Your Visit to Medical Eye Center
When you come to Medical Eye Center, you’ll receive world class care from a vision specialist who matches your needs. Our experienced technicians and friendly staff are ready to assist and help make your experience as smooth and comfortable as possible.
Here’s what you can expect from your visit, and what you can do to prepare for your visit to help us serve you better. If you have any questions, please feel free to call ahead and we’ll be happy to assist.
Before your visit
To provide you with the best eye care possible, we need information about your overall health and medical history. We invite you to download our patient forms and fill them out in advance, so that you can save time during your visit.
We also recommend preparing a list of questions to ask your doctor. We want you to have all the information you need to feel confident about your eye care.
What to Bring
For your first visit to Medical Eye Center, please bring the following items:
- Your completed patient forms
- All of your prescription eye wear.
- A list of all the medications you are currently taking.
- A list of any allergies you may have to medications.
- Your medical insurance card (if you have one).
- Your list of questions.
Your first appointment
A typical first visit takes about 90 minutes and has four steps:
- First, you’ll need to fill out your paperwork, if you haven’t already done so.
- Next, we’ll review your medical history and your other completed forms.
- After that, our technicians will perform several diagnostic tests to provide your doctor with precise information about your eyes. This process takes up the majority of your appointment time, and involves moving to several different stations within the clinic.
- After reviewing and analyzing your test results, your doctor will meet with you to personally examine your eyes and talk to you about your diagnosis and treatment plan. This part of your visit may be more brief, especially if your case is straightforward and you don’t have many questions.
For example, if your appointment is at 10:00 am, you can expect to see the doctor 30 to 45 minutes later for your examination. Most of your doctor’s time is spent reviewing the results of various tests, then planning and documenting your care. Often, this work doesn’t occur while your doctor is in the room with you. Depending on the nature of your visit, your doctor’s time with you may be relatively brief, especially if everything is straightforward and you have few questions.
EYE DILATION AND DRIVING
Most first-time comprehensive eye exams will involve dilating your eyes. After dilation, your eyes may be sensitive to direct sunlight and your vision may be blurry. This can interfere with your ability to drive safely. We highly recommend that you have someone else drive you back from your eye exam.
Follow-up Visits
Post-operative visits involve minimal testing and are generally much shorter. Depending on the procedure, your doctor often just needs to examine your eyes to make sure you’re healing well and then answer any questions you may have.
Retina Appointments
If your visit is for a retina issue, please be aware that retina exams require even more extensive testing. It’s not unusual for retina appointments to be 2 to 3 hours in length.
emergencies
Everyone at Medical Eye Center works hard to keep our schedule running on time. Please understand that patients who need eye care have a variety of issues. Some people are here for a routine exam to get a prescription for new glasses. These visits generally proceed as planned. Another patient might be seeing us because of an emergency that threatens their vision and needs immediate attention.
Unforeseen Delays
Medical Eye Center serves a range of patients with different needs, from routine eye exams to emergency eye care. While we do our best to keep the schedule running on time, please understand that emergencies are unpredictable by nature and they can disrupt the schedule.
On the rare occasion that there is a significant delay in your appointment, we promise to let you know as soon as possible. We are happy to give you the option of leaving to run an errand, waiting with our apology, or rescheduling your appointment. We really do appreciate your patience.