Everyone needs to see an eye care specialist from time to time. These specialists keep our eyes healthy and help us to see clearly.
These professionals include ophthalmologists, optometrists, and opticians. Each has a different education, specialty, and scope of practice. Contact Maryland Eye Care Center now!
Regular comprehensive dilated eye exams are the best way to detect eye diseases in their early stages. These tests can also help to diagnose other health conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes, which increase the risk of developing eye disease.
Dilated Eye Exams
Your eye doctor uses special drops to widen (dilate) your pupils, allowing them to see the inside of your eyes better. This part of an eye exam allows the eye doctor to check for glaucoma, macular degeneration, retinal tears or holes, and other serious conditions that affect vision and could cause blindness if not treated early. It also enables them to diagnose a number of systemic health conditions, including diabetes and high blood pressure.
It is important to remember that your vision will be blurry and light sensitive after the eye exam. You may want to bring a pair of sunglasses, or the doctor might give you some disposable ones. You should plan on having someone drive you home from your appointment if your eyes are dilated, as driving while your pupils are wide open can be dangerous.
Some conditions that require dilated eyes include a detached retina, which can cause flashing lights or large floaters in your field of view. It is important to get a dilated eye exam for these conditions so that your doctor can check the retinal nerve to see if it is pulled away from the rest of the eye, and treat it immediately.
Dilated eye exams are also needed to assess ocular tumors, including freckles and moles that might be cancerous. They are also necessary to detect changes in your ocular structure over time, such as the development of cataracts.
The National Eye Institute recommends that everyone over 60 have a dilated eye exam at least once every year, and more often if you have a family history of glaucoma or other eye diseases. These types of diseases tend to develop more frequently as we age, and the only way to see them is to have your eyes dilated.
Your eye doctor might be able to use other methods of getting a closer look at the back of your eyes without dilation, but these aren’t as accurate and can’t pick up on many of the same conditions that a dilated eye exam can. This includes detecting diabetic retinopathy, a condition that causes changes in the retina, and other health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Refraction Tests
Many eye care centers offer refraction tests to determine your vision prescription. These are an important part of a comprehensive eye exam, and help doctors catch undiagnosed refraction errors that could lead to vision loss. A refraction test can also detect early signs of various eye diseases like glaucoma, which is more dangerous when not diagnosed at an earlier stage.
To perform a refraction test, your eye doctor will have you sit in front of a Snellen chart that displays rows of letters or symbols. These letters get progressively smaller as they move down the chart. The eye doctor will then ask you to read the chart both with and without your glasses or contact lenses to see if you can read the smallest row of letters. In addition to refraction, your doctor may also conduct other preliminary visual examinations to look for any obvious signs of eye health problems.
A refraction test can identify refractive errors that make it difficult to focus on objects up close or far away. These include nearsightedness, where light refracts in front of the retina, and farsightedness, where it refracts behind the retina. It can also identify astigmatism, where the cornea is irregularly curved and causes blurry vision at all distances.
Refraction can be conducted using a simple hand-held mirror or by shining a bright light directly into your eyes. However, it is most commonly performed with a large tool that looks like a mask and is covered in dials, switches and lenses. This device is called a phoropter and is most likely the big, mask-like machine you think of when you picture an eye exam.
After lowering the phoropter, your eye doctor will ask you to read off the letters or symbols from the Snellen chart one at a time. Then, the doctor will switch between different combinations of lenses and ask you which are clearer, making slight adjustments to the power of the lenses as needed.
The refraction test can be more accurate if the eyes are dilated before the procedure, as this allows the doctor to better measure the eye’s ability to focus. For this reason, eye doctors will often perform a cycloplegic refraction, in which they use a type of eye drop to temporarily relax the focus muscles and allow for more precise measurement of the eye’s ability to focus on nearby visuals.
Contact Lenses
Contact lenses offer a more comfortable alternative to eyeglasses. They can correct refractive errors and provide a wide field of vision so you can see clearly whether you’re looking at a distant object or something close up. If you are interested in getting your eyes fitted for contact lenses, make sure to book an appointment with a contact lens fitting and low vision services specialist. This is a professional who can help you choose the best lenses to meet your needs, including colored contact lenses.
There are many different types of contact lenses, each offering its own benefits and drawbacks. The most common is a soft lens made of flexible material that contains water. These lenses can be worn daily and removed at night for cleaning and storage. They last until they are thrown away or they reach their expiration date, which can vary between brands.
These lenses are available in a variety of shapes and sizes. They can be designed to fit the specific shape of your cornea or your prescription. Some are designed to correct astigmatism, an irregularly shaped cornea that causes blurred vision. These lenses are typically made from gas-permeable materials or silicone hydrogels.
Other types of lenses include hybrid contacts, which are made from a combination of soft and hard materials. These are designed to offer the best of both worlds, providing the comfort of a soft lens with the durability of a hard lens. Hybrid lenses are available in a wide range of prescriptions and are ideal for people with astigmatism, as well as people who need vision correction for distance, reading or sports.
Specialty contact lenses are also available for people with unique eye conditions, like keratoconus or irregularly shaped corneas. Scleral lenses vault over the cornea and rest along the white parts of the eyes (sclera). These are often recommended for patients with keratoconus, who may experience difficulty wearing regular soft or hybrid contacts.
Your optometrist can recommend the right type of contact lens for you based on a thorough exam of your eye health, your prescription and your lifestyle. Don’t forget to take good care of your contact lenses by following all instructions for use, storing and cleaning. Never wash your contact lenses with tap water, or you could develop a painful and potentially blinding infection called Acanthamoeba keratitis.
Eye Surgery
Eye surgeries are used to treat a variety of problems. They include:
Refractive Surgery
Refractive surgery uses a laser to change the shape of your cornea, which can help you see better. It corrects nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness and astigmatism. You may also use it to reduce the need for glasses or contact lenses. The procedure is quick and painless. You will need an adult to drive you home afterward, and you should plan to spend a few hours recovering at home. Your eyes may feel gritty, itchy or watery and will have blurry vision. You can take over-the-counter acetaminophen to ease these sensations. Your doctor will also give you prescription eyedrops to prevent infection and inflammation, as well as drops to lubricate your eyes.
Other types of eye surgery include:
Glaucoma Surgery
Glaucoma surgery helps relieve a buildup of pressure in the eye that can damage the optic nerve. It can be done using traditional incisions or through laser surgery. In one type, a tiny tube is implanted in the eye to drain excess fluid and help relieve pressure. Another type uses a laser to create small scars that can help seal a retinal tear or hole.
Cataract Surgery
Cataract surgery involves removing the cloudy natural lens of your eye and replacing it with an artificial lens. This helps restore clear vision. In some cases, this type of eye surgery is combined with other surgery types, such as refractive surgery.
Retinal Surgery
The retina is a layer of nerve tissue that covers the back of your eye. It sharpens and focuses images before sending them to your brain via the optic nerve. It can be damaged by a variety of conditions, including macular degeneration and retinal tears or holes. Several types of eye surgeries can fix these problems, such as a vitrectomy or a scleral buckle.
Surgery can be performed to help misalignment of the eyes, called strabismus. It can be caused by muscle imbalances that cause your eyes to drift in or out, up or down. This is often due to a weakness in the eye muscles that can be caused by certain disorders, such as myasthenia gravis. Your doctor can perform eye muscle surgery to strengthen these muscles.