Everyone needs an annual eye exam to see more clearly, learn more easily and preserve their vision for life. Adults should have their eyes tested to keep their prescription current and to check for early signs of eye disease. For children, eye exams can play an important role in normal development because vision is strongly linked to the learning process.

When your TSO Doctor of Optometry recommends a dilated eye exam, it means that he or she is suggesting that a closer, deeper look into your eyes is recommended. The dilation process is fairly simple. Eye drops will be administered that make your pupils expand. The pupil is the ‘window’ that your eye doctor uses to examine the back (posterior) segment of your eye – the retina and the vitreous fluid. In order to examine the posterior segment, your doctor will generally use an instrument (ophthalmoscope) that incorporates a light and a magnified viewing system. Without dilating drops, the instrument’s light causes the pupil to shrink, virtually closing the viewing ‘window’. The retina is the most important part of your eye – it processes the light that passes through the eye and then transmits those images to the brain. A dilated exam will better reveal ocular conditions such as macular degeneration, retinal detachments, retinal tears, swelling, hemorrhages, vitreous infections, tumors, glaucoma and cataracts. A dilated exam can also reveal problems associated with ‘whole-body’ diseases like diabetes, vascular disease and hypertension. Finally, with dilation your TSO Doctor of Optometry can identify conditions still in their early stages and often without symptoms – helping you to minimize long-term vision loss.