Welcome to Susan Bowers Optometrists!

First we will ask you to sign for your examination. We currently charge £50 for a private examination which includes Retinal Photography. We will then take you through to a consulting room and begin!

A Premium Eye Examination costs £70 and includes both Retinal Photography and an OCT scan.

The examination starts with a list of questions regarding your eye and medical history. This is to ascertain the best way that we can help you and also brings into consideration any underlying medical issues that may be affecting your eyesight.

Below are a list of questions that you may be asked:

1. How long has it been since your last examination?
2. Is this a routine visit today or is there a problem I can help you with?
3. What medication do you currently take? If you have a repeat prescription form with you, that will also give me a good indication.
4. Can I also have the name of your current doctor?
5. How is your general health?
6.  Do you suffer from asthma, eczema, hayfever or allergies?
7. Have you ever had conjunctivitis, black eyes, hurt your eyes or injured them?
8. Have you ever had any eye operations or treatment previously?
9. Have you got any family history of cateracts, blindness, glaucoma, diabetes or lazy eyes?
10. In your current occupation do you have to use a computer? If so, for how many hours a day?
11. Do you participate in any sports, activities or hobbies?

The second part of the examination is to perform several tests on your eyes to see how they react under certain conditions. This will give us a better indication of the current health of your eyes and whether we can provide any support to help you with your vision.

I will get you to focus on a little white light whilst covering one eye and then the other, to check that your eyes are straight. If one of the six extra-ocular muscles in each eye is weak then you may see the light moving side to side, up and down or diagonally as your eye moves.

I will get you to focus on a picture on a small white stick whilst covering one eye and then the other. This will check that your eyes converge or move in, which is the movement your eyes make when reading.

I will use a pen torch and get you to follow the light with your eyes. This will show how well your eye muscles work when looking at or tracking an object. If the light becomes blurred or doubles up then one of your extra-ocular muscles may be weak.

I will check the external part of your eyes to make sure that they look healthy by using a light to see how your pupils react. I will also use an Ophthalmoscope (a torch with focussing lenses) to let me look inside your eye. While I do this I may ask you to move your eyes so I can check the periphery (your outer eye).

I will measure the distance between your eyes so I can set up the trial frame so that it fits you and you can look through the centre of the lens.

I will ask you to read a letter chart, one eye at a time so that I can record your unaided vision, which is your sight without any assistance from glasses. I will also use a Retinoscope to shine a beam of light into your eye. I will look at how much the beam of light is moving, which shows your reflex, and measure your prescription, which will show how strong your glasses may need to be. Using the retinoscopy prescription in a trial frame, I will ask you to read the letter chart again to check for improvement.

Testing each eye seperately, I will show you a chart with a mixture of incomplete circles over green and red backgrounds. I will ask you to focus on the gaps in the incomplete circles, and ask if the red or green ones are clearer, all while using the retinoscopy prescription in a trial frame. The red wavelength is longer, focussing further back on your retina, whilst the green wavelength is much shorter so it focusses further forward. I need to focus your eyes slightly on the green, so that your accommodation (focusing mechanism) is active (working), ready for the next test.

I will ask you to look at a new chart to measure your level of astigmatism. Astigmatism is where the front surface of your eye is not completely round like a football, but slightly oval like a rugby ball. The chart introduces two different cylinders, visualised in two different directions, ninety degrees apart. Next I will go back to the Duocrome test, but focus on the red side of the chart. The end goal is to balance the strength of each of your eyes and make them work together.

I will show you another chart that will further explore if you have any weaknesses in your six ocular muscles. To assist your vision I will use lenses called ‘Prisms’ that bend light rays in such a way that it will line both of your eyes up and subsequently give you binocular vision (both eyes together).

We will give you an iPad to hold at a comfortable reading distance and then we will adjust the prescription so that you can see the smallest print clearly. We are measuring your ‘Accommodation’. When you age, this gets weaker.

This test is based on the Distance equivalent but is to test any near sight weaknesses, with further passages of text to read.

When you read or look at a computer your eyes must move inwards and ‘converge’. Looking at a black spot in the middle of a line and moving it closer to you will test how well your eyes turn inwards. If your convergence is weak you may need to perform special eye exercises to strengthen the muscles.