They say the eyes are the windows to your soul—beyond that, your eyes’ health impacts your ability to see and can even indicate the presence of other health problems that need to be addressed. And because many eye health problems start with few or even no discernable symptoms initially, it’s very important to schedule a regular comprehensive eye and vision exam. Our eye doctors at Point of View Eyewear in Falls Church can then catch and treat vision problems early, when they respond best to treatment—regular eye exams can even help you and your primary care physician catch problems like diabetes or hypertension early too.

What to Expect at Your Comprehensive Eye and Vision Examination

Your eye doctor may conduct different tests depending upon your age, prior conditions and your medical history. Generally speaking, you should schedule a comprehensive eye and vision exam once every year—possibly more often if you have an eye health condition that needs regular management.

A comprehensive eye and vision examination can take at least an hour and will test all pertinent aspects of your eye health and vision. Before the exam begins, you’ll need to discuss your medical history with our eye doctor. Before you come, write down a list of questions and concerns you have so that you can discuss them during the exam.

Also bring a list of medications or supplements you are currently taking, as well as your eyeglasses and the most recent prescription you have for contact lenses, if you received them elsewhere.

When we need to dilate your eyes for the exam, please arrange for a friend or family member to drive you home afterwards.

Tests We Run During a Comprehensive Eye and Vision Examination

Our eye doctors at Point of View Eyewear conduct very thorough tests for each of our patients. The majority of these comprehensive eye and vision exams include the following ways of measuring your vision and eye health:

Visual Acuity Tests

You are probably very familiar with this one—reading letters or identifying other symbols of various font sizes on a chart across the room. This helps us measure how sharp your vision is. We will have you cover each eye and read in turn to determine how well each eye focuses. We also test your near vision ability with a handheld chart.

Color Blindness Test

Early in the text, we also measure your eyes’ ability to detect different colors. Not only can this help us detect color blindness, but also other eye health conditions that impact your eyes’ color sensitivity.

Eye Movement Test

Also called an “ocular motility” test, we examine how smoothly and quickly your eyes can track a moving object. You hold your head stationary while using just your eyes to follow a light or object. Your eyes’ ability to move and track together can impact everything from sports vision, hand-eye coordination and reading ability.

Depth Perception Test

Also called a “stereopsis test”, we ask you to look into a monitor that shows a series of objects, some of which should appear closer while others appear farther away. This test enables us to test your ability to judge the distance of objects in three-dimensional space.

Retinoscopy & Refraction Tests

These tests help our eye doctor narrow down what your eyeglass prescription is by testing your ability to see a letter with and without lenses.

Keratometry

If you wear contact lenses or will be starting to wear them, this test is important for getting the right fit for your contact lenses. It measures the curvature of your cornea so that the contact lenses adhere smoothly to improve your vision and comfort properly.

Slit Lamp Test

You rest your chin and forehead securely on the prop while our eye doctor uses a microscope to examine all of the physical structures of your eyes, including the eyelids, cornea, conjunctiva, iris, lens, retina and optic nerve. This microscopic examination can give our eye doctor many clues as to your eye health and overall health as well.

Glaucoma Testing

We will also test to measure the pressure within your eyeball; high pressure here can damage the optical nerve, causing progressive blindness, usually from the periphery inwards. The sooner we diagnose glaucoma, the more of your vision we can save from the progression of the disease.

Macular Degeneration Testing

Age-related macular degeneration is another common cause of failing vision as people age. It’s important to follow a healthy diet and exercise, but getting tested is also critical. Although macular degeneration still cannot be reversed, there are treatments that can slow its progression to help you maintain and improve vision longer.

This is a broad overview of the comprehensive eye and vision examination you can expect at Point of View Eyewear in Falls Church. We also provide other tests for people who have specific eye health needs or diseases. Please schedule an appointment for this very important vision health exam today by calling us at 703-237-6500.