A lot of people imagine it’s mainly about reading increasingly tiny letters from a chart while somebody asks, “Better with one… or two?”
That is part of it, but only a very small part.
At Bottomleys, we allow more time for an eye examination because no two people arrive with exactly the same eyes, health, work, hobbies or concerns.
We’ll begin with a proper conversation.
How is your vision generally? Has anything changed? Are you struggling with night driving, reading, screens, headaches or tired eyes? Is there anything in your medical or family history we need to know about?
That conversation matters because it helps us understand what we should be looking for.
We’ll then carry out the initial checks and use what we find to decide where the examination needs to go next.
That might include:
- Checking your prescription and how well your eyes work together
- Examining the health of the front and back of your eyes
- Measuring the pressure inside your eyes
- Checking your peripheral vision with a visual fields test
- Using OCT to create detailed scans of the structures beneath the surface of the retina
- Taking a closer look at anything your symptoms, history or initial results suggest needs more attention
Not everybody needs every test every time.
A good eye examination shouldn’t feel like being moved through a standard checklist. It should be tailored around you and what your optometrist discovers as the examination progresses.
The important bit comes at the end too.
We’ll explain what we’ve found in normal language, answer your questions and tell you whether anything needs monitoring. If your prescription has changed, we’ll explain what that change is likely to mean in real life.
And if your prescription hasn’t changed, we’ll tell you that as well. There is no prize for finding a reason to change your glasses.
We simply want you to leave knowing how well you can see, how healthy your eyes appear and what, if anything, happens next.
That’s why we take a little longer.
Eyes are quite important. It seems only fair to give them the time they deserve.
