When you go to see the eye doctor in Orlando, Florida, to get your eyes tested, the doctor is likely to do six different things during your eye exam. Understanding the goal behind each part helps you to relax so that you can fully participate in what the doctor is trying to accomplish during an adult eye exam.
Keratometry Test
Depending on the setup at your eye doctor’s office, you may be given a keratometry test before you ever get to the exam room. You rest your chin on a special cup on this machine, and it takes measurements of your corneas. If they are not shaped normally, this can indicate that you have a serious eye disease happening.
Intraocular Pressure Test
A second machine is used that blows a puff of air into your eye. If this test is abnormal, then your doctor may perform additional tests to see if you have glaucoma during your exam.
Visual Activity Test
Once you are seated comfortably in the examination chair, the first thing that the eye doctor in Orlando is likely to ask you to do is to read letters from a chart. The bottom line that you can read on the chart tells the doctor how well that you can see. If you can read the bottom line, then you have 20/20 vision, which is considered perfect vision. Each line up tells the doctor how close you would have to stand to see what a normal person sees at 20 feet, which is the distance between you and the chart.
Pupillary Response Testing
The doctor will then shine a line in your eye while looking through a glass attached to it. This lets the doctor know how well your pupils adjust to light. He will also shine a flashlight in your eyes to make sure that your eyes work together. Doctors, like Dr. Richardson at EYES of Winter Park, will also have you follow their finger or an object with your eyes. He is not trying to hypnotize you, but he is trying to see if the pupils constrict normally.
Confrontation Visual Field Test
The doctor or a technician may move an object across your field of vision to see when you can first see it, or they may use a machine with lines that disappear from your field of vision and ask you to tell them when you first see them. Either way, this test is designed to test your peripheral vision.
Retinoscopy and Refraction Tests
If the doctor decides that you need glasses or contact lenses, then he will use a large machine, called a phoropter, to flip through lenses to see which lens combination helps you see the best. Part of this test usually involves you staring at a large object as the doctor signs a bright light into your eye to see how the eye reacts differently to light depending on the lenses chosen.
Understanding the different parts of the eye exam can help you become more comfortable. Another great way to be comfortable during your exam is to see a friendly doctor like Dr. Richardson at EYES of Winter Park.