Eye Examination At IEC

Your eye examination will begin with measuring your visual acuity-both with your current eyeglasses or contact lenses, and without any optical correction. The Ophthalmologist/Optometrist will ask you to read a chart projected across the examination room that consists of numbers and letters that get progressively smaller and more difficult to read as you move down the chart. This test, called “Snellen Acuity” or just “Visual Acuity” it is an important first step in understanding how well you see.

Next, the movement of your eyes, or “Ocular Motility” will be evaluated in order to understand how well the eye muscles function together and how effectively they move your eyes into the different positions of gaze. By shining a fairly bright light in your eyes, the reaction of your pupils to the light will be evaluated and learn a great deal about how well your optic nerve is functioning. We will then check your refraction in order to determine the most accurate eyeglass or contact lens prescription necessary to fully correct your vision. If you require vision correction doctor will provide you with a copy of your prescription so that you can take it to be filled by our Optometrist or Optician of your choice.

In order to check for one of the risk factors of Glaucoma, 1-2 eye drops will be placed in your eyes so that the pressure in your eye, called Intraocular Pressure (IOP) can be measured while you are behind the Slit Lamp. Sometimes a hand-held instrument called I-care rebound tonometer is used instead. Either test is an important assessment for the risk of developing Glaucoma .Additional eye drops will be placed in your eyes in order to dilate or widen your pupils. Pupil dilation is important so that the Doctor can examine the health of the structures in the back of your eye including the retina and its blood vessels and the optic nerve.

After the dilation drops are placed in your eyes, it will usually take anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes for the eye drops to fully work and dilate your pupil. You will then be asked to sit comfortably behind a specialized instrument called a Slit Lamp Biomicroscope. Using this instrument it is possible for doctor to examine the condition of your eyelids, eye lashes, eyelid margins and tear film. The Slit Lamp will also be used to carefully examine the sclera, or white of your eye, and the cornea, the clear dome-shaped lens on the outside of your eye. By focusing the slit lamp through the pupil or dark centre of the iris-the colored part of the eye, doctor will be able to examine the health of the crystalline lens, which is where cataracts form.

Once Dr. Jadhav has completed the examination of the “front of the eye”, he will then examine the health of “back of the eye”. The slit lamp will be used with an additional lens to examine the retina, optic nerve, macula and blood vessels in the back of the eye. Another instrument called an indirect ophthalmoscope will be used to provide a “wide-angle” view of the retina and blood vessels. The thorough examination of the health of the retina and optic nerve through a dilated pupil is not uncomfortable.

However, the fully widened pupil may make you somewhat sensitive to light and may also blur your vision, especially at near, for a few hours after your eye examination. If you have not had a dilated exam in the past, it is a good idea to have a driver on your exam day. It is important to bring a good pair of sunglasses with you in order to lessen your light sensitivity.