eye doctor.

[BaymaxFan78]

I have never been to an eye doctor before. Maybe when I was younger but not that I can remember. I have good vision but my doctor says that I need to get them checked out anyways since I haven't been in so long, which is fine. I'm just curious on what the actually do there? as long as nothing touches my eyes I'm fine.

 

[Gary M]

The only thing that touches my eyes is a puff of air.

 

[kaytieeldr]

 

[disneychrista]

The biggest reason to see an eye doctor even when you have good vision is to make sure that the eye itself is healthy.

 

[elphaba91]

Seeing an eye doctor (optometrist or ophthalmologist) isn’t scary at all! It is really important to get your eyes checked as the vast majority of vision problems can be prevented. I now go to the ophthalmologist every 3-4 months and the vision/eye checking portion is absolutely fine.

They may check the pressure of your eyes by putting some numbing drops in and then using a device that either puffs a bit of air in your eye or if can touch your eye; you may feel a bit of pressure but it doesn’t hurt.

There may be portions where they shine a bright light in your eyes to look at things like the back of your eyes. It can be a bit bright and make your eyes water, but nothing too bad.

Otherwise they will probably check your vision by getting you to read letters on a board/screen. If they do find an issue that they want to correct with glasses/contacts then they will show you a series of different options of letters/numbers/pictures and ask you which one is clearest. It gets pretty boring - ‘1 or 2? 1 or 2?’

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Nothing that will hurt... a puff of air is probably the worst thing, and that really isn't a big deal. You might see some light. It seems to be mostly looking at a chart and answering which lens looks better to you. It is pretty much the easiest doctor you will ever deal with.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Don't be scared - it's nothing to worry about!

The puff of air is to check for glaucoma, and many doctors use a different method now. This is important to me because the anticipation of that air coming at my eye is torture lol (it's actually not terrible, you just have to put your big girl panties on for a moment and deal with it)

Other than that, it's fine. The reason they ask 1 or 2? 1or 2? is they are trying to fine tune your Rx by using a series of curved lenses at different angles to give you the best possible vision correction. Your basic Rx is given to them in the beginning of the exam/tests by a machine called the refractor, which detects how the light bends as it moved through your cornea and lens of your eye. This gives the doctor a starting point, but since everyone's eyes are different, they use the manual lenses to do the 1 or 2? exam to give you the best possible lens curves in your glasses.

I worked as an optical lab manager/optician for many years. If you are interested in knowing what those numbers on your rx mean:

Sphere (the first number) - the curve of the lens of your eye. A +value (+1.25) means farsighted (reading glasses), -value (-1.25) means nearsighted (distance glasses). The higher the value in either direction=stronger Rx
Cylinder (the 2nd #) - indicates the amount of lens power for astigmatism, if you have it.
Axis - the degree the lens is turned to accommodate astigmatism
OD= right eye
OS= left eye
OU= both eyes

 

[rwdavis2]

Go. I found out I had eye pressures purely by accident due to another eye problem. High pressures can lead to glaucoma.

 

[BaymaxFan78]

Thank you all so much for the info! I'm fine with the puff of air and the light as long as nothing has to physically touch it (no needles either ).

 

[North of Mouse]

The worst thing for me is the dilation, and makes your eyes even more sensitive (I have extremely sensitive blue eyes) than normal, but doesn't hurt. It is very important to get regular eye exams as they can catch any problems early, before (sometimes) becoming serious.

Speaking of needles, I'm sure with you there, but my older ds has wet macular degeneration and she had to have needles directly (numbed) in the eye. Yikes, she was such a trooper though.