Children and adults over 65 years of age should have their eyes checked once a year, adults between 19 and 65 every 2 years. If you wear contact lenses or if you have any existing ocular disease should have their eyes tested more frequently and follow your Optometrist’s recommendations.

The Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends that children have their first eye exam at 6 months of age. The next should be at age 3 and one before entering grade school. From age 6 to 19, children should have their eyes checked once a year. For high risk children or children with previously diagnosed visual conditions the frequency should be determined by the examining optometrist.

Answer: Most often eye drops are used in order to increase the size of the pupil in order to get a better view of the inside of the eye. These drops take 2-6 hours to wear off and generally make patients more sensitive to light and cause difficulty reading during that period of time.
Sometimes drops are used to relax the focusing muscle of the eye to help determine a patient’s prescription. This is often done in far sighted children.
Drops can also be used in office to make the surface of the eye numb in order to make it easier to perform some diagnostic eye tests such as measuring eye pressure.

Yes. If you are a contact lens wearer, you should wear your contact lenses to your appointment. If you are a new patient, it is helpful to have information about your current contact lenses (packaging or labels). If your eyes are red or painful or both, do not wear your contact lenses and book an appointment right away to have your eyes examined.

OHIP covers a complete eye exam once a year for children 19 years of age or younger and for adults 65 years of age or older, as well as follow up visits for those patients. Some patients between the ages of 20 and 64 with medical conditions or eye conditions that require yearly examinations are eligible for OHIP coverage. After your examination your eye doctor will notify you if you are in an OHIP covered category. Some specialized tests may not be covered by OHIP. These tests will be billed directly to you.

Retinal photographs are recommended by your eye doctor to assist in documenting and monitoring the intricate details in the back of your eye. Certain conditions such as glaucoma, diabetes, and macular degeneration require careful monitoring over time to assess for subtle changes. Retinal photographs are also crucial to accurately document the size and degree of any unusual findings in your eye such as retinal nevi and spots caused by macular degeneration.

An eye exam from an optometrist should include the following elements:

• A health history with special focus on ocular health and visual needs
  
• Visual Acuity testing (ie: 20/20)
  
• Determination of eye glasses prescription
  
• Eye alignment testing
  
• Examination of the external and internal eye
  
• Treatment recommendations (if applicable)
  
• Counselling and recommendations

Some additional tests may be required.

UV radiation has been associated with some damage, not only in the skin around the eye, but also to the cornea and conjunctiva. UV is associated with development and progression of cataracts and some researchers believe that it can worsen macular degeneration.
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