Frequently Asked Questions

Our initial evaluation is a Functional Vision Evaluation (FVE), which is a two hour appointment for adults and children over 5 years old. For patients 5 years old and younger, a one hour appointment is scheduled. This consists of working with one of our doctors and a vision technician throughout the appointment, where they will gather extensive information about your visual skills. Patients should bring their glasses or contact lenses.

The doctor will evaluate functional vision skills such as eye movements, eye focusing, binocular skills, depth perception, and determine the most appropriate glasses prescription. Additional testing for visual-motor skills, retained primitive reflexes, visual perceptual skills, and visual-vestibular skills may be performed depending on the patient’s case. There are specific testing protocols for brain injury, strabismus, amblyopia, aniseikonia, and other specialty cases.

It is recommended for all patients to have a comprehensive eye exam with dilation within the last year prior to your FVE to make sure all ocular structures are healthy. If you have not had this done recently, our doctors can perform this testing at another appointment separate from the initial FVE.

The patient will not be dilated at the initial evaluation in most cases. The emphasis of the initial FVE is to determine how the eyes are functioning, and the purpose of the dilation process is typically to evaluate the health of the eye. This is often best performed in a separate appointment.

Our doctors are very skilled at determining the most accurate prescription for your glasses including any considerations for reading glasses, prism, tint, and sectoral occlusion. When a patient is referred from another eye doctor, we typically recommend that the patient returns to their primary eye care provider to get their glasses filled. In some cases where there is a specialty lens required, we can fill the glasses prescription at our office. 

We do not prescribe contact lenses at the initial evaluation, since the purpose of that appointment is to assess the function of the visual system. We typically do not prescribe contact lenses (except in cases of myopia management), and we recommend you see your primary care optometrist yearly to renew your contact lens prescription.

An evaluation by a primary care optometrist looks at the health of the eye, prescribes glasses or contacts, and manages ocular health diseases. They may or may not do the testing to test for functional vision problems.

During a Functional Vision Evaluation, the emphasis is on determining how the functional vision skills may contribute to visual or cognitive symptoms. We are testing how the brain controls the eyes, even though the eyeball itself may be fine.

We are out of network for all insurance providers, and as a result we do not directly bill any medical or vision insurance. We are set up only as private pay in advance of your appointment . We are happy to provide forms you can submit to your insurance if you would like to try and seek reimbursement. We also offer Care Credit as a great option for payment plans.