What to Expect at Your First Eye Care Visit
On behalf of the Board Certified eye doctors and staff at SightMD NY, SightMD NJ, SightMD PA, and SightMD CT, we are thrilled that you have decided to visit us as a patient. The doctors at each of these practices specialize in medical and surgical eye care. For more than 30 years, we have remained on the cutting edge of technology to provide families in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut and the surrounding areas with expert medical and surgical services. Each practice offers comprehensive eye care ranging from routine eye exams to cataract surgery, corneal transplants and more.
- A comprehensive, routine, yearly or complete eye exam will evaluate the overall health of your eyes and indicate if further testing in any areas is necessary.
- A refraction is usually performed to determine if there is a need for, or change in, prescription glasses or contact lenses.
- Consultations & Second Opinions are always welcome.
- The exam may be targeted to the issue in question or comprehensive if needed.
- We take your emergencies seriously. We will fit your urgent ophthalmic care into our day or refer you to our covering physician when we are not here.
- We have most testing equipment in our office and can schedule most of your tests here when necessary.
- Our optician is on site daily to coordinate with our doctors for the best possible prescription fit. Your contact lenses may be ordered here as well.
Things to Bring to Your Eye Exam
- Sunglasses, and someone to transport you home from your appointment (Eye exams often require dilation, which can make your vision blurry for several hours.)
- Your current glasses and/or contact lenses
- A list of your current medications (prescription and non-prescription)
- A current driver’s license or state ID
- Insurance ID cards
- Physician referral if required by your insurance
What to Expect at Your Eye Exam
Our friendly and warm front desk staff welcomes each patient and you immediately feel that you have arrived at the right eye care facility. One of our staff members will make sure that all your paperwork is in order and may also verify your insurance. Once complete, your chart will be processed quickly and picked up by one of our professional and caring ophthalmic technicians.
The ophthalmic technicians are trained by our board-certified eye surgeons. We insist on continued education on a regular basis and our staff thrives and is constantly improving. None of the pretesting is painful or frightening. There are several computerized eye testing machines that may apply to each patient depending on their diagnosis or presenting complaint. In our state-of-the-art office, we have automatic refracting systems, corneal topography, automated visual field testing, eye photography, corneal cell counting, optical coherence tomography, retinal angiography among other advanced eye testing. Our ophthalmic technicians will take your history and ask you some reasonable questions regarding family history and personal eye history.
After pretesting and work-up, you will be greeted by one of our board-certified eye doctors. Our eye doctor will review the chart and speak with you about your ocular history and eye health. They will examine your eyes thoroughly including pupil dilation in most cases. If you do not have a driver, pupil dilation can be postponed in some cases. After your examination, we will discuss the findings at length and always make sure that you understand clearly. You will have a chance to ask any and all questions that you may have. We pride ourselves on making each patient know that they are very important to us and that the health of your eyes is our major concern.
If you are seeing us for cataract surgery or laser vision correction, you will also meet with our surgical coordinator to discuss how the process works regarding dates and times as well as financial commitment if there is any. With laser vision correction or if you choose a premium implant with cataract surgery, there may be out of pocket expense. We offer financing to help our patients if they desire.
This is an abbreviated outline of the process of your first visit. We hope that you will find our office to be warm and compassionate as well as highly professional. We work hard to give you the best eye care possible. Whether you are visiting for a routine eye examination or a more specialized eye care problem, we are here to help.
Contact SightMD today to schedule an appointment with one of our doctors to discuss your vision health at one of our convenient locations!