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Eye Exams

Eye Associates  recommends that most people have an eye exam every one to two years depending upon age and health. An annual eye exam is one of the most important diagnostic and preventative measures you can take to protect your vision and health. If you are in a higher-risk category for eye disease or complications, we may recommend more frequent exams. If you notice a change in your vision or injure your eye, you should contact us immediately. Usually upon your visits, you will be dilated so that the doctors can look into the back of your eyes. If you do not want dilation drops, Eye Associates offers a special camera that will allow an undilated view of your retina. We will offer you this option if you do not want the traditional dilation drops to be used. Second opinions and consultations are offered as well. We understand the importance in getting a different point of view when it comes to things such as surgery. We are here to make sure you get the best eye care possible. While this information is helpful, it should not be construed as medical advice. For more detailed explanation on any of these topics, please consult one of our doctors.

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Eye Exams for Adults & Seniors

If you are in overall good health, and to the best of your knowledge you have not been diagnosed with any eye health problems or eye diseases, scheduling an eye examination every two years is usually sufficient. It is important that, if you have any family member who has been told that they have glaucoma, macular degeneration (AMD) or you are diabetic you will need to be examined at least each year or as directed by your eye doctor or family doctor. A number of eye problems and eye conditions become more frequent with age. In particular, cataract formation and other age related macula problems increase in frequency for patients over 55-60 years of age and even healthy people should consider scheduling a routine eye exam each year if they fall into this age group. Anyone over 40 should have an eye exam and glaucoma testing each year and anyone over 50 with a family history of macular degeneration should also be examined annually.

Eye Exams for Children

At about 6 weeks of age, a baby should be able to fixate on an object, such as a face and maintain eye contact. Over a child’s first few years, vision develops rapidly with 20/20 vision often recorded by 2 or 3 years of age with some techniques. Parents should be aware of signs of poor vision in children. If one eye “turns” or “crosses,” that eye may not see as well as the other eye and may be an indication of a vision or developmental problem. If a child is not interested in faces or age-appropriate toys, or if their eyes rove around or jiggle-called nystagmus-you should suspect poor vision. Other signs to watch for are tilting the head and squinting. Babies and toddlers compensate for poor vision rather than complain about it. Should a baby need eyeglasses, the prescription can be determined fairly accurately by dilating the pupil and analyzing the light reflected through the pupil from the back of the eye. Children should have a pediatric eye exam before they enter school in order to diagnose problems with eye health muscle coordination, focusing and any other vision problems that might impact learning. Depending on your child’s individual history and your family history, an appropriate frequency for children’s eye exams can be determined. Please feel free to ask about how often we might recommend a children’s eye exam for your child.

Common Refractive Eye Conditions

Myopia (Nearsightedness)

Nearsighted individuals typically have problems seeing well at a distance, and wear glasses or contact lenses to optimize visual acuity. The nearsighted eye is usually longer than a normal eye, and its cornea may also be steeper. Therefore, when light passes through the cornea and lens, it is focused in front of the retina. This will make distant images appear blurred. There are several refractive surgery solutions available to correct nearly all levels of nearsightedness. Glasses, contact lenses and Custom LASIK are a few of the more common options available to correct farsightedness.

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Hyperopia (Farsightedness)

Farsighted individuals typically develop problems reading up close before the age of 40. The farsighted eye is usually slightly shorter than a normal eye, and may have a flatter cornea. Thus, the light of distant objects focuses behind the retina unless the natural lens can compensate fully. Near objects require even greater focusing power to be seen clearly, and therefore, blur more easily. Glasses, contact lenses, Custom LASIK, and refractive lens exchange are a few of the options available to correct farsightedness.

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Astigmatism

Asymmetric steepening of the cornea or natural lens causes light to be focused unevenly, which is the main optical problem in astigmatism. To individuals with uncorrected astigmatism, images may look blurry or shadowed. Astigmatism can accompany any form of refractive error such as nearsightedness and farsightedness, and is very common. Astigmatism can be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, Custom LASIK, corneal relaxing incisions, laser vision correction, and special intraocular lens implants.

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Presbyopia

Presbyopia is a condition that typically becomes noticeable for most people around age 40 – 45. In children and young adults, the lens inside the eye can easily focus on distant and near objects. With age, the lens loses its ability to focus adequately. Although presbyopia is not completely understood, it is thought that the lens and its supporting structures lose the ability to make the lens longer during close vision effort. To compensate, affected individuals usually find that holding reading material further away makes the image clearer. Ultimately, aids such as reading glasses or bifocals are typically needed by the early to mid-forties. Besides glasses, presbyopia can be dealt with in a number of ways. Options include: Near Vision Restoration, monovision and multifocal contact lenses, monovision laser vision correction, and new advanced technology presbyopia correcting intraocular lens implants.

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Myopia (Nearsightedness)

Nearsighted individuals typically have problems seeing well at a distance, and wear glasses or contact lenses to optimize visual acuity. The nearsighted eye is usually longer than a normal eye, and its cornea may also be steeper. Therefore, when light passes through the cornea and lens, it is focused in front of the retina. This will make distant images appear blurred. There are several refractive surgery solutions available to correct nearly all levels of nearsightedness. Glasses, contact lenses and Custom LASIK are a few of the more common options available to correct farsightedness.

View Video

Hyperopia (Farsightedness)

Farsighted individuals typically develop problems reading up close before the age of 40. The farsighted eye is usually slightly shorter than a normal eye, and may have a flatter cornea. Thus, the light of distant objects focuses behind the retina unless the natural lens can compensate fully. Near objects require even greater focusing power to be seen clearly, and therefore, blur more easily. Glasses, contact lenses, Custom LASIK, and refractive lens exchange are a few of the options available to correct farsightedness.

View Video


Astigmatism

Asymmetric steepening of the cornea or natural lens causes light to be focused unevenly, which is the main optical problem in astigmatism. To individuals with uncorrected astigmatism, images may look blurry or shadowed. Astigmatism can accompany any form of refractive error such as nearsightedness and farsightedness, and is very common. Astigmatism can be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, Custom LASIK, corneal relaxing incisions, laser vision correction, and special intraocular lens implants.

View Video

Presbyopia

Presbyopia is a condition that typically becomes noticeable for most people around age 40 – 45. In children and young adults, the lens inside the eye can easily focus on distant and near objects. With age, the lens loses its ability to focus adequately. Although presbyopia is not completely understood, it is thought that the lens and its supporting structures lose the ability to make the lens longer during close vision effort. To compensate, affected individuals usually find that holding reading material further away makes the image clearer. Ultimately, aids such as reading glasses or bifocals are typically needed by the early to mid-forties. Besides glasses, presbyopia can be dealt with in a number of ways. Options include: Near Vision Restoration, monovision and multifocal contact lenses, monovision laser vision correction, and new advanced technology presbyopia correcting intraocular lens implants.

View Video

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