Everyone knows that they should get an eye exam if they notice any blurriness in their vision. But an eye exam is more than simply testing your need for glasses. Your eyes are an essential part of your overall health and an extremely intricate part of the human body. Because your eyes are so important and complex, there’s a lot to testing them that even people with 20/20 vision can benefit from. Here are a few things you can expect from a routine eye exam:
- An eye muscle test examines the strength of the muscles around the eye and overall physical condition of your eyes. If there’s weakness or loss of control of these muscles, it might be a sign of something more serious, such as neurological damage or physical trauma.
- The visual acuity test and the refraction assessment are the parts of an eye exam that everyone remembers. The famous Snellen chart (the poster with smaller and smaller lines of letters that you have to read out loud), for example, tests how clear your vision is and if you need any corrective measures such as glasses. Any blurriness in your vision will be caught at this stage.
- A visual field test determines how wide your field of vision is. This can change with age, and regularly testing your field of vision helps your doctor track any damage that has occurred to keep you as healthy as possible.
- A colour vision test may include looking at pictures of differently coloured dots and tests how well you distinguish different colours. You may have poor colour vision without even being aware of it.
- The retinal examination is all about the health of the inside of your eye and the tissue and blood vessels behind it. This is the part of the exam that requires your eyes to be dilated so your doctor can see into your eye. A retinal examination is done to test if there’s any increased pressure on your eye or if there are any infections, amongst other things.
Visit Focus West Optometry for Eye Exams in Calgary
At Focus West Optometry, we’re committed to providing thorough eye exams to the community in Calgary. We offer a wide range of eye care services, from pediatric eye exams to advanced digital lenses that help you see better. Contact our Calgary offices to find out how our Optometrists can help you today.
