Importance Of Regular Comprehensive Eye Exam
By Tony Chung

Regardless of your age or physical health, it is important for everyone to have regular eye exams.
When an optometrist examines your eyes, he is doing more than checking to see if you need glasses. During a comprehensive eye exam, your optometrist will not only determine your prescription for glasses or contacts, but will also check your eyes for common eye diseases, assess how your eyes work together as a team and evaluate your eyes as an indicator of your overall health.

Who Should Get Their Eyes Examined
Eye examinations are an important part of health maintenance for everyone. Adults should have their eyes tested to keep their prescriptions current and to check for early signs of eye disease or sight deterioration. For children, eye exams can play an important role in normal development.

Vision is closely linked to the learning process. Children who have trouble seeing or interpreting what they see will often have trouble with their schoolwork. Many times, children will not complain of vision problems simply because they don't know what "normal" vision looks like. If your child performs poorly at school or exhibits a reading or learning disability, be sure to have his or her eyes examined to rule out an underlying visual cause.

What Is Included In A Comprehensive Eye Examination ?
Your optometrist will use a number of techniques to assess any potential vision or eye health problems, and will keep a file of that information in order to keep track of changes in your eye health or vision.

Case history – you will be asked about your general health, medications you may be taking, your working environment, hobbies, etc. You will also be asked to describe any vision problems you may have been experiencing.

Vision tests – using a visual acuity chart and a reading card, your optometrist will assess your ability to see small detail clearly at both near and distances. You will sit behind a phoropter (an instrument commonly used by the eye doctor to measure an individual’s refractive error and determine his or her eyeglass prescription), which contains a combination of lenses. Your optometrist will systematically change the lens combination until clear focus is obtained.

Eye Movement - using a number of tests, your optometrist will evaluate how well your eyes align or coordinate when working together and individually.

External eye examination – your optometrist will examine the external area around the eye to ensure that there are no abnormalities.

Internal eye examination – your optometrist will check your eyes for indications of abnormalities, from front to back, using the slit-lamp microscope and ophthalmoscope.

Tonometry – it measures the pressure in the eye and is an important test in detecting glaucoma.

Peripheral Vision – the optometrist may evaluate how well you see targets which are not directly in front of you.
Other tests may be undertaken to evaluate your ability to change focus, see colour correctly, or perceive depth correctly.
Some problems detected during an internal eye examination may indicate possible disease, such as diabetes or retinal problems. If your optometrist sees any of these warning signs, you will be referred to a physician or an ophthalmologist for further examination.

Tony Chung is a practicing Optometrist in Hong Kong.