It is important to get regular eye exams because we only have two eyes and we want to make sure they are healthy and well taken care of. Dr. Pinkhasov believes that your eyesight is your most important sense. Thus, you should ensure that you are prepared to properly take care of them and that you go to your eye doctor. 

What to expect during an eye exam?

Following is a brief overview of what an optometrist looks for during an eye exam.

• An eye doctor will first check your distance and close-up visual acuity. 
• You will have your eye muscles assessed to ensure they are working properly. 
• They will examine how your pupils respond to light. 
• They will measure your side vision. 
• They will examine your eye teaming skills and look for any eye deviations. 
• They also look for any focusing issues or double vision. 
• They also put you in front of a phoropter to see if you require prescription glasses or contact lenses. 
• They then examine your ocular health by placing you behind a microscope and taking a look at the front of your eye. 
• Then, they will also measure your eye pressure, which is a screening for glaucoma, since high eye pressure is a risk factor for glaucoma. 
• They also dilate your eyes and take a look at your posterior ocular health and ensure that it's in good condition as well. 

Dilating your eyes is very important because it provides eye doctors with information about the rest of your body. Your eye is the only organ in which they can see live blood vessels without having to cut you open or use x-rays. A comprehensive eye exam gives the eye doctor a lot of information about what's happening such as if you have diabetes, or high blood pressure. It's really important that you go to your eye doctor for a dilated eye exam every year. Being proactive about scheduling an eye exam is not just about renewing your prescription, an annual comprehensive eye exam ensures that your vision stays at its peak performance, your eyes are healthy, and is an important component of your overall health awareness. 

Don't wait until you experience symptoms to schedule an annual eye exam

Certain eye diseases may begin to impact the health of your eyes before you notice any symptoms, for example, in the early stages of macular degeneration, you may be asymptomatic. Therefore, it's important for your eye doctor to catch that early on and then treat you promptly because the prognosis will be much better. In case they catch it later, then you will be at more risk of developing more severe forms of macular degeneration, which could result in permanent vision loss. That's why it's super important to go visit your eye doctor. Eye diseases such as Diabetic eye disease and macular degeneration can be controlled with early detection and intervention. 

Preventative imaging and diagnostic tests

At our New York City optometry office we have advanced technology that provides our eye doctors unparalleled imaging and information about the health of your eyes. Our eye doctors are able to take detailed images of the structure of your eye and assess the health of your eye at a cellular level.With our investments in technologies such as OCT and ERG, we are able to ensure that each patient has a baseline of their eye health to detect changes that may have not been detectable without this level of information. Technology has revolutionized eye exams and we invite you to benefit from these incredibly important changes.

What happens after an eye exam?

Your eye doctor will explain to you all the results of the exam and then determine the next course of action. For example, if you have difficulties with binocularity, eye teaming, or eye strain after just a few minutes of reading, your eye doctor may refer you to a vision therapist. Or your child may be referred to myopia management if they have a high minus prescription and they're still young, in an attempt to slow down their minus prescription so that it doesn't continue to get worse; high minus prescriptions are associated with a number of ocular diseases which eye doctors don't want their patients to develop in the future.