph paper. In the center of the grid is a black dot. Your doctor will cover one of your eyes and ask that you focus the other eye directly on the dot and tell whether you can see the entire grid clearly. You'll need to report if the tiny squares of the grid appear to have different sizes, if any lines look distorted or if part of the graph is missing, as though ripped out by a bullet. This will indicate where and to what extent damage to your retina has occurred.
Glaucoma test (tonometry)
By measuring the internal pressure of your eye, your doctor can determine whether you're developing glaucoma, a disease that can eventually produce blindness. If you have glaucoma, the pressure within your eye is usually high.
Two common techniques are used to measure eye pressure. Both measure the amount of force needed to momentarily flatten (applanate) your cornea. With air-puff tonometry the doctor shoots a puff of air at your cornea. With applanation tonometry he or she gently pushes the tip of a tiny, flat-tipped cone against your eye.
A glaucoma test may seem unnerving, but don't worry. It's painless. Thanks to numbing eyedrops applied before the test, you won't feel a thing.
External eye exam
An external eye exam is a quick check of your eyes with no special instruments other than a light. The eye doctor is checking:
- Your pupils to see if they respond normally
- The position and movement of your eyes, eyelids and lashes
- Your cornea and iris for clarity and shininess
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| Questions During Eye Exam |
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