During a 30-minute eye health check, the optometrist will examine and test various aspects of your eyesight. They will establish how clearly you can see both near and far as well as your ability to change focus. The tests will also show signs of conditions such as cataracts, as well as how good your general health is and whether you are at risk of diseases such as diabetes.
Further tests will help identify early signs of glaucoma and take a digital retinal photograph, which creates a permanent record of your eye health. This means changes can then be monitored over time and serious health conditions treated early.
THE EYE HEALTH CHECK:
STEP BY STEP
Pre-screening tests with an optician’s assistant
• A distance vision and focus check, using a machine called an auto refractor, which measures how the focus of light is changed as it enters the eye.
• Glaucoma test: checking the pressure inside your eyes by puffing air into them.
• Peripheral vision test: involving flashing dots, to check the edges of your field of vision.
• Retinal camera test: to photograph the central area at the back of your eye.
Main eye test with an optometrist
• Lifestyle and general health and wellbeing questions.
• Tests using a “Slit lamp”, to check for problems such as infections, damage, scratches and cataracts, and a “Volk lens”, which gives a magnified 3D view of the back of the eye.
• Vision check (using a machine or a manual trial frame), to find the combination of lenses that helps you focus best.
• The optometrist talks through their findings, recommends any further tests needed, and, should the patient need glasses, dispenses a prescription.
