Eye exam
AL-Wadani Optical
Eye exam
A routine or periodic eye exam is essential to maintain quality vision and diagnose potential eye diseases early in order to prevent any complications, sometimes some occurs even without obvious symptoms and without affecting visual acuity like lazy eye that affect children in early age, or glaucoma for elderly.
Optometrist health services
- Diagnosing eye conditions such farsightedness, nearsightedness or astigmatism.
- Providing an eyeglasses or contact lenses prescription.
- Helping in choosing the most suitable contacts lenses types, and frames that will works the best.
- Perfuming a routine eye exam for patients, also educate them about eye health.
- Treating and follow the patient vision problems.
- Contain and treat eye conditions or injuries that do not need a surgical intervention.
Eye Exam by Ophthalmologist
The ophthalmologist runs a full eye exam for the patients in his clinic from determining visual acuity to measuring eye pressure, evaluating retina and iris healthy condition, also he performs a funduscopic examination, and he exam all eye parts and movements, in order to detect any eye diseases, so each test aim to evaluate a different side of eye health condition and vision safety.
Ophthalmologist health services
- Diagnose and provide a full eye medical care to cases like infections or chemical burns.
- Perfume a full medical exam to ensure all eye’s interior and exterior parts safety
- Perfume eye surgeries, like vision correction, cataracts and others.
- Diagnose and treat eye diseases related to other diseases like diabetes.
How to choose the best eye doctor?
Choosing an eye doctor should be based on the service you need, so the suitable doctor for your condition:
Visit an ophthalmologist for serious medical conations that may need a surgery or advance medical treatment, such as glaucoma, cataracts or laser vision correction.
Visit an optometrist for routine eye care, such as yearly eye exams or in case, you need an eyeglasses or contacts lenses prescription.
When should you exam your eyes?
An eye exam is necessary to detect eye diseases early in which treatment is better, and to prevent any future complications, so the early treatment helps to maintain a healthy vision, and adults must submit to a routine eye exam so as children.
Eye exam for elderly
Make sure to perfume an eye exam every year or two when you are older than 65 years old, the doctor will check up the eye diseases that are related with age like, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration or glaucoma.
Eye exam for pregnant women
Some eye changes are normal during pregnancy because of the hormonal fluctuations and other physical changes that considered a part of pregnancy, and they include cloudy vision, dry eyes. Moreover, in case any of these symptoms carry on after the pregnancy you should visit your doctor, if you have diabetes you may potentially be affected with other issues, and you must perfume an eye exam in early pregnancy.
Eye exam for children
The eye exam is essential to early diagnose and treatment and to avoid any future complications of eye conditions. It is crucial for children to get their eyes tested before elementary school, even if there are no signs of any visual problems. Weak vision could affect the child’s ability to learn and to grow socially. Nowadays, most children use smartphones, and some before learning how to walk, long usage of smartphones and exposure to screens can potentially lead to eye fatigue, thus it affects child vision.
What is the importance of a regular eye exam for children?
A quality vision is essential and it is the key for child growth physically and mentally, success in school require that child has a good vision, thus if the child vision isn’t providing good imagery to the brain, the vision becomes limited in a way that hard to correct, so early diagnose can effectively give the best treatment opportunity.
Common Vision Problems that Require an Eyeglass or Contact lenses Prescription
Many people have vision problems that cause blurred vision, most of the problems are a result of reflective errors, which can be treated by using either eyeglasses or contacts lenses, also by vision correction surgery. The doctor determines patient vision acuity degree, and then prescribe the suitable glasses that fix the reflective error, by making the light pass through the eye lenses to the retina correctly, making the vision clear as possible.
The doctor determines the visual acuity, which in normal status is 6/6, this number refers that adult person is able to read from six-meter distance without glasses, for instance, if the value is less it indict to an existing problem such as nearsightedness or others.
