When to have your eye examination
It can be easy to avoid eye examinations when we don’t experience vision problems. However, there are crucial milestones at which you need to ensure that you get your complete check-up – especially during early childhood. At Michèle Hlava Optometrists, we encourage all family members to take care of their eye health and offer services to both young and old.
Children
It’s essential for children to have regular eye checks, as they may not understand or know how ‘normal’ vision is meant to look. Having poor or weak eyesight can also be detrimental to a child’s ability to learn and socialise. Besides regular eye checks, always communicate with your child about their vision. Focusing on screens and boards can lead to eye strain and tiredness.
Paediatricians routinely check children’s eyes for common childhood eye conditions, but your child should start to receive more regular eye examinations from the age of three. We recommend bringing your child in for routine eye examinations just before pre-school and can provide suggestions from there.
Adults
If you experience an eyesight condition that requires you to wear glasses or contact lenses, it is advised to do a routine eye examination every one to two years. However, if your vision appears healthy, adults are only required to start regular eye checks from the age of 40, when specific vision changes may occur.
Comprehensive eye examinations
A complete eye examination is an all-inclusive series of tests to determine the functionality and health of your visual system. One of our experienced Optometrists will guide you through each process step-by-step to check for signs of disease, weakened vision or other concerns.
What to expect
Our Optometrist may ask you a few questions before beginning the examination to become familiar with your health history and understand why you are requesting an examination. Your eye examination may vary depending on your age and needs, but in general, the procedure will include the following:
Eye Muscle Movement Assessment
We will examine your eyes’ movement, coordination, and response by seeing how your eyes react to a moving object or light.
Visual Acuity Test
The Optometrist will display a list of letters on the wall and request that you read out specific lines of letters to indicate the sharpness and strength of your vision and tell us if you may be far- or nearsighted.
Eye Muscle Movement Assessment
Our Optometrist may ask you a few questions before beginning the examination to become familiar with your health history and understand why you are requesting an examination. Your eye examination may vary depending on your age and needs, but in general, the procedure will include the following:
Cover Test
During the cover test examination, one eye is obscured while the other focuses on an object or light to determine if there are any binocular issues with your eyes. A more in-depth examination is done in our Comprehensive Binocular Evaluation.
Colour Blindness Screening
Our Optometrist may perform a colour vision test to see whether you are having any difficulty identifying different colours. The procedure is done using a multi-coloured dot pattern, whereby the Optometrist will ask you to name the different colours.
Refraction Assessment
If you struggle with your vision, you may be more familiar with the refraction examination. We will use our advanced phoropter to test for refraction error and determine the best lens for each eye.
Slit-lamp Test
We want to ensure that you have a healthy vision and no underlying chronic diseases during your comprehensive eye examination. The slit-lamp test involves placing each eye under high magnification and using a thin beam of light to see into the eye and detect any abnormalities.
Visual Field Assessment
In addition to your eye muscle and cover tests, we will conduct a visual field test to check whether you have any issues with your peripheral vision. Our Optometrist will perform this by covering one of your eyes and asking you to notify them when a moving object goes out of view.