Please bring with you:
• A form of identification
• Medical insurance card
• List of your medications including supplements
• Current or old glasses
• Current contact lens packages (even empty ones) or previous contact lens prescription
• Name of your contact lens solution
• Fill our new patient form online

Vision insurance provides basic eye exam, which usually includes dilation of the pupils, and measurement of glasses prescription. This measurement is called a refraction. Medical testing, such as visual field exams and retinal photography, are not covered by vision insurance plans. A medical eye exam, covered under general medical insurance, is done when the patient has a chief complaint such as eye irritation, pain, diabetes, concern for glaucoma, cataracts, etc. Refractions are, unfortunately, generally not considered a covered service under medical insurance plans.

The American Optometric Association (AOA) recommends a comprehensive eye examination every two years for people under the age of 60 and every year for people over 60. This recommendation is for everyone, not just for people who wear glasses or who have vision or eye problems. Patients who wear contact lenses or with certain vision conditions and diseases, such as glaucoma or diabetes, may need more than routine optometric visits.

A complete eye examination includes dilation of the pupils to enable the doctor to examine the entire eye, including the back of the eye which includes the optic nerve, macula, and retina.to do this, light must be shined through the pupils in order to see the interior structures. If a person’s pupils are too small, it may difficult to assess the inside of the eyes. Dilating the pupils makes them larger, allowing a better view of the inside of the eyes.

Contact lenses are medical devices that need to be monitored annually. Determining the health of your eyes requires a doctor to view the contact lens on your eye each year. You may be seeing fine and not noticing any irritation, but with a microscope doctors can see problems that have no symptoms. Some of these problems can lead to scarring or blindness well before they cause you any pain. Since contacts rest directly against your eye, the risk for infection and serious disease is much higher for contact lens wearers than for non-wearers.

Not everyone exhibits every symptom, but if you have dry eye syndrome you may begin to feel:
• Dryness, discomfort, and irritation
• A feeling like grit is in your eye
• Burning or stinging
• Blurred vision
• Sensitivity to light
• Constant watering of the eyes

Depending on the severity of your symptoms, lifestyle changes are generally the first suggestion we make. You can try warm compresses, blinking exercises, fish oil supplements, or special eyelid cleaning techniques. In most cases, artificial tears will help to with the worst of the symptoms. For more severe cases we might offer a prescription medication in drop form.

Cataracts occur when the lens of the eye becomes cloudy. Trying to look through a cloudy lens can feel like trying to look through a foggy window.

Cataract symptoms include:
• Cloudy vision
• Blurry vision
• Difficulty seeing at night
• Requiring brighter lights to read
• Sensitivity to light
• Glasses prescriptions that change quickly
• Seeing faded colors

Most cases of cataracts come with aging. Sometimes the causes may be associated with unprotected exposure to ultraviolet (uv) radiation, lifestyle choices, including drinking alcohol or smoking. In other cases, cataracts are linked to diabetes, medication, and eye injuries.

Glaucoma is a group of eye disorders that lead to progressive damage to the optic nerve. It is characterized by loss of nerve tissue that results in vision loss. People with glaucoma can lose nerve tissue, resulting in permanent irreversible vision loss.

Glaucoma can strike at any age, but your risk increases after age 40. Previous eye injury or surgery, high blood pressure, extreme myopia (nearsightedness), diabetes, and a family history of glaucoma also contribute to glaucoma risk.

The most common type of glaucoma, open-angle glaucoma, progresses so slowly that you may not even notice a reduction in vision for years. This is why regular eye exams are so critical for catching the disease early. But some people develop angle-closure glaucoma, an emergency condition that causes sudden vision loss as well as nausea, headaches, and eye pain.

Early treatment of glaucoma can slow or arrest the progress of optic nerve damage, saving your vision. Most cases can be treated with oral or topical medications that help normalize internal eye pressure. If necessary, we can also refer you for a painless outpatient laser surgery that improves eye drainage.

Macular degeneration is a progressive, irreversible condition that affects your ability to use the central part of your vision. It does this by damaging a specific part of the retina known as the macula.

The two main kinds of macular degeneration are non-proliferative (“dry”) macular degeneration and neovascular (“wet”) macular degeneration.

Macular degeneration can occur in anyone after the age of 50, but certain lifestyle factors can make its onset more likely. These possible causes include smoking, poor diet, uv exposure, and exposure to the blue light emitted by led screens. While minimizing these risk factors may help prevent macular degeneration, you still need regular eye exams to check for the condition.

In the early stages, macular degeneration shows no signs. As the disease progresses, you can begin to experience the following symptoms:
• Distortions
• Decreased vision
• Trouble adapting to dim lights
• Needing brighter lights when doing close-up work • Blurriness of printed words
• Fading colors
• Difficulty recognizing faces

During the dilated exam, our eye doctor will check for yellow deposits in the retina called drusen. These deposits are usually the initial indications of macular degeneration. An amsler grid test can also be used to see if the condition has caused any distortions in vision.

Diabetics without retinopathy need to have their eye exams yearly and if there is any retinopathy, your doctor will determine how often you need an exam.

Most health insurance plans cover the cost of a diabetic eye exam in full. Although it is important to remember that health insurance is different from vision insurance.

Diabetic retinopathy results from the weakening of the blood vessels in the retina as a result of prolonged exposure to high blood sugar levels. These weakened blood vessels eventually begin to leak fluid and depending on where that fluid escapes, it can interfere with your vision. In an attempt to improve blood circulation in the retina, new blood vessels may form on its surface. These fragile, abnormal blood vessels can leak blood into the back of the eye and block vision.

Symptoms of diabetic retinopathy include:
• Seeing spots or floaters.
• Blurred vision.
• Having a dark or empty spot in the center of your vision.
• Difficulty seeing well at night.