What Does a Comprehensive Eye Exam Entail?

Taking care of your eye health will ensure that you can enjoy great vision for a long time. The best way to maintain eye health is through a comprehensive eye examination. With it, you have eye doctors taking several procedures and tests to examine your eyes. 

The tests range from simple vision tests to complex tests that examine the inner eye structure. A comprehensive exam can take over an hour, depending on the complexity of tests and your eye health. A full evaluation will help determine if you have potential vision problems.

Visual Acuity Testing

During a comprehensive eye exam, you are likely to encounter a number of tests. Visual acuity tests are usually the first to be performed. Standard eye chart tests help measure vision sharpness. A projected eye chart test is used to measure distance visual acuity, while a hand-held chart measures near vision. 

Color Blindness Test

A screening test will check an individual’s color vision. This test helps rule out issues of color blindness. It can detect hereditary color vision issues. Through color blind testing, the eye doctor can detect possible eye issues that can affect color vision.

Ocular Motility Test

The eye doctor will perform this to detect eye movement. Ocular motility testing determines how the eyes follow an object that is moving. It also determines how well the eyes move and fixate accurately on separate targets. 

Testing eye movement is usually done by simply moving a hand-held object slowly while the eyes follow the movement. Quick eye movements can also be tested by moving the eyes between targets placed apart from each other. 

Checking Eye Alignment

A cover test is the easiest and most common way to check eye alignment. The doctor can examine how the eyes work together. During the test, you will focus on an object, covering one eye at a time while staring at the target. 

You focus on a distant object and repeat the action on a near object. The doctor will examine how the uncovered eye moves to pick up the target. This test can detect strabismus (abnormal alignment) or amblyopia (lazy eye). 

Testing Depth Perception

Stereopsis testing examines eye teaming, which helps with normal depth perception and 3D appreciation. The most common stereopsis test involves wearing 3D glasses and looking at different test patterns to identify the closest one. If you have great eye teaming skills, you will experience normal or correct depth perception. 

Retinoscopy 

During an eye exam, the doctor may perform a retinoscopy to determine your eyeglass power. Testing is done using flip lenses; a machine then estimates the lens power that will effectively correct your vision. The eye doctor will estimate the eyeglass power based on how the light will reflect from the eye.

A comprehensive eye exam can involve a number of other tests. They include refraction tests, autorefractors, and aberrometers. The comprehensive examination also includes a slit lamp exam to detect macular degeneration, cataracts and other diseases, pupil dilation, and glaucoma testing. In some cases, the eye doctor may carry out visual field testing to check for blind spots.

For more on comprehensive eye exams, visit Berris Optical at our office in Rocky River, Ohio. You can call 440-571-7100​​​​​​​ today to schedule an appointment.