You routinely visit your optometrist yearly, or every two years to get new glasses. Your optometrist in Canberra does a series of test to look at what prescription your new glasses going to be. Have you always wonder, is it always the same series of tests that your optometrist performs?
Things to Consider
The tests your optometrist performs depends on the situation. Your optometrist would decide which tests are necessary given your the purpose of your visit. For example, a patient needing new glasses would most likely undergo a slightly different set of tests compared to a patient with an irritated, red eye.
For your optometrist to understand your situation, your needs and vision requirements, he/she would ask you a series of questions during history taking. This may involve how often you spend in front of your computer, medications which may affect your vision, specific workplace requirements or any pre-existing ocular conditions.
The Technology
The equipment used to measure your vision and assessing your eye health differs from practice to practice. Some modern practices may employ state-of-the-art technology to measure your vision precisely and accurately. Other practices may lack such equipment, so additional tests with different methods are required to check for consistency of the result.
Here at Capital Eye, we employ OCT scans to detect and diagnose eye diseases at its earliest stages. This allows the optometrist to manage your ocular health accordingly to prevent blindness and if appropriate, treat before it becomes problematic.
The OCT scans at Capital Eye will enable us to look at your retina in cross-section. This allows your optometrist to review the layers of the retina to ensure you are not at risk of developing retinal diseases such as macular degeneration.
Without an OCT scan, your optometrist may look at the back of the eye using different methods. Looking at the back surface of the eye gives the optometrist a lot of information regarding your eye health. If your retinal health is affected by diabetes, it could be picked up by just looking at the surface of the retina. However, since the OCT scan records the layer of the retina in great detail and cross-section, making its data becomes very useful for monitoring any progression or worsening of your eye condition.
New or Previous Patient
When a new patient presents for an eye test, the consultation is often conducted at high detail. This is to ensure baseline data such as your prescription, eye pressures and ocular health are recorded accurately and can be used for future comparisons if required.
For existing patients, your previous data are already collected. The consultation would be more streamlined, and your optometrist would only select relevant tests for you.
The Bottom Line
Whatever your eye problems may be, the series of tests your optometrist conduct may differ from your previous visits or, from your previous practitioner. This is mainly due to what tests (or technologies) are available, the style or the way your optometrist practices and, whether or not you’ve been to the practice previously.
Here at Capital Eye, we use the latest diagnostic equipment and technologies, along with up-to-date industry knowledge to ensure your diagnosis, treatment and management is of a gold standard. Our patients at Capital Eye appreciates the care and the expert advice in managing their eye health with the quality of our work assured.