An eye exam test - a question or two!

[David H]

I've just got an appointment for an eye and foot examination in the Diabetes Clinic in the local hospital.

I understand they shine a light into the eye to see something ??
but someone said make sure you bring very dark sunglasses with you because when you come out into natural daylight you won't be able to see ??

What's the deal here ??

Why are my feet being checked ??
This is getting more confusing!!

David

 

[AlisonM]

Sometimes it's necessary to put drops in the eye to expand the pupil so they can see the back of the eye more clearly. The means your eyes are really sensitive to light for a while afterwards, hence the dark glasses and the maybe not driving thing. I've never needed them yet thank heavens, but some folk here have and will be able to tell you more. They are looking for signs of retinopathy.

Our (diabetics) feet need to be checked regularly for things like sensitivity to touch (any loss of feeling may indicate neurpopathy) and to be sure there's a healthy pulse. They also check the condition of toenails and look for hard skin on the soles that may cause problems walking. I just had mine done on Tuesday and came out all clear.

 

[donnarob]

Hi David,

Tonometry is the measurement of the eye?s pressure, better known as IOP, or intraocular pressure. Your eye doctor will put a drop of anesthetic into your eye. He will then place a small amount of fluorescein (yellow dye) into your eye. A small device called a tonometer is moved close to your eye so that it gently touches the cornea, measuring the pressure of your eye.

Dilated Fundus Examination

The dilated fundus examination is usually the last step in a comprehensive eye examination. Your eye doctor will administer special eye drops to dilate your pupils. This increases the size of your pupil, giving your doctor a larger window in which to inspect your internal eye health. The doctor is able to examine the vitreous, optic nerve, blood vessels, macula and retina.

An instrument called a binocular indirect ophthalmoscope (BIO) is worn on the doctor?s head. This frees the doctor?s hands in order to use a powerful lens to focus light emitted from the ophthalmoscope into your eye. With this instrument, the image is a bit smaller but the field of view is much larger, allowing the doctor to view your entire retina.

The dilated fundus examination is a crucial part of an eye exam, as many eye diseases can be detected during the test.ouches the cornea, measuring the pressure of your eye.

Because your pupils will be dilated, bright lights really hurt your eyes and it's not recommended to drive after the eye exam. It took most of the day for my eyes to revert to feeling back to normal, but it's worth it, for peace of mind regarding your eye health.

Donna 🙂🙂🙂

 

[Northerner]

For the eye examination they need to take photos of your retina, so if your pupils do not dilate sufficiently without the drops then they will use them. They can sting, but only for a few seconds. If you have the drops then it can take several hours before your pupils return to normal which makes any light source very bright. You shouldn't even think about driving after the drops until your eyes have fully returned to normal. The retinopathy examination isn't an eyesight test, although they will usually ask you to read the letters off a chart to begin with.

As for the feet, they need examining to see if there is any loss of circulation, or any damage or loss of sensation. It's also important that you do your own daily check to make sure that nothing untoward has happened to them - if you do develop neuropathy it can be easy to not notice any small wounds etc. which can become infected.

 

[Northerner]

...Tonometry is the measurement of the eye?s pressure, better known as IOP, or intraocular pressure. Your eye doctor will put a drop of anesthetic into your eye. He will then place a small amount of fluorescein (yellow dye) into your eye. A small device called a tonometer is moved close to your eye so that it gently touches the cornea, measuring the pressure of your eye.
...Donna 🙂🙂🙂

Tonometry isn't usually performed at a retinopathy scan here, that's usually performed at your normal optician's eye test, testing for glaucoma. It's important that you have your eye test as well as the retinopathy exam (says he, not having been to the optician's for well over 18 months! 😱)

 

[Caroline]

For the eye exam I take a wide brimmed hat too, but always pray for a cloudy day! For some time afterwards I can't use the computer or the lap top becaause of the brightness of the screens.

 

[AlisonM]

I'm lucky that both my eye test occur at about the same time. I had the Specsavers eye test (very thorough - took almost 50 minutes last year) about a month before the clinic one. So far, I've been lucky and they've not spotted any changes.