What to Expect at Your Appointment

What to Expect For the Eye Exam

If you’ve never been to our office before, here is what to expect when you have your eyes examined. The eye exam process takes approximately 45 minutes. Please allow additional time if you have a medical eye condition or if you need to be fit for glasses or contact lenses.

1. Initial Testing - A technician will ask you a few questions about your health history as it relates to your vision. Then they will perform a set of simple measurements before the doctor sees you. The measurements help evaluate your color vision, depth perception, intraocular pressure, peripheral vision, corneal curvature, and preliminary prescription.
2. Dilating Your Eyes - If necessary, your doctor will use special eye drops to enlarge the pupils of your eyes. This is done to enable your doctor to get a better view of the health of your eyes. The drops are painless and take about 15 minutes to dilate your pupils. When your eyes dilate, your focusing muscles will be relaxed, which can cause some blurred vision up close. You should, however, be able to drive home when you leave as long as you have proper correction for distance vision. Your eyes will return to normal in about 3 hours.
3. Doctor Examination - The doctor will examine the health of your eyes, checking for eye diseases or other conditions that affect vision. Any questions you may have will be addressed, and the doctor will provide a customized treatment plan for your condition.
4. Checkout - We will schedule any follow-up appointments and collect any fees or co-pays from you on the day of your exam.
5. To DECREASE your wait time at the office, please fill out the registration information on our website before you arrive for your appointment. These can be submitted online or printed and brought with you.

What to Expect For Glasses

1. Frame Selection - If glasses are prescribed by your doctor, an optician will help you select frames that match your style and face shape.
2. Measurements - Special measurements of your eyes and glasses frames may be taken to ensure that the glasses lenses will meet your visual needs as prescribed by your eye doctor. The measurements take just a few minutes, but make a world of difference in keeping your vision crisp and clear. Because the eyes are so sensitive, an error by a fraction of a millimeter can impact your quality of vision. That is why the measurements have to be so precise.
3. Warranty - Almost all of our glasses are covered against scratches or breakage for the first year. Your optician will go over the warranty information as it applies to you.
4. Cleaning and Adjustments - For glasses purchased at our office, there is never a charge for cleaning or adjustments. Please stop in anytime to have your glasses “tuned-up”.

What to Expect For Contact Lenses

1. Fees - If contact lenses are recommended by your doctor, the fees will be discussed with you prior to any fitting. The fitting fee covers the cost of the additional measurements needed, the doctor’s contact lens evaluation, a supply of trial lenses, a starter kit with contact lens case and solution, and any necessary check-up appointments or additional trial lenses within 30 days. These fees vary by the type of lenses and complexity of the prescription.
2. Measurements - Additional measurements for the eye shape and curvature may be taken. These measurements take only a few minutes. Your doctor uses this information to select the best contact lens match for your eye shape and prescription. Keep in mind that higher prescriptions and certain eye conditions may require test lenses to be ordered in. If this happens, a follow-up appointment will be scheduled to pick up your lenses.
3. Follow-up Appointments - Additional visits may be necessary to ensure you leave with the right contact lens prescription tailored to your visual needs. These visits are part of the contact lens fitting process and you will not be charged within the first 30 days.
4. Purchasing Contact Lenses - Contact lenses are only purchased AFTER you have tried the lenses on your eyes and you are happy with comfort and vision. We want to be sure you see and feel your best before you purchase anything.

Using Insurance

1. Know Your Coverage - We do everything we can to ensure that the insurance is billed correctly. But it is your responsibility to know about your medical or vision coverage. In the event that the insurance denies payment or that the amount went towards your deductible, you will be notified with an invoice. We accept many forms of payment, including paying with credit card over the phone.
2. Overpayment - Payments from vision or medical insurance can sometimes be delayed. If you pay out of pocket for a service and we receive a payment from your insurance later, you will receive a refund for the amount you paid.
3. Call Us! - Dealing with insurance can be tricky. It’s always ok to ask questions or check on your bill. Please do not hesitate to call our office with questions. We know that it’s never fun to receive a surprise bill in the mail. Please know that we will do everything we can to help you through the process.