An Overview: Sight Test
If you are experiencing constant headaches and eye strain, it is high time that you get a sight test done. An optometrist or ophthalmologist will run a series of tests to access you vision and your eyes ability to focus on objects. Healthcare practitioners recommend that you periodically undergo an eye checkup. This helps avoid eye diseases or at least treat them at an early stage. Tumors, treatable blindness, and sight errors can be rectified if detected soon enough.
The sight test includes the following basic procedures:
External Examination
This type of examination, which is a part of the sight test, includes the inspection of the palpebral fissure, eyelids and its surrounding tissue. The sclera and conjunctiva can be inspected by looking at the lower and upper eyelid. Similarly, the iris and cornea may be inspected. Redness or swellings around the eye may indicate signs of infection.
Pupil function
During a sight test, it is important to access the pupil function. This inspection establishes how much the pupil reacts to light, regular shapes and how much it can accommodate change. In case damage is suspected, a swinging-flashlight test is administered. This test is conducted in a semi dark room, where the patient is asked to follow the flashlight’s direction and the light is shifted from one eye to the other. The normal reaction would be that the pupil is constricted when the other one is exposed to light. Otherwise, some anomalies exist.
If the pupil reacts to light normally, then you have no reason to worry. In case ptosis is detected on the upper eyelid, then this indicated the presence of Horner’s syndrome, which needs to be treated. However, if the pupil is irregular and constricts to light poorly due to a problem with accommodation, then it is known as Argyll Robertson pupil.
Ocular motility
Another essential component of the sight test (in Denmark they’re called Fuld synstest) is the test for ocular motility. This is essential for those patients who have suspected neurologic diseases or double vision. The ophthalmologist needs to access the eye to check for deviations, which could be due to palsy of cranial nerves or strabismus, a muscle dysfunction. If the patient’s eye jumps quickly from one side to another, the patient may have saccades. This causes discomfort and can even impair one’s ability to read and do other activities which require them to keep their eyes fixed on an object.
Slit lamp
A slit lamp machine is used to inspect the ocular adnexa and anterior eye. This sight test technique uses a beam of light, which can be varied in height, width, orientation, color, and incident angle, being passed over your eye. Then the bean is narrowed to resemble a vertical slit. Then the examiner uses the machine to magnify this image on the eye. This helps the ophthalmologist access the eye as well as magnifies the areas from the vitreous to the cornea, which may reveal the presence of herpes simplex or corneal abrasions.
It is essential that you get a sight test done, because it is always better to be on the safer side. In addition, these tests are not too expensive or time consuming at the same time. So what is stopping you? Go and get a sight test done today!
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