During a visit to the optometrist, you may encounter different pieces of equipment and wonder what their purpose is. This page is to help you understand what to expect during a comprehensive eye exam, and the purpose of each piece of eye equipment.
A comprehensive eye examination includes the evaluation of a person’s prescription, ocular alignment, and ocular health. An optometrist may use any of the following equipment during this exam to assist them in this task.
At the start of your eye examination, the optometrist or trained technician, may take screening measurements that include an estimate of your eye prescription using an auto-refractor, as well as eye curvature, eye pressure and field of vision.
The optometrist will then finalize the prescription with a specialized instrument called a phoropter.
The optometrist may recheck the eye pressure, if required, using an alternate type of tonometer.
This optometrist is using a hand-held tonometer to check eye pressure.
The ocular health component will require the optometrist to examine the anterior and posterior segments of the eye.
The optometrist will examine elements of the anterior segment including the cornea, lens, anterior chamber and iris. This is commonly done with a slit lamp.
Using specialized lenses, the optometrists will look through the pupil to evaluate the posterior segment including the macula, optic nerve and retina. A slit lamp, a direct ophthalmoscope or binocular indirect ophthalmoscope may be used to complete the posterior segment assessment.
The optometrist is using a binocular indirect opthalmoscope.
Additional testing that may be done using visual field equipment and retinal imaging to assist with the diagnosis and management of disease.
Your visual field is how wide of an area your eye can see when you focus on a central point. The visual field equipment is used to detect visual field loss, which may be caused by injury or disease such as lesions, traumatic brain injury, stroke(s), injury or eye conditions such as glaucoma.
The Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is used to generate an image which aids in the diagnosis and monitoring of eye conditions, including age related macular degeneration, glaucoma and macular edema.
Reach out to our Practice Advisors if you have questions about your eye examination.