General Eye Care & Eye Exams at
Brass Eye Center in Albany New York

Robert Brass, M.D. and the staff at Brass Eye Center provide the full range of eye care examinations and services, including general eye care exams. Dr. Brass recommends that all patients have routine eye examinations on a regular basis.  The frequency will depend on your age, your health, your family history of eye problems and whether you have been diagnosed or treated for any eye conditions or diseases in the past.

At Brass Eye Center, your general eye examination will consist of complete testing of your vision in order to be certain that you are seeing as clearly as you should; as well as a comprehensive medical evaluation of the health of your eyes.

Your Health and Eye History

A complete history regarding your current general health and previous and current eye health and vision will be important information to provide to the technician or eye doctor during your screening process.  If you have any chronic health problems even if they are currently stable it is important that you share this information as well.  

Tell the technician or eye doctor about any medications you are taking for these medical conditions, this includes over the counter medications or eye drops. 

Your family history will be reviewed with you as well.  Family histories of certain eye conditions are important because they can tend to run in families.

The Eye Examination

To begin your eye examination, a technician will measure your vision, or visual acuity-both with your current eyeglasses or contact lenses, and without any correction. Chances are that if you wear eyeglasses or contact lenses, the “Big E” eye chart will be blurry without them. The technician will ask you to read a chart projected across the examination room that consists of numbers and letters that get progressively smaller and more difficult to read as you move down the chart. This test, called “Snellen Acuity” or just “Visual Acuity” it is an important first step to understanding how well you see.

The eye doctor will then check your refraction in order to determine the most accurate eyeglass or contact lens prescription necessary to fully correct your vision. This entails having you sit behind an instrument called a phoropter, so that the doctor can present a number of lens combinations to see which corrects your vision most precisely. For those patients who wear eyeglasses or contact lenses, you have experienced the “which is better” test called refraction.   If you require vision correction the eye doctor will provide you with a copy of your prescription.  We do offer a full service Optical Shop on premises for your convenience.  Our Optician can help you select the best fitting and fashionable frame and the most appropriate type of lenses for your work, hobbies or daily activities.

The next step will be to examine the movement of your eyes in order to understand how well the eye muscles function together and how effectively they move your eyes into the different positions of gaze

Next, using a somewhat bright light, the reaction of your pupils to light will be evaluated. By shining the light into your eyes in different directions, a great deal can be learned about how effectively the Optic Nerve is functioning.

You will then be asked to sit comfortably behind a specialized instrument called a slit lamp biomicroscope. This instrument provides the eye doctor with both high magnification and special illumination. Using this instrument it is possible for the eye doctor to examine the condition of your eyelids, eye lashes, eyelid margins and tear film. The slit lamp will also be used to carefully examine the sclera or white of your eye, the cornea or clear dome shaped lens on the outside of your eye and then by focusing the slit lamp through the pupil or dark center of the iris-the colored part of the eye-the eye doctors will be able to examine the health of the crystalline lens, which is where cataracts form.

In order to check for one of the signs of glaucoma it will be necessary for eye drops to be placed in your eyes so that the pressure, called Intraocular Pressure (IOP) can be measured while you are behind the slit lamp, or with a Tono Pen, which is a handheld instrument.  This is an important diagnostic test for glaucoma.

Once the eye doctor has completed the examination of the “front of the eye”, it is time to begin the examination of the health of the “back of the eye”. At this time, additional eye drops will be placed in your eyes in order to dilate your pupils. Pupil dilation is important so that the eye doctor can examine the health of the structures in the back of your eye including the retina and its blood vessels and the optic nerve. After the dilation drops are placed in your eyes, it will usually take anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes for the eye drops to fully work and dilate your pupil.

Please be patient. You will be asked to relax in one of our comfortable waiting areas while the eye drops work, or if you prefer you may take a walk while you wait. The thorough examination of the health of the retina and optic nerve through a dilated pupil is not uncomfortable; however the fully widened pupil may make you somewhat sensitive to light and may also blur your vision, especially at near, for a few hours after your eye examination.  If you have not had a dilated exam in the past, it is a good idea to have a driver on your exam day.  It is important to bring with you a good pair of sunglasses to lessen your light sensitivity.

Brass Eye Center is conveniently located for patients seeking general eye care and eye examinations from Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Saratoga Springs, Clifton Park, Cohoes, East Glenville, Loudonville, Mechanicville, Niskyuna, Rexford, Westmere, Colonie, Half Moon and Delmar New York. Please phone 518.782.7827 to schedule an appointment for an eye examination.