A sight test is a very important health check which can pick up early signs of eye conditions before any symptoms may appear. A sight test can also identify other health issues not related to sight.
Your sight test
A sight test will identify your level of visual acuity, whether you need glasses to correct your vision and your eyes will be examined to look for signs of injury, abnormality or disease. At the end of your sight test your optometrist will discuss your results.
How often should I have an eye test?
Optometrists recommend that most people should have a sight test every two years; however for some people they may need more frequent examinations. Please speak to your optometrist in the first instance.
How do my eyes work?
The eye collects visual information and is the starting point of how we see. There are many different parts of the eye that help to create vision. When you look at an object, electrical signals travel via the optic nerves to an area in your brain called the thalamus. This then sends the information to the visual cortex, where it is examined in detail. Different parts of the visual cortex simultaneously process the colour, shape, movement and depth of the object. Other parts of the cortex put this information together to give you a complete picture of the object.
Our eyes are a major part of our day to day interactions and how we perceive the world. The Royal National Institute of Blind People reports that almost two million people in the UK live with sight loss, of which around 360,000 are registered as blind or partially sighted. Yet over half of these could be helped if they just underwent a simple sight test and were issued with new spectacles.