Comprehensive Eye Examination

Our comprehensive eye and vision examination provides a complete assessment of the health and function of your eyes.  It is the baseline exam that our eye doctors recommend each year for all of our patients.  At Vista Eye Care in Thornton, Colorado, our comprehensive exam is a thorough, efficient look at your how your eyes visually function as well as their overall health.  Our comprehensive exam (sometimes referred to as a ‘glasses exam’) is an affordable eye exam that includes the following tests:

• Case History – This is where our optometrists take time to learn about your ocular and health history, current medications, ocular symptoms, and how you like to use your eyes in the context of your work and hobbies.  Our Welcome Form gets you started on case history and can be completed before you arrive for your exam.
• Analysis of Current Eyewear – It is important to carefully analyze your existing eyewear in order to determine what changes we might need to make to address your symptoms.  Please bring your current glasses (sunglasses, reading, bifocal, computer, progressive, etc.) and contact lenses in with you for your examination.
• Visual Acuity – While simply reading a letter chart tells us little about your refractive error (even high hyperopic patients can perform well on letter charts without vision correction), we use this as our opening test to determine how your eyes function with your current eyewear.
• Keratometry – This measures the curves of the transparent structure at the front of your eye called the cornea.  This information is used to determine your candidacy for refractive surgery (i.e. LASIK and PRK), contact lens fitting size, or presence of corneal astigmatism.
• LipiScan – We use this test to determine the health of the Meibomian glands.  Meibomian gland dysfunction is the largest cause of eye dryness and we check to be sure you don’t require further treatment.
• Pupils – The eyes are linked to the brain through several nerves, including the oculomotor nerve that innervates the pupils.   A quick test of the pupillary response allows for assessment of this crucial system.
• Color Vision – It is important to assess your ability to perceive color.  While there are no current treatments for color vision deficiencies, it is nevertheless important to inform patients when they have less than optimal color vision.
• Binocularity Testing – Especially important in symptomatic school-aged children, this testing determines how the eyes move together.  Strabismus, or eye-turns, can often go undiagnosed, and this test allows for its identification.
• Stereovision – Stereovision is what allows the eyes to combine their separate images to perceive the visual environment in three-dimensions.  This test uses polarized glasses similar to those used when watching 3-D movies.
• Visual Field Assessment – We check your visual fields with this side-vision test.  Peripheral retinal function can be affected by ocular diseases such as glaucoma or diabetes.
• Refraction – This procedure is typically billed alongside your comprehensive exam and is the part of the exam where our doctors determine determine the amount of nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), astigmatism, and presbyopia in your eyes.  At Vista Eye Care this is not a rushed test, but a careful assessment of your vision.  Your glasses prescription prescription from our eye doctors will help you see great!
• Assessment of Tearfilm and Ocular Surface – Using the biomicroscope, we will carefully assess your ocular surface for dry eyes (which is pretty common in Colorado given our altitude!) and allergies.
• Media Assessment – Using the biomicroscope, our eye doctors will inspect the cornea for any opacities, check the crystalline lens for any signs of cataracts, and inspect the vitreous gel which fills the posterior chamber of the eye for any opacities (that often manifest as “floaters” in vision).
• Macular Pigment Density Measurement – This important annual measurement, known as your “MPOD” represents how dense the pigment is at the back of your eyes and tells us your susceptibility to macular degeneration.  Those patients with a low MPOD can decrease their risk of disease by taking a dietary supplement which works to raise their score.
• OPTOS Imaging – Your annual OPTOS images act as baseline retinal images.  OPTOS images can help our doctor diagnose retinal disease, glaucoma, and macular disease.
• Retinal Health Check – There are a large number of diseases that occur in the light-sensitive retina at the back of the eye.  The retina is actually an extension of the brain, and many neurological disorders can manifest in the eye as well as such ocular diseases as diabetic retinopathy, optic neuritis, glaucoma, and retinal holes, tears and detachments.

Please call us today at (303) 450-2020 to schedule a comprehensive eye examination for yourself and your family, or use the button below to schedule your exam online: