UNDERSTANDING PROFESSIONAL EYE EXAMINATION

Historically, an eye examination was nothing more than flipping lenses before the eye by the optician and took no more than a few minutes to do the job. No information on the health conditions of the eye, whether the eyes are working together or even if the prescription was right. There was no formal training for opticians and therefore absence of practice standards until some 20 years ago when the government started to regulate the profession in order to protect the public from low standards of optical service.

Today, Optometry is a professional study in the university and optometrists are your primary eye care providers. A routine eye exam includes, but not limited to, the following procedures:

1. History taking and understanding of visual problems
2. Assessment of visual functions (vision, visual acuity, visual field, colour vision, etc.)
3. Refraction (finding your spectacle prescription)
4. Binocular coordination (muscle balance, stereopsis, squint, lazy eyes, etc.)
5. Ocular health assessment (glaucoma, cataract, retinal conditions, etc.) particularly when other findings are contradictory.
6. Diagnosis and treatment of visual anomalies