Diabetic and Other Medical Eye Exams

If your care team has asked for a yearly eye exam, the exam they mean includes a dilated or imaged view of the retina, and they usually want the findings sent back to them. Ask the practice whether they send a report to your primary care or endocrinology office and how that gets to them, because a report nobody receives does not close the loop that the exam was ordered to close.

The same medical side covers screening for glaucoma and for changes at the macula, and it covers visits that start with something you noticed — a red eye that will not settle, a scratch, something splashed or struck. Sudden vision loss, new flashes or floaters, a curtain across your vision or genuine eye pain do not belong in a referral queue at all. Those need same-day care from an eye clinic or an emergency room.

What this usually involves

• Yearly dilated or imaged eye exams a care team has asked for
• Glaucoma and macular screening as part of ongoing monitoring
• Red eye, irritation, scratches and eye injuries
• Ask whether findings are reported back to your primary care office
• Sudden vision loss, flashes, a curtain across the vision or eye pain — same-day care, not a form

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