Nearsightedness (Myopia)
The nearsighted patient can see near objects clearly but find blurred vision when looking at far objects, thus, he finds it difficult watching TV screen or looking at the class whiteboard or driving a car. The optometrist examine patient’s eye and diagnose nearsightedness and determine its degree, then treat it by prescribing eyeglasses or contact lenses, which they correct light reflection that eye received to be on the retina instead of in front of the retina.
Children with Nearsightedness
Nearsightedness usually occurs in the age when the child begins school, and because the eye still in growth during childhood. Nearsightedness continues increasing within the years, some in different degrees until the child reaches approximately the age of twenty years old when nearsightedness degree becomes static, but it is possible for this condition to develop again as a result of eye fatigue or the incidence of certain diseases such diabetes.
What are the differences between eye exam and vision testing?
Vision testing focuses in determining your vision ability to see what is in front of you, and through vision testing the doctor ensure that you have a perfect vision of 6/6 or in case if you have any problems in eyesight, unlike vision testing, the eye exam is a full diagnose to detect more serious vision conditions. The eye exam includes the use of eye dilating eye drops, which provide more comprehensive eye health examination and visual system.
Eye examinations
A visual acuity test of 6/6: During this test, the doctor asks you about how clear you see the numbers in the test board in order to determine your visual acuity, people with normal vision can see the numbers clearly within 6 meters apart.
Peripheral vision test: the loss of peripheral vision is one of the symptoms of glaucoma.
Eye movements test: the doctor ensure your eye muscles works correctly.
Eye pressure test: the test includes a warm puff of air that gently touches the eye via using an automatic medical device, the doctor may use an eye numbing drops for your comfort.
External examination: this includes ensure the health of eyelids, retina, iris and eye lenses, so the doctor can determine if the patient has contacts or any scratches in retina.
Astigmatism
People with astigmatism find a blurry and inaccurate vision for both near and far objects and this according to cornea curvature degree. Astigmatism condition occurs when the front eye surface, the cornea, is abnormally curved, and in the normal case, the cornea is perfectly round and curved equally in all direction, this allows the light rays to pass through the cornea focusing precisely on the retina. In the case of astigmatism the light rays are focused in many spots on the retina, thus cause a blurry vision in all distances.
Astigmatism occurs with other different eye conditions such farsightedness or nearsightedness, and there are a lot of causes of astigmatisms like changes in eye lens as a result of inner eye muscular dystrophy, usually starts from birth, also it is possible to increases or decreases within time. Astigmatisms treatment includes using eyeglasses or contact lenses, and vision correction surgery that treat around 6 degrees and lower.
Keratoconus (conical cornea)
Keratoconus or conical cornea is an eye condition in which the cornea bulge outward into an asymmetric cone-like shape that leads to blurry vision. Keratoconus may occur due to genetic factors, and it often appears at the beginning of twenties, it affects both eyes, but one is weaker. Patient with Keratoconus have an increasing loss of eyesight sharpness and needs to change eyeglasses prescription continuously, the patient notices a sensitivity to light and glare. Keratoconus treatment includes using methods to slower the condition or stops its development, at the beginning doctor prescribe eyeglasses or soft lenses, and if the case developed, patients must use rigid gas permeable contact lenses (hard contact lenses), however when the case gets worsen patient will need cornea transplant surgery.
Farsightedness (hyperopia)
Patients with farsightedness see near objects blurry, thus find some difficulties in reading and writing, the patient notices a blurred vision especially at night, also it can cause dry eyes, headache and eye pain. Farsightedness condition often starts in the early childhood, but eyesight gets corrected with child growth, this called visual accommodation in which the eye lens change its shape allowing for a change in focusing from far to near, but ageing lower the ability for visual accommodation, and eye lens loss its flexibility, this leads to effects near vision around age 40 years. Farsightedness is not considered as eye disease, and most patients have healthy eyes.
Farsightedness Treatment
Most people with farsightedness do not need treatment, because eye usually accommodates to solve this issue, but often with ageing they need eyeglasses or contacts lenses in moderate cases, also it is possible to perform a vision correction surgery by reshaping the cornea in which it can treat moderate to severe cases, thus patient restore the vision clearly.
