Comprehensive Eye Exams

A comprehensive exam includes your history, a visual acuity check, a refraction to set your prescription, tests of how your eyes focus and work together, a pressure reading, and an examination of the front and back of each eye under magnification. At Modo Optometry, retinal imaging is available as a $39 add-on, and some insurance plans cover it.

What most people call a regular eye exam is a vision screening: reading a chart to see whether you need glasses. A comprehensive exam does that and then examines the health of the eye itself, including the pressure, the lens, the retina and the optic nerve. The screening tells you your prescription. The comprehensive exam tells you whether anything is wrong.

The American Optometric Association recommends at least every two years for healthy adults from 18 to 64, every year from 65, and every year at any age for people at higher risk: diabetes, high blood pressure, contact lens wear, a family history of eye disease, or previous eye surgery. Children should be examined before first grade and yearly after that.

Plan on about an hour from check-in to checkout, longer if you choose frames afterward. If your eyes are dilated, the exam itself does not take longer, but your near vision stays blurry for a few hours after you leave.

For an exam, book ahead; an exam takes a room and a doctor for the better part of an hour. Same-week appointments are usually available, and Sunday is an option. For a broken frame or an adjustment, walk in any day. For a red, painful eye or a sudden change in vision, call (310) 305-2950 first and we will fit you in.

Do not leave your current glasses or contact lens boxes at home, because the doctor needs the starting point. Do not stop wearing your contacts unless you are told to for a fitting. Do not skip your medications, and bring a list of them. If dilation is possible, do not plan to drive straight into bright sun without sunglasses.

Only when the doctor needs a wider view of the retina than the photograph gives, and you are told before the drops go in. Dilation widens the pupil for a few hours, so near vision blurs and light feels bright. Bring sunglasses, and if you know you will be dilated, consider not driving yourself.

With a vision plan, usually just the plan’s exam copay. A visit for a medical reason bills to medical insurance instead, with that plan’s copay and possibly a deductible. A contact lens fitting is a separate fee on top of either. Call (310) 305-2950 with your plan name and you get the number before you book.

No. A contact lens fitting is a separate service with its own fee, because it adds corneal measurements, trial lenses and a follow-up visit to confirm fit and comfort. Most vision plans carry a contact lens allowance that offsets part of it.

Yes. A child’s exam tests focusing, tracking and eye teaming as well as the prescription, picks up a lazy or turned eye early, and tracks nearsightedness through the school years. Tell us your child’s age when you book so the right amount of time is set aside.

The vision and medical plans accepted are listed on this page. If yours is not there, call (310) 305-2950; many plans reimburse part of an exam out of network, and you leave with the itemized paperwork to claim it.

Your current glasses, your contact lens boxes or prescription, your vision and medical insurance cards, a photo ID, and a list of medications. If you have been treated for an eye condition elsewhere, records from that office help set an accurate baseline.