What is comprehensive eye check up?
Getting your annual eye check up is incredibly important to maintain your eye health and to potentially catch anything going astray as early as possible. As with almost any health complication, the sooner a problem is detected in your eyes, the better the potential outcome can be. A comprehensive eye check up is not always preformed every year however. There is your routine eye exam and then the comprehensive eye exam.
What is a routine eye exam?
A routine eye exam is general done to see how your vision is doing and if you need an adjustment to your prescription, or potentially need a prescription if you are one of the fortunate people who have had great 20/20 vision most of your life. These exams take less time as we look to see how clear your natural vision is. For many people as we age, our vision for distance can remain strong, however you may find it becomes harder to read fine print. This is often why people who have not been to an eye doctor in years decide its time to come in for a visit as they know readers are in their future.
We still believe that no matter how good or bad your natural vision is to get checked yearly to ensure the longevity of your eye health. Most of the time, a routine eye exam will take only 30 minutes or less. You will be able to see as normal after and can drive yourself home or back to work.
What is a comprehensive eye check up?
During a comprehensive eye check up, we will not only do the normal routine eye exam, but will also do more testing to see about potential diseases or issues. We will assess the overall health of your eyes and not just your natural ability to see things clearly. There can be variations to what is done in a comprehensive eye check up for different age groups, genders, and of course any concerns you may be having that you bring to your doctors attention.
Each test during an eye exam evaluates a different aspect of your vision or eye health. Commonly, the tests that occur in a comprehensive eye check up include:
Dilating the pupils: this allows your doctor to look further into your eyes to see if there is any internal damage that may be going on that is not normally visible.
Pressure test: this is when the burst of air are sent into your eyes that makes you want to blink a lot. It is uncomfortable for a second but typically goes away quickly. This is done to test the amount of pressure your eye can handle and is called your intraocular pressure and helps to know about your potential to get glaucoma in addition to other eye health matters.
Color blindness: this is done frequently with children to help identify this early on.
Covering one eye at a time: this focuses on each individual eye to check their health. The eyes work in tandem with one another but need to be checked separately as one eye can compensate for another.
Depth perception test: this helps the doctor know if you need any adjustments that the normal clearness of natural vision may not catch.
Further glaucoma testing: based on your pressure test and age, you may need further testing for glaucoma. Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness and needs to be caught as early as possible. Often symptoms are not noticed by the patient in the early stages.
The comprehensive eye check up can take up to an hour and potentially longer depending on what is found during the testing. Our optometrists use the latest technologies to measure the health of your vision. If additional procedures are required, our in-house ophthalmologists will save you additional trips to other clinics. Your eye health is very important to the quality of your life and we here at Perich Eye take it very seriously to ensure you get the best care possible.
