What We Can Test During your Eye Examination
Struggling with blurry vision or tired eyes? At Farmilo Optometrists, we have a host of highly-qualified professionals that will provide you with an excellent eye examination and help identify the options you have when it comes to enhancing your vision.
In case you’ve not had one for a little while, eye examinations have come a long way in recent years. Gone are the days of wearing heavy glasses and having your optician or optometrist change lenses manually. Today, an eye test is more of a fine science!
We thought it might be helpful for you to get lowdown on the tests we can carry out during an eye examination at Farmilo Optometrists. Take a look through our handy guide to see what we are able to offer.
The Zeiss i.profiler
We can measure your prescription objectively using a Zeiss i.profiler. This machine offers the most accurate method of measuring your spectacle prescription. In just 60 seconds, it takes 1,500 measurements across the surface of your eye, accounting for pupil size and night vision. It allows your optician to create a ‘map’ of the surface and determine the precise shape of the front of the eye.
This ‘map’ is known as corneal topography, and allows us to create the most accurate profile of your eyes. This technology lends itself to crafting tailor-made contact lenses and bespoke spectacle lenses for our customers. We are the only practice in our area to offer this advanced technology during our eye test routine.
Nidek Phoropter Head
Our highly-qualified optometrists can check your precise spectacle prescription using a fully-automated Nidek Phoropter Head. This test is accurate and far more patient-friendly than having those heavy glasses you remember from years ago balancing on your nose!
Binocular Vision Test
It is so important that you use both your eyes together correctly. Each of us has six eye muscles that must work in perfect synchronicity. We can measure your binocular vision function using fixation disparity, helping to ensure your vision is balanced. We can also prescribe prism lenses to prevent eye strain and double vision.
Tests to check the health of your eyes
We use a number of amazing tools to check the health of your eyes:
- An Ophthalmoscope is a small handheld microscope that can be used to examine the general health of your eyes.
- A Slit Lamp Biomicroscopy is a microscope with a Volk lens that can be used to examine the health of the external and internal eye structures.
- Three-Dimensional HD scans help your optometrist check the front and anterior chambers of your eyes and provides in-depth analysis of glaucoma risk. For example, if the anterior chamber is narrowing, that can be an early sign of glaucoma. This scan allows us to detect this narrowing sooner and respond accordingly.
- A Fundus Photo is a 12 megapixel digital colour photo of your retina. Retinal photographs are used to check for subtle changes on the retina.
- One of the most exciting pieces equipment we have is the sophisticated HD Retinal Scan we use to check your Optical Coherence Tomography. This has revolutionised the way we examine your eyes and is used to carry out deep analysis of the retina. We can now examine the 10 layers beneath the retina to assess and identify even the subtlest changes in your eye health! For the first time, we can quantify the thickness of the layers on the retina. This enables us to compare this annually and look for subtle changes. We can now detect eye conditions 5 times sooner.
- We carry out gentle eye pressure And don’t worry – that doesn’t mean we use those old fashioned ‘puff’ tests! Our sophisticated ICARE tonometer measures eye pressure accurately without making you jump out of your seat!
- We also offer Visual Field tests such as Humphrey visual field analysis and a Frequency Doubling Technology (FDT) visual field test. Used in eye hospitals, Humphrey visual field analysis is the ‘gold standard’ method of assessing your peripheral vision. Visual field tests are extremely important for detecting Glaucoma, Strokes, Optic Nerve disease and even brain tumours! Speaking of Glaucoma, this usually affects the peripheral vision first, but often goes unnoticed. An FDT test is a sophisticated visual field test like no other. You are shown a series of grey gratings and asked to click a response key. The FDT visual field test is an extremely accurate way to detect Glaucoma early on.
- Macula Pigment Density screens for early detection of changes to your macula – the part of your retina used for sharp, detailed central vision. This test enables the optometrist to give lifestyle recommendations to improve health of macula. It measures the thickness of the macula pigment, which can then can be compared year-on-year, allowing your optometrist to detect early changes in the macula related to age related macular degeneration.
Colorimetry tests
Visual stress related to dyslexia, migraine and neurological conditions can make every day visual tasks very uncomfortable. This is known as Meares-Iren Syndrome.
At our Farmilo Optometrists branch on Queens Road in Leicester, we offer Colorimetry tests. These tests allow your optometrist to identify if precision tinted lenses can be used to eliminate the discomfort caused by visual stress. For those with dyslexia, precision tinted lenses can help aid reading speed and tracking.
Thompson Read Ez
This computerised reading speed test assesses the rate of your reading and tracking. This can be used to see if colour can help to improve the fluency of reading, particularly in those with dyslexia and other learning difficulties.
Colour vision test
We assess colour vision using Ishihara or City University colour vision tests. Colour vision can be an important part of some career choices such as work in the military. That’s why an early detection is imperative.
Stereopsis tests
Depth perception is a vital part of how we use our eyes together. Not only does it help us enjoy a 3D movie, but it can help with ball sports like tennis and cricket. It’s also especially useful when parking a car! Depth perception is an important part of everyday visual tasks, and we can assess your 3D vision using a Stereopsis test.
Amsler test
Macula degeneration can affect the way we see straight lines and can potentially make them appear bendy or distorted. In wet macula degeneration, sufferers can have missing or blurred areas centrally. The Amsler test is a quick way to assess your macula health.
Zeiss i.terminal 2
At Farmilo Optometrists, we believe measuring your new spectacles to make sure your lenses are perfectly positioned is just as important as the eye test itself. We use a unique Zeiss i.terminal 2 to accurately measure your lenses precisely to the frame you select. This enables us to use the most advanced, fully-customisable lens technology. Spectacle performance and comfort is heavily dependent on the accuracy of the lens fitting. This clever measuring device can calculate your new spectacle lenses and individual parameters to a precision of 0.1mm. Now that’s accuracy!
Zeiss i.Scription lenses
As a result of having the Zeiss i.profiler examination as part of our eye examinations, we are able to offer you Zeiss i.scription lenses – the next generation of lens optimisation. The most accurate way of prescribing spectacle lenses, the Zeiss i.profiler allows us to detect aberrations in your eyes using wavefront technology. Then Zeiss i.scription technology lenses allow us to correct them! This ultimately helps make your vision sharper.
Get in touch
Hopefully this gives you a good idea of the scope of our eye tests at Farmilo Optometrists. If you think you or a family member could benefit from one of our in-depth eye examinations, book an appointment today.