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This is the most important part of your visit to our practice. We have equipment that will screen for diseases that can affect your body as well as your eyes, so it's not just a check for spectacles.
Initially in the examination we will ask you a few questions regarding your reason for visiting us and your current state of health including any medication that you may be taking. This information may affect some of the tests we carry out and we may need to do extra tests.
The first structure we can see is the lens of the eye. The lens changes with age to develop cataracts, but can be affected earlier by some drugs and ultraviolet radiation.
Next, we focus through the vitreous. This is the jelly substance that keeps the eye shape. With age it tends to shrink slightly resulting in the formation of floaters. It is important to distinguish between harmless floaters and those caused by a retinal detachment, this is when the retina lifts away from the back of the eye. Other symptoms may be flashing lights or a shaddow infront of your vision. If the retina isn't re-attached quickly, it dies.
Retinal Photography - At Specs of Kensington we are committed to providing you with the highest standard of eye care available. We have a Digital Retinal Camera which allows us to take photographs of the inside of your eyes similar to one shown on the left. The proceedure is comfortable and the image is captured in seconds - nothing touches the eye.
This enhances the way we check the back of your eyes to ensure they are healthy. It enables us to view the retina and check the nerves and blood vessels. During this part we may detect diseases such as Diabetes, Glaucoma, Macula Degeneration and high blood pressure. The benefits of this service are considerable and it will be recommended and available to everyone.
Slit-lamp microscope - This is essential for examining the front surface of the eyes. We can see signs of dry eye, allergies and especially contact lens complications. With extra lenses we can also get a binocular view of your retina to judge the height and depth of structures.
Visual field screener - The peripheral nerves of the eye may suffer damage that you may not notice as your central vision can remain clear. Diseases that affect peripheral nerves include Glaucoma, Multiple Sclerosis and Strokes.
One of the most important things to test for in children is if the two eyes are working together to make sure there is no squint. With this test we can assess and grade the cooperation between the eyes. Squints, if found early enough, can be corrected to prevent lazy eyes.
Colour vision defects occur in 4% of men but only 0.25% of women due to the inheritance. Generally it only causes a problem with some career choices, eg police. We have a list of the current requirements.
Refraction - First of all we use an auto refractor and a retinoscope to assess your prescription, whether you are short sighted, long sighted or have astigmatism. This reflects light off the retina, back of the eye, and calculates the power of lenses you require. This is particularly useful when seeing young children as we can assess their prescription without their co-operation. Then we refine the results by asking you a few simple questions to achieve clear, precise, comfortable vision.
Children don't have to know their letters to have their eyes examined. Some tests can be done from the age of about six months old. It is very important that children are seen early as problems need to be found and corrected before the age of 5 yrs as this is when they start fixing their adult levels. The NHS pays for children's eye examinations.
This photograph shows some picture cards that enable us to assess the vision of pre-school children.
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