Eye Examination

At Byrne’s Opticians we allow 45 minutes for your eye examination as we feel this is necessary to accurately carry out all the measurements we need to fulfil your eyecare needs. As standard, all patients are offered an OCT scan as part of their Eye Examination.

For patients over 40 it is most likely that we will dilate your pupils (this is where a drop in instilled in the eyes to make the dark area of your eyes larger) to have a more thorough look inside the eyes. This means you may be blurry for up to 6 hours and will need someone to drive you.

Generally, your eye examination is broken into 4 parts:

Pre-test

This is carried out in the pre-test area by one of the members of staff and is the first part of the examination. The information gathered here is then given to the Optometrist who will use it to carry out a more accurate and detailed consultation.

In this area we use one of Zeiss’ most recently released machines called the I-Profiler Plus which carries out 4 different measurements of the eye. This machine allows us to order glasses that are more individual to you and can improve for example night time glare.

Zeiss’ app for patients to do before coming in for their test

Main Examination

You will now be seen by our Optometrist who begins by discussing the reason for your visit. Also, some medical and family history will be discussed.

Your vision is then checked using our state-of-the-art phoropter which can accurately and painlessly allow very accurate measurement of your glasses power (subjective refraction).

The ability of your eyes to work together is measured next which is known as binocular vision assessment. This mainly tries to find any muscular issues with the eyes.

The health of the eye is checked next which includes examination of the front and inner eye using a Slit lamp (microscope).

IOP (Intra-ocular pressure) is also measured using an I-Care tonometer which replaces the ‘puff of air technique’ which has made a lot of our patients a lot happier as it is so easy.

OCT and Visual fields

The final part of the examination is the use of an OCT machine to get a very detailed image and scan of the central retina and optic nerve. This allows our Optometrist to look not only at the retinal surface but at the layers of the retina beneath the surface. This imaging allows for the earlier detection and monitoring of conditions such as Glaucoma, Macular Degeneration, Diabetic Retinopathy and may other eye conditions.

Visual fields are often carried out if further assessment is needed.

Dispense (picking of glasses)

Finally putting all the information together, we will then give you the time required to pick frames with our expert dispensers.

This is made easier with the use of Zeiss’ Visufit 1000 which allows high quality photos of your choice of frames (great for patients who find it difficult to see when they don’t have their glasses on while trying on frames). We are one of less than a handful Opticians to have this latest dispensing machine. It also allows trying on of frames we might not have in store but have on our online catalogue.

Optos

Optos ultra-widefield retinal imaging enables eyecare professionals to discover, diagnose, document, and treat ocular pathology that may first present in the periphery – pathology which may go undetected using traditional examination techniques and equipment. Most practices use fundus cameras which capture 15% of the retina. Optos captures 82% of the retina – meaning earlier detection of visual and health-related complications. This is an add-on service that can be applied to any eye examination. Contact us for more information.

Book your eye examination for Byrne’s Opticians online today.