Eye Exam

What is an eye exam?

Eye exams play an essential role in staying healthy and protecting your vision. Even if you don’t have vision problems, every adult should get an eye exam by age 40.

At Lowcountry Eye Specialists, the team uses a wide variety of in-office tests and procedures to evaluate your vision and eye health.

Why are eye exams important?

Routine eye exams allow your ophthalmologist to help you prevent or reduce the risk for serious diseases that can threaten your vision. Additionally, eye exams help them detect eye problems early when they’re most treatable.

What happens at an eye exam?

A comprehensive eye exam can take an hour or more. Your eye exam includes a medical history review and tests to evaluate the following aspects of your eye health:

Visual acuity

A visual acuity test involves reading an eye chart to determine how well each eye can see at a distance. This tests for whether you have 20/20 vision.

Corrective lens prescription

Your ophthalmologist asks you to look through a device called a phoropter, which contains a variety of lenses. This helps determine the best prescription for your eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Pupils

Your ophthalmologist checks how your pupils respond to light by shining a bright beam into your eye.

Side vision

This test checks for loss of side vision, also known as peripheral vision, which may be a symptom of glaucoma.

Eye movement

An ocular motility test checks the movement of your eyes. Your ophthalmologist makes sure your eyes are aligned and the muscles are functioning properly.

Eye pressure

Tonometry measures the pressure inside your eye, also known as intraocular pressure (IOP). Elevated IOP may be a warning sign of glaucoma.

Structures inside your eye

Your ophthalmologist uses a slit-lamp microscope to examine the front part of your eye, including the eyelids, cornea, and lens. They check for cataracts as well as scratches or scars on your cornea. 

They may also dilate your pupils with eye drops to examine your retina and optic nerve at the back of your eye.

Other tests

Your ophthalmologist may suggest additional tests to further evaluate your eyes, such as retinal photography or optical coherence tomography (OCT). Both are noninvasive tests that provide a closer look at your retina.

Don’t wait to schedule your general eye exam; call Lowcountry Eye Specialists or request an appointment online today.