Your Eye Test Explained

We pride ourselves in getting to know our patients, which then in turn allows us to tailor each eye exam to the specific individual.  There are, however, certain tests that do feature in most eye exams:

 

History and Symptoms - You will be asked in depth questions of how your eyes have fared up until the present.  Questions such as previous eye operations etc allows us to tailor your eye exam to you.  Your general health will also be discussed and it's important that you bring a list of your current medications each time you come for an eye exam.  

 

Focimetry - The prescription in your existing spectacles will be measured prior to going in for your eye exam.  This is important as it allows the Optometrist to advise you if and how much of a change has occurred with your spectacle prescription

 

Refraction - your vision will be recorded and your optical prescription will be very carefully measured using various instruments and techniques.  We will be looking to see if there is any short-sightedness, long-sightedness, astigmatism or prebyopia

 

Binocular vision tests: These tests check how well balanced your eyes are, one of key tests in ensuring visual comfort

 

Tonometry - This checks the pressure in your eyes to ensure the pressure is not elevated to a level unsafe for your eyes.  Many patients wrongly think this is the ‘glaucoma test’, this is not true as measuring your eye pressure is only one aspect of checking for glaucoma.  Also, whats ‘normal pressure’ for one person may not be ‘normal’ for someone else

 

Opthalmoscopy - This is when we use a specialist torch with focussing lenses that allows to see a magnified view of the detail on the surface of the retina.  

 

Slit Lamp Biomicroscopy - This microscope allows us to look at your eyes in up to 40x magnification and with a special lens we can get a good overview of the retina at the back of eyes aswell.  

 

OCT - This acronym stands for ‘Optical Coherence Tomography’.  This advanced technology allows to visualise the microscopic layers below the surface of the retina.  This microscopic visualisation allows us to detect even the most subtle of pathology.  We have been using this technology in our practice since 2012.  In that time it has become an invaluable piece of equipment so much so that Mr Ahmed recommends everyone over the age of 30 to have it at each eye examination.  Please note that there is a fee of £29 to have the scan done for both NHS and Private Pxs.  Please click here for more information on the OCT

 

Visual Fields - At our practice we are proud to have the Humphrey visual field analyser which is globally accepted to be the ‘gold standard’ visual field analyser.  This machine checks to ensure your peripheral vision (corners of vision) is full and without any unexpected blind spots.

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With our comprehensive, detailed eye exams we are looking to ensure your eyes are not under threat from eye diseases such as glaucoma or macula degeneration.  But did you know that your eye exam can even show up general health issues such as diabetes and uncontrolled blood pressure amongst other things?  In some cases, eye examinations may even save your life.  We will conclude the eye examination by reviewing the results of all the tests and then making a decision on the visual status of your eyes.  If you do require a correction, we will find solutions for you that will add real value to your day to day life, remember we are not a ‘one size fits all’ type of Optician.