Difference Between an Eye Exam and a Contact Lens Exam?

Eye exams are necessary to detect and address eye health or vision issues before they become serious. Both eye and contact lens exams are important for your vision, and you need to schedule them annually. However, these two exams are not the same. So, how exactly do they differ from each other?

Eye Exam

A comprehensive eye exam evaluates your whole visual system, including the inner and outer parts of your eyes.

The exam helps your optometrist detect eyesight issues and diagnose eye. Early diagnosis is important in treating eye conditions such as myopia, cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration.

Also, diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes can affect your entire body, including your eyes. Your Paradise Canyon Eye Care eye doctor may be able to detect the presence of these diseases in your body just by examining your eyes.

What Happens During an Eye Exam?

During an eye exam, your St. George eye doctor will discuss your family’s health history as well as your medical history. This will give your eye doctor a rough idea of your overall health and whether you are at risk of developing certain eye health issues.

Additionally, your optometrist at Paradise Canyon Eye Care will perform a series of eye tests for how vividly your eyes see and how they respond to light. The tests will also check for the presence of any eye disease.

At the end of the eye exam, your eye doctor may give you a prescription for eyeglasses. If the results from the test show that you have an eye disease, your doctor will recommend suitable treatment.

Contact Lens Exam

A contact lens exam evaluates how well your eyes work with contact lenses. Do the contact lenses fit your eyes properly? Are the lenses hurting your eyes?

The exam will include:

An eye exam to assess your eye health and determine the type of contact lenses you need
A contact lens exam to measure your eyes and determine a suitable lens fit for your eyes

Some people may choose specialty contact lenses to wear at night so they don’t need to wear contacts during the day, or more of a standard fit to wear during the day. Whatever the case, a contact lens exam will be necessary if you wear contact lenses or want to start wearing contact lenses.

What Happens During a Contact Lens Exam?

You will begin by wearing trial lenses. That way, your eye doctor will see how your eyes work in your lenses and how you generally function in your contacts. Here, you will have the chance to discuss any concerns with your optometrist about how the lenses feel on your eyes.

After getting contact lenses that fit suitably, are comfortable, and improve your vision, your optometrist will provide your contact lens prescription.

For more on the difference between an eye exam and a contact lens exam, call Paradise Canyon Eye in St. George, Utah at (435) 334-2331 or (435) 656-2003 with any questions or to book an appointment today.