Comprehensive eye examination
forty-five minutes (add fifteen minutes for a first visit)
The full examination, with a written prescription at the end of it.
Anybody who has not had one in a year or two, or whose sight has changed.
$145
Your first visit
What happens on your first visit
Most first visits are a comprehensive eye examination. This is what happens, in order, and what is worth bringing.
In order
What the examination actually covers
The examination has two halves and people usually only expect the first. The sight test works out what lens, if any, makes the world sharp. The health check looks at the front of the eye under magnification and at the back of it, measures the pressure inside, and compares all of it against your own last visit rather than against an average.
What you have noticed, what you do all day, and what medicines you take
Distance and near vision, each eye separately and both together
The prescription, refined until two choices look the same rather than until one looks good
How the eyes move, point and focus as a pair
The pressure inside each eye
The front of the eye under the microscope, and the back of it
A written prescription you may take anywhere
Worth bringing
What is useful to have with you
- Your current glasses or contact lenses, and any prescription you already have — a spectacle prescription can be used here even if it was written somewhere else.
- A list of what medicines you take, if it is easier to read off than remember.
- What your parents' and siblings' eyes were like, if you know it. He will tell you that the single most useful thing you can bring to a first appointment is what your parents' and siblings' eyes were like, and that almost nobody knows.
- The name of your insurance plan, if you have one — give it to us when you book and we will check what it says before you arrive.
- Drops that open the pupil so more of the back of the eye can be seen. You will not drive afterwards.
About your plan. We will check what your plan says before you come if you give us the details when you book. What the plan actually pays is between you and the plan, and nobody here will tell you that you are covered.
Length and fee
What a first comprehensive examination costs
Arriving late
Up to about ten minutes we will usually still see you. Beyond that an examination cannot be done properly in what is left, and we will offer you another time rather than rush the half of the appointment that looks at the health of the eye.
Children
A child who will not co-operate on the day is a child we see again the following week, at no further charge. Nothing useful comes out of a frightened four-year-old and it is not a failure of the child.
Book your first visit
Choose the comprehensive eye examination, say it is your first visit, and the extra time is added automatically.