I’ve been curious as to why our doctors do what they do but somehow managed to keep silent (atleast where my eye doctor was concerned) for a whole 9 years!
Anyway, for those who have a healthy pair of eyes, I hope you continue to keep them that way.
For those who don’t and have the privilege of looking awesome with spectacles, here are the tests that would normally be performed. The names of the tests are given by me for simplicity.. not sure what the clinical names are –
1) Power test: This test involves the patient to stare into an image (one eye at a time) that is initially blurred. This image is adjusted to help find the right focal length and hence, calculate the power.
2) Retinal check(basic): This involves the doctor checking out the patient’s retina’s by using directed light and a magnifying glass to check if the retina’s are doing fine. However, under normal conditions, only 1/3rd of the retina’s are visible to doctor’s and this is the reason why we are periodically asked to dilate our eyes. More on this below..
3) Pressure test: This involves a puff of air being blown into the eye. The speed at which the air bounces back off our eye determines the pressure and high pressure in the eye is unhealthy.
4) Dilation – Advanced retinal check: Dilation involves administering drops in the eye of the patient followed by a 1 hour wait for the necessary dilation to take place.
Why dilation?
Typically, our eye lenses contract and dilate according to the closeness of the object, clarity required etc. As a result, under normal conditions, only a small portion of our retina, typically near the center, can been seen by the doctor. However, weak spots in the retina are generally in the periphery and hence, it is advisable to dilate our eyes once every year to make sure our retina’s are doing fine.
After dilation, vision at short distances is blurred as our eye loses the ability to contract for about 3 hours.
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That’s Eye Doc 101 ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you and good day! :)
A Learning a Day 