Eye exams can do more than check your prescription. They can help preserve your vision and protect you from common eye conditions.
At Atlantic Eye Institute, our expert team is passionate about helping patients stay on top of their eye health with comprehensive eye exams. The testing done by your eye doctor can help detect common eye conditions early on, allowing for prompt diagnosis and treatment.
Many eye conditions, such as glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration, often have no symptoms before they cause irreversible vision damage, meaning early diagnosis through a comprehensive eye exam is critical to preserving your sight. Your eye doctor will also assess your prescription to ensure it’s up-to-date and you enjoy your best possible vision.
Your eye doctor at Atlantic Eye Institute will begin your comprehensive eye exam by reviewing your medical and family history to determine your risk factors for certain eye conditions like glaucoma, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration. Then, they will perform a variety of thorough examinations and tests, including:
You can also elect to undergo a retinal examination with the state-of-the-art Optomap device. It is an advanced alternative to dilation that gives your eye doctor a panoramic view of the back of your eye, allowing them to thoroughly screen for signs of eye conditions.
This service is an extra $40 charge that is not covered by insurance. However, your eye doctor may still recommend you undergo dilation, depending on your eye health and vision needs.
How often you should have an eye exam depends on a variety of factors, including your age, medical history, and family history. Your eye doctor at Atlantic Eye Institute will give you personalized recommendations regarding when to schedule your eye exams.
If you or a family member has an eye condition or a history of eye conditions, you should see your eye doctor more frequently so they can monitor for any signs or changes in your symptoms. Similarly, the older you are, the more you should attend comprehensive eye exams.
This is because many eye conditions like cataracts and macular degeneration tend to be age-related, more frequently affecting patients aged 40 and older. As you age, your risk also becomes higher for developing eye conditions like glaucoma.
If you have certain medical conditions like diabetes, autoimmune conditions, or hypertension, you may be at an increased risk of developing eye conditions and should undergo comprehensive eye exams more often. You should also attend frequent eye exams if you wear glasses or contacts to ensure your prescription is up-to-date.
Even if you don’t belong to a high-risk group, regular eye exams help you protect your eye health and ensure your vision is as clear as it can be.
Nearsightedness, or myopia, is a refractive error that makes it difficult to see objects that are far away. It can occur when your eye is too long, or your cornea is misshapen.
This causes light to hit the eye at the front of the retina rather than the center, leading to blurry vision. Glasses and contacts are able to help bend light so it hits the optimal spot on your retina for clear vision.
Farsightedness, or hyperopia, is a refractive error that makes close-up objects blurry while distance vision is clear. It can be caused by a cornea that is too flat or an eye that is too short.
In patients with farsightedness, light enters the eye and hits the back of the retina instead of the center. This can be corrected with visual aids like glasses and contact lenses.
Astigmatism often occurs along with other refractive errors like nearsightedness and farsightedness. It happens when the cornea is misshapen, losing its spherical shape and becoming football-shaped.
The result is that light focuses on multiple points of the retina, leading to blurry and distorted vision. Contact lenses and glasses can help, but vision correction procedures are often optimal to reduce or eliminate it.
Low vision is an eye condition where patients experience reduced vision that cannot be corrected with glasses or contacts. It can be caused by conditions like glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration.
Specialized devices like magnifiers, telescopes, or stronger reading glasses can help improve low vision. If you are experiencing symptoms of low vision, you may need to undergo longer and more thorough testing than with a standard eye exam.
At Atlantic Eye Institute, our low vision specialist can help you identify which treatment options will work best to help you return to doing your favorite activities and exercising more independence.
