Eye Exam

Eye exam is by far one of the most effective ways of finding out whether you are suffering from any eye disease such as glaucoma. There are wide ranges of exams that you will find being offered to patients that suffer from glaucoma. An example is a dilated optical examination. Just as the name suggests, a dilated examination is a form of examination in which a doctor uses eye drops to widen the pupil of the eye in order to check whether the eye is infected with glaucoma or any disease that commonly affects people. In other instances, special kits such as charts are used for examining the eye of the patient. During the process, the patient is made to stand about twenty feet away from a chart that contains scripts that can be read by people with ordinary vision. The patient is then made to read the script and a score is awarded. A vision acuity of 20/20 indicates that the patient has normal vision. Anything higher or lower than this calls for further medical check up and treatment in extreme cases. A patient may also be subjected to a slit lamp examination especially when the patient complains of not being able to see in the dark.

In other instances they may be subjected to what is commonly referred to as a Snellen eye chart examination. This free eye exam is usually used for testing the visual accuracy of young children that are not able to read letters aloud. The chart contains alphabetical letters which the patient is required to read.

Eye exams also come in the form of ophthalmoscopy test. Ophthalmoscopy tests are optical examinations that involve visually magnified inspection of the internal structures of the eye. The doctor dilates the pupil of the eye using special types of eye drops. Thereafter, an ophthalmoscope is inserted in the eye of the patient.

The room is darkened and the doctor then diagnoses the internal structures of the eyes including the retina. A cataract in the eye indicates that the patient is suffering from an eye disease. In this case, the patient is treated using oral medication except in extreme cases when surgery may be performed. The eye exam cost for this is affordable.

Basically there is a recommended frequency in which you should have your eye structures examined whether using an eye exam chart or even the more complicated modes of examination. For instance, those aged between 20 and 29 years of age are recommended to have their eyes examined after every three to five years.

On the other hand, people aged between forty to sixty four years are required to undergo optical examinations after every two to four years while those aged more than sixty five years should contact their doctors for eye exam at least once in every two years in order to prevent themselves from suffering from eye diseases.