During the examination, the eye is dilated so that your Eye M.D. can see your entire eye. He or she will place drops in your eyes to widen, or dilate the pupil. This allows your doctor to thoroughly examine the retina, the nerve layer of tissue at the back of your eye, and the optic nerve for signs of damage that diabetes may cause. Your eyes will be more sensitive to light from the eye drops for a few hours, but this sensitivity is not permanent.
In addition to examining your retina and optic nerve, your Eye M.D. will check your visual acuity by determining the smallest letters you can read on a standardized eye chart. This will measure how well you can distinguish object details and shape at various distances. Perfect visual acuity is 20/20 or better. Legal blindness is defined as worse than or equal to 20/200. To correct a refractive error, such as nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism, your Eye M.D. may recommend glasses, or contact lenses.
Your doctor will also perform a slit-lamp exam. A slit-lamp is a type of microscope used to examine the front part of the eye, including the eyelids, conjunctiva, sclera, cornea, iris, anterior chamber, lens, and also parts of the retina and optic nerve.
After the examination your Eye M.D. will discuss the results with you and answer any questions that you may have.
