Contact Lens Exam

If you’ve never worn contact lenses before, it can seem a bit intimidating. After all, you’re inserting something into your eye! Let’s ease your mind about the first step – your contact lens exam. This post will walk you through what’s involved in a contact lens exam and what you can expect every step of the way.
 

It begins with a comprehensive eye exam

Your eye doctor will first determine your overall eye health and vision. This includes a discussion of your health history and then a series of standard eye tests. These tests will evaluate eye focusing, eye teaming, depth perception, color vision, peripheral vision, and the response of your pupils to light. The doctor will also measure your eye’s fluid pressure to check for glaucoma, evaluate your retina and optic nerve, and test your vision with different lenses to assess whether contact lenses can improve your vision.
 

Then, a discussion about your contact lens preferences

If contact lenses are appropriate for you, it’s time to talk about your contact lens lifestyle needs. For example, are you looking to wear contact lenses full time, or just for certain activities? How will you be using your eyes while wearing contact lenses? What is the environment like? Do you want to enhance or change your eye color? If you’re over 40, your doctor will likely discuss age-related vision changes and how contact lenses can address these issues.

Next, the eye doctor will conduct eye surface measurements

Contact lenses require precise measurements of your eyes to fit properly. Using an instrument called a corneal topographer, your doctor will measure the curvature, shape and size of your eye's cornea, the clear front surface of your eye. These measurements help determine the type of contact lens which might work best. We will also take special infrared images of the Meibomian glands, the delicate oil glands in the eyelids that help make our tears work properly. Issues with the Meibomian glands can significantly impact the comfort and wearability of contact lenses. In certain situations, measurements of the corneal endothelium with an instrument called a specular microscope may be performed to monitor corneal health.

You may also need a tear film evaluation

If you have dry eyes, your eye doctor will perform a tear film evaluation to measure the amount, composition and quality of the tear film on the surface of your eye. If your tear film is insufficient or you have chronic dry eyes, some types of contact lenses may not be a good option for you. However, some newer contact lenses deliver moisture to the surface of the eye, making them a better choice for individuals with dry eye issues.
 

It's time for the contact lens fitting

The final step is to fit you with a trial pair of contact lenses. Once inserted, your eye doctor will examine the lenses on your eyes to ensure a good fit. He/she will check the alignment and movement of the lenses on the surface of your eye and if the fit looks good, the last step is to ensure the prescription is correct with a few more tests.

Now it’s your turn to test it out

Your contact lens exam is over, but you’ll need to come back. Your doctor will usually have you wear the trial lenses for a week. After that, you’ll have a short follow-up exam to confirm that the lenses are working well for you, and a contact lens prescription can then be finalized. If this is your first contact lens exam, don’t worry! We will be happy to answer all your questions as you go. Just be sure to let us know you are interested in contact lenses so that we may allow for extra time in your appointment for the consultation and any specialized tests.
 

The right lens for the right need

There are more options in contact lenses now than ever. Our practice has a special interest in those with difficult or hard-to-fit eyes, including high astigmatism, keratoconus, post-refractive surgery, post-trauma and severe dry eye. Our office has invested in state-of-the-art instrumentation, some unique to the region, to assist our doctors in fitting lenses that achieve maximum comfort and visual clarity. By combining advanced corneal topography and scleral profilometry with WAVE custom contact lens design software, for example, we are able to design truly bespoke lenses that fit the eye like a glove and would have been impossible to create just a few years ago. Our doctors have decades of experience in fitting complex cases, including orthokeratology for noninvasive vision correction and myopia management, as well as freeform scleral lenses for the most challenging eyes. We are also one of the few offices in the country that offer EyePrint impression-based prosthetic scleral devices. These unique devices are similar to scleral lenses but provide the most customization for cases that may not be successful with other options.