Eye Examinations

General

Eye examinations are comprehensive and take up 30-45 minutes of your time. We take a general medical history, examine the health of your eyes internally, externally and neurologically and we determine any need for vision correction i.e. spectacles or contact lenses.

Dilated fundus examinations

A dilated exam is a supplementary examination procedure that allows the optometrist to check the health of the eyes more thoroughly. An eye drop is used to make the pupil larger allowing a 3 D view of the back of the eye, providing the optometrist with greater diagnostic information. It also enables the peripheral retina to be viewed, which is otherwise not possible.

Who needs to have this exam?
People with: diabetes, hypertension, macular degeneration, glaucoma, moderate to high shortsightedness; or if over 50 years of age.

What is involved?
Drops are instilled into your eyes. They take 15 to 20 minutes to act. Your pupils become larger, meaning that more light can enter your eye and can increase glare sensitivity for about 5 hours. The muscle that allows you to change focus will also relax; this means that you may lose your ability to focus on near tasks for about 2 hrs, unless you have progressive, bifocal or reading spectacles.

Will I be able to drive?
Yes, but long distance is not recommended. Sunglasses are advised.

Treatment of red eye disease

Endorsed optometrists can treat eye disease with the same PHARMAC subsidized prescription medicines available to medical eye specialists and doctors (excluding glaucoma)

Specific examination procedures

Ophthalmoscopy

Looking inside your eyes for signs of disease or abnormality.

Slit lamp examination

Looking at the outside part of your eyes for signs of disease or abnormality.

Tonometry

Checking the pressure of your eye. The eye produces fluid that should drain out of your eye at the same rate – if it doesn’t, the eye pressure increases and so puts the eye at risk of developing Glaucoma, a disease that can cause permanent and irreversible blindness.

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)

The OCT enables us to see two and three dimensional views of the retina in cress-section. It can image and measure the optic nerve head and provide cross-sectional views of the cornea iris interface

This enables us to more efficiently diagnose retinal diseases and glaucoma but more particularly perhaps, to monitor change over time i.e between visits

Topography

Topography is a non-invasive medical imaging technique for mapping the surface curvature of the cornea (the front transparent surface of the eye). The mapping assists in the diagnosis of corneal disease - the design of specialy contact lenses in diseases like Keratoconus and the design of contact lenses in Orthokeratology

Gonioscopy

A procedure for looking at the area where the iris margin meets the cornea. Fluid drains out of the eye here and it can be important for your optometrist to know if there is any impairment to drainage present.

Fields

Measuring your field of view. You know how far down a letter chart you can read– that is a measure of your central visual ability but how well does the rest of your retina see? This test gives us this information. Field loss patterns can be diagnostic for specific diseases.

Photography

Photographing the back of your eye is very useful in the monitoring of diabetic retinas (something we are contracted to do on behalf of your doctor when he/she refers you in to us). Other eye conditions such as retinal pigmentation can be documented this way.