Contact lenses are a great alternative to eyeglasses. Contacts fit right on your eye; therefore, you won't have an eyeglass frame blocking a portion of your vision. Also, contacts give you a more natural look. Finally, if you are an athlete, contacts are safer than eyeglasses and more convenient than wearing prescription goggles.
If you are thinking about getting contacts, you will need to have a contact lens exam. It is essential that you understand that a contact lens exam is different than an eye exam. If you are thinking about getting contacts, you should know what to expect during your contact lens exam.
Determining Your Prescription
Contact lenses fit right over your cornea and eyeglasses sit 3 millimeters away from your eyes. Because of this, your contact lens prescription won't be the same as your eyeglass prescription; therefore, your optometrist will need to do a visual acuity test to determine your contact lens prescription.
Measuring Your Eye
During your contact lens exam, your optometrist would measure the size of your eye. This will ensure that you are fit with a pair of contacts that fit correctly over your eye.
Checking the Condition Of Your Eye
During your contact lens exam, your optometrist will need to check your eyes to see if you can wear a standard pair of soft lenses or if you are hard to fit for contacts. Certain conditions would require you to wear special lenses. A very high prescription, astigmatism, dry eye, keratoconus, and presbyopia are just a few conditions that are considered hard to fit for contacts.
Contact Lens Teaching
When your optometrist has determined the best contact for you, they will give you a pair of trial lenses. A technician would sit down with you to teach you to put the lenses in, to take them out, and how to properly care for the lenses and keep them clean.
Follow-Up Appointment
After your contact lens teaching, you would take them home and wear them for a week or two. This will give your eyes time to get used to the lenses so that your optometrist can see if they work right for you. If there are no issues, you would order your supply. If you are having any problems, your optometrist will make the necessary adjustments.
If you are thinking about getting contacts, you should schedule an appointment with Optics&EYECARE in Ashburn, VA. We do contact lens fittings, and in many cases, it can be done on the same day as your annual eye exam. While there are certain health insurance plans that will cover the cost of your contact lenses or a portion of the cost, insurance won't cover the contact lens portion of the exam. For you to get contact lenses, you would need to pay for the exam.