Much like a regular eye exam, our eye doctors will check your visual acuity with an eye chart during your diabetic eye exam. Diabetes has the potential to cause several changes inside your eyes that can potentially harm the visual clarity of your eyes. A visual acuity test will help determine what those changes are and clarify what the proper approach for treatment will be.

Sometimes, your pupils will have to be dilated so the inside and back of your eye can be examined. Dilation will temporarily make your pupils large, allowing our optometrists to gain a better view of the back of your eye and to assess your retina.

If you’ve had your pupils dilated, you may experience sensitivity to light for about 2 to 3 hours—so it is important to have a ride home after your exam.

Fundoscopy describes an examination of the back of the eyeball. The tests in this portion of a diabetic eye exam will explore the area of the eye where your retina and optic nerve are located.

One of our optometrists will examine the back of your eyeball with one or more of the following procedures:

• Direct ophthalmoscope—By using a hand-held instrument with a bright light, your optometrist will accurately assess if there are any issues with the back of your eye.
• Indirect ophthalmoscope—This test involves a mounted light and a lens working in tandem to help provide your optometrist with a much wider-angle view of the back of your eye.
• Slit-lamp ophthalmoscopy—This test will utilize a slit lamp. Your optometrist will use this device to generate a highly magnified, 3D view of the back of your eye, including the retina and optic nerve.

Fundus photography may also be used to examine the back of your eyeball by taking a high-resolution photo. These photos, along with the fundoscopy, will give our optometrists a complete picture of what specific issues your diabetes may be causing to the back of your eye.

Diabetes can lead to an increased risk of developing glaucoma. Measurements of the pressure inside your eyes and a detailed examination of your optic nerve will be assessed during the fundoscopy portion of your diabetic eye exam which will help determine if your condition is causing glaucoma.