Your first visit to our eye clinic

The first visit to an eye clinic can be a daunting experience, for your child and also for you as a parent. It is usually a little easier if you know what to expect beforehand, so you can arrive informed.

With plenty of time in advance of your visit, you will receive your appointment time and location. This ensures that if there are any questions you can contact our team.

Common Eye Assessments:

The purpose of all assessments carried out at your appointment is to gather information about your eye condition, to assist in making the correct diagnosis. This may include some or all of the following.

Visual Acuity Assessment:

This is performed using an age-appropriate method in all patients. Please bring any glasses you might have been prescribed along with you to the appointment.

Orthoptic Assessment

Orthoptics is the study of eye movements and their disorders. All children and all adults with double vision or a squint will need an orthoptic assessment.

This assessment consists of measuring the alignment of the eyes in all directions of gaze for near and far distance, assessing the range of eye movements and the level of ‘3D vision’. It also includes measurement of the ability of bring your eyes together (convergence) and apart (divergence) and supplementary tests like Hess, visual field of binocular single vision, if required.

If needed, the orthoptist will instil drops into both eyes to dilate the pupils. This leads to blurring of vision, particularly for near vision, which may last for up to 24 hours.

If you have any concerns about this test, please do discuss this with the orthoptist or your consultant.

Ophthalmic Assessment

All patients undergo a complete assessment by the Consultant Ophthalmologist including:

• eye health history
• slit lamp examination
• refraction, testing the power of the glasses
• fundoscopy, or examination of the retina
• optic nerve assessment
• measurement of intraocular pressure, if needed.

In some cases, further tests such as eye swabs, electro diagnostics, retinal or optic nerve OCTs or MRI scans may be necessary. We would be happy to arrange these for you or make the appropriate referrals.