During a comprehensive eye exam, the Doctor will check your Vision and eye health. You will be asked questions that relate to any problems you may be having. Your Vision will be checked to determine if glasses or contacts could help you to see better. Your ocular health will be checked for things such as dry eyes, cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, or other disorders. Prescriptions for glasses and/or contacts will be written. Medication may be prescribed for ocular problems, or a referral may be suggested for conditions requiring further intervention, such as cataracts.
- Any current or old glasses (we can measure their power in our Office with a ‘Lensometer’) or previous Glasses prescriptions.
- Any current or old Contact Lens packages or prescriptions.
- List of your medications (if applicable)
- Medical or Vision insurance card (if we are able to bill your insurance directly)
Knowing what Prescription your eyes are used to seeing through, helps us determine what changes we need to make. For instance, if your current glasses and contacts are working well, we don’t want to drift too far from the current Prescription. Conversely, if your current Prescription isn’t working well, we want to figure out why and not make the same mistake.
We don’t sell glasses or contacts in our Office, but Costco Optical sits right outside of our doors and is an excellent place to fill your prescriptions.
Glasses and Contact prescriptions are typically written with an expiration of TWO years.
Exams usually take between 20-30 minutes. Plan on it taking an additional 30 minutes, if you decide to get your eyes Dilated.
Dilation involves putting special eyedrops on your eyes to enlarge your pupils. The drops generally take about 20-30 minutes to take effect, and about 3-5 hours to wear off. After your eyes have become dilated, the Doctor will use a bright light and magnifying lens to take a look into the back of the eye. During the time that your eyes are dilated, your Vision may be blurred (especially up close), and you may feel light sensitive (we will provide you with shades).
Historically, Dilating a Patient’s eyes was the only way of getting a good overall view into the back of the eye. However, at our Office, we do offer another option, OPTOS imaging.
The OPTOS machine takes Panoramic pictures of the back of both of your eyes, without the need to Dilate your eyes. It only takes a few minutes and gives us Baseline Photographs that allows the Doctor to see potential problems better and monitor for changes in your eye health at future exams.
OPTOS imaging is not a replacement for Dilation. But, it is a useful tool when a patient can’t or doesn’t wish to be dilated. Some Patients don’t want to be dilated because the drops can sting sensitive eyes, Patients have to wait around for longer while their eyes dilate, and they may find that they are limited in the activities they can participate in for several hours after their exam.
There is NO additional cost for either OPTOS imaging or traditional Dilation. Both options are now included in the price of your eye exam.
Yes, we would be happy to complete your form after we have completed your eye examination.
Pacific Vision Eyecare currently only directly bills for Costco Employees. If you are covered by a Costco employee insurance plan, please provide us with the Costco employee number so that we can confirm your coverage. If you are not a Costco employee or covered under the insurance of a Costco employee, we would be more than happy to provide you with an itemized receipt with all the necessary Billing and Diagnostic codes to submit to your insurance for reimbursement.