FAQs
Learn more about caring for your eyes and get answers to some of the questions our professionals hear most frequently.
We are always happy to answer your questions but we wanted to share our responses to a few of the most common ones – plus provide a little information about eye health and vision care.
The eye care professionals at Focused Eye Care want you to know as much as possible about caring for your eyesight.
Pupil dilation
When they are functioning normally, pupils constrict in response to bright light, such as the one used in an eye exam. Dilating drops keep the pupils open and allow your Focused Eye Care doctor to see more of the back of your eye, including the retina and optic nerve.
Yes. In addition to a dilated eye exam, a routine eye exam includes tests for visual acuity, eye muscle movements and balance testing, pupil tests, visual fields and prescriptions for eyeglasses and contact lenses.
A pupil can take hours to return to normal size after dilation. You should bring sunglasses to any eye exam that involves pupil dilation.
Eye exams
Yes. Patients often feel more comfortable wearing sunglasses after a routine eye exam, until the pupil returns to its normal size. If you forget to bring sunglasses, we will provide you with a disposable pair to wear.
There can be minor ones, especially if we dilate your pupils, which will make them more sensitive to light for some period of time after the exam. Otherwise, comprehensive eye exams are relatively painless and pose minimal risk to eye or vision health. Optometrists should be alerted to allergies and medications being used by a patient prior to a routine eye exam.
Annual eye exams are recommended for everyone.
Medicare allows medically-prescribed eye exams for patients with diabetes, glaucoma and other conditions, as long as the annual deductible has been met. Medicare, however, does not cover the expenses of a refractive or routine eye exam.
Yes. Resources to treat glaucoma, diabetes and many eye conditions are available. Often, your Focused Eye Care doctor can treat these conditions, or he or she can refer you to the appropriate specialist.
Glasses, contacts and bifocals
- They offer good peripheral (side) vision
- They reduce visual distortion that may occur with some eyeglasses
- They fit an active lifestyle
- They are a good option for those who don’t like the way they look in eyeglasses.
The most common use of bifocals is for the treatment of presbyopia in individuals aged 40 and over. Presbyopia is a gradual, age-related loss of the eyes’ ability to focus. Whether or not a person has needed vision correction when younger, by the early to mid-forties, the ability to accommodate or focus the eyes has diminished. Bifocals allow the wearer to see clearly both at distance and close up, despite the reduced focusing ability. Bifocals may also be used to help align the eyes if a person tends to over-cross his or her eyes at close distances. Presbyopia can be treated with simple vision reading glasses, contact lenses, lined bifocals and no-line progressive addition lenses.
Children
An infant should have their first eye exam at six months of age. Another exam should be scheduled at age three, and then again prior to your child entering first grade. If there is a history of early eye problems such as lazy eye or eye turn, more frequent exams are recommended.
Children who need vision correction may have noticeable signs or symptoms, such as headache, squinting or struggling in school. However, often issues are harder to detect. The only way these cases will be uncovered is by a routine eye and vision examination. We recommend that all children have a complete vision examination before entering school or when experiencing difficulties in school.
Eye diseases, conditions and dry eye
Astigmatism is a vision condition in which light entering the eye is unable to be brought to a single focus, resulting in distorted vision at all distances. Astigmatism is not a disease, but rather, a vision condition that is quite common. It often occurs in conjunction with other refractive errors, such as nearsightedness and farsightedness, and can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses.
Coordination of your eyes and their ability to work together as a team develops in early childhood. Failure of your eyes (or more precisely, your eye muscles) to coordinate together properly can lead to crossed eyes. Excessive eye focusing effort in children who are farsighted can also result in crossed eyes. Crossed eyes also have a tendency to be hereditary.
Glaucoma is an eye disease in which the internal fluid pressure of your eye rises so much that it damages the optic nerve. The pressure that builds up is usually due to inadequate drainage of fluid normally produced in your eyes. Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the U.S.
Cataracts usually develop slowly and without pain. Some indications that a cataract may be forming include blurred or hazy vision, decreased color perception, or the feeling of having a film over the eyes. A temporary improvement in distance or near vision may occur, and increased sensitivity to glare, especially at night, may be experienced. Cataracts usually develop in both eyes, but often at different rates.
Conjunctivitis, commonly referred to as “pink eye,” is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, a thin, transparent layer covering the surface of the inner eyelid and a portion of the front of the eye. This condition appears in many forms, including bacterial, viral and allergic.
“Pink eye” is just one of many types of conjunctivitis. True “pink eye” is caused by infectious organisms, such as virus, bacteria or fungus, and is contagious. If you have any type of conjunctivitis, it is best to use good hygiene by washing hands regularly, not sharing towels and trying not to touch or rub the eyes. If the condition persists for more than a few days it is time to seek medical help.
Over a third of all those with diabetes do not know that they have the disease. Many other serious eye diseases, like glaucoma, do not have many perceptible symptoms and cause irreversible damage to vision and overall health. A comprehensive, dilated eye exam allows your Focused Eye Care doctor to look deep into your eyes, and screen for these serious diseases. Proper diagnosis and treatment can often preserve vision.
Dry eye occurs when your eyes do not produce enough tears or produce tears which do not have the proper chemical composition. Dry eye symptoms can result from the normal aging process, exposure to environmental conditions, problems with normal blinking or from medications such as antihistamines, oral contraceptives or antidepressants. Dry eye can also be symptomatic of general health problems such as rheumatoid arthritis and other collagen vascular diseases.
General vision questions
Nearsightedness (myopia) is a vision condition in which you can usually see close or near objects clearly, but cannot see distant ones as clearly.
Farsightedness (hyperopia) is a vision condition in which distant objects are usually seen clearly, but close ones appear blurred.
The 20/200 visual measurement means that at 20 feet away you see a size 200 letter. The first number is the distance away that the vision is checked and the second number is the size of the letter that you can read. The larger the number, the larger the letter size. If you are 20/200, it means that what you see at 20 feet is what a person 20/20 can see at 200 feet.
The spots and floaters, as we generally refer to them, may be associated with migraines or may occasionally be a sign of retinal detachment. But they are usually caused by a shrinkage of the jelly that fills the back two-thirds of the eye. When this jelly (vitreous) shrinks and light passes through, a shadow is formed on the back of the eye. This is what is commonly perceived as a floater. As the jelly shrinks, it can also pull or tug on the retina, causing flashing lights. A thorough evaluation including a dilated examination is suggested to rule out any other serious conditions that also can cause spots and floaters or flashes.
Many individuals who work at a computer experience Computer Vision Syndrome or CVS. However, based on current evidence it is unlikely that the use of computers causes permanent changes or damage to the eyes or visual system. Many of the potential eye and/or vision problems relating to computer use can be reduced or eliminated by appropriate adjustment and placement of the computer, proper workplace design and lighting control, and the use of special lens designs and coatings that eliminate computer eye strain.
No. A driver’s vision test looks for aspects of visual acuity and visual fields. However, it does not look for ocular health, eye muscle movements and eye balance. A driver’s vision test cannot be considered an adequate substitute for a comprehensive eye exam.
