Remember the Rule of Thumb: You don't have to study for an eye exam. We have all the info you need right here.

Q: How often should I get an eye exam?

Answer: This answer is different for everyone, so here are the most common examples, and how often you should get an eye exam if one of these describes you.

• If you are a healthy person, under the age of 60, with no specific eye health conditions (lazy eye, glaucoma, family history of blindness), with no systemic health conditions (especially diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, HIV) and are not a contact lens wearer, every two years is sufficient.

• If you wear contact lenses, you are required to have an annual visit. Contact lenses are considered to be medical devices by the FDA and therefore we are required to monitor their impact on your eye health at least once a year. If you have any health conditions that affect your connective tissue (like arthritis), blood vessels (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, risk factors for stroke), neurologic system (MS) or are over 60 years old, we recommend yearly eye examinations.

• If you have a lazy eye, loss of vision, loss of visual field, glaucoma, or any eye conditions that are treated with medications, you will be required to have at least an annual exam and maybe more frequently depending on the condition.

Q: Will wearing a prescription weaken my eyes?

Answer: The easy answer is “no”. Glasses sit on your nose and contacts sit on the surface of the eye. There is no way for these devices to permanently affect the eye anatomy that determines your prescription.

The longer answer is “usually not”. There are some studies that suggest that in some very specific situations, wearing a prescription can accelerate the development of nearsightedness. This is usually when a person has a focusing difficulty or misalignment of the eyes that goes beyond nearsightedness, astigmatism, or farsightedness. It has been shown that the rate of nearsighted progression can be slowed by fitting these patients in progressive lenses (bifocals), which lessen the eyestrain associated with near focus. However, the lessening is minimal and would not be enough to keep people from needing vision correction altogether.

The mistaken belief that glasses make your eyesight worse typically comes from one who didn’t realize how bad their vision was before they wore their glasses. He or she gets glasses and notices better vision, and after adapting to the new prescription, takes off the glasses and, for the first time, may really notice how blurry his or her uncorrected vision has always been.

Q: Do I need to go to a specialist?

Answer: We treat the majority of non-surgical eye health and vision conditions in our office. We can monitor the health of your eyes if you have systemic diseases, medically treat eye diseases, and prescribe almost any kind of visual device you may need. If you are currently a patient of ours and your PCP says you need to see your ophthalmologist, chances are very high that we can take care of you in our office, as we already have a relationship established with you.

Q: What if I need surgery?

Answer: While we do not do that in house, we have a wide network of eye care surgeons we are happy to refer you to.
Q: What’s the difference between an Optician, an Optometrist, and an Ophthalmologist?

OPTICIANS are specialists in optics. They know how to pick a frame that looks good on you and to make sure that frame will work with your prescription. Not all frames work well with all prescriptions. For example, a person with high farsightedness may not do well in a rimless design, or a person with high nearsightedness may fare better with a smaller, rounder frame. Opticians know how to fabricate your lenses and how to adjust your frames to eliminate many visual disturbances like the “fishbowl effect”.

OPTOMETRISTS (O.D.) are primary care eye doctors who examine, diagnose, treat, and manage diseases, injuries, and disorders of the visual system, the eye, and associated structures. Optometrists complete four years of training after college, and many also complete a one year residency program.

OPHTHALMOLOGISTS (M.D. or D.O.) are medical doctors that specialize in eye surgery. They provide secondary and tertiary eye care including: cataract surgery, refractive surgery (like LASIK), strabismus surgery (eye realignment), treatment of retinal detachments, etc.

Q: Will working at a computer screen hurt my eyes?

Answer: Although computer screens emit a very small amount of radiation, it is not enough to cause eye damage. However, there is a condition called Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). CVS can be thought of as a type of repetitive motion injury, similar to carpal tunnel syndrome. Excessive near focus can cause eye strain or headaches. Staring at a computer decreases how often we blink, sometimes up to fifty percent less. This can lead to dry eye symptoms, including foreign body sensatin, burning, tearing, redness, and tired eyes.

People tend to associate the need for “reading” glasses with getting older. However, with the widespread use of computers, more and more younger people are requiring a prescription for “near work,” or working activities with a short distance such as reading, studying, doing homework, etc. “Computer glasses” can make your near work more relaxed and comfortable.

Q: Does it matter how far away I sit from my computer screen?

Answer: Yes. Visual ergonomics is very important with regard to computers. We recommend that you sit approximately 22 inches away from your desktop screen. Your screen should be below "direct ahead" line of sight by about 15 degrees.

Try to follow the 20/20/20 rule. You should take a 20 second break about every 20 minutes and focus on something about 20 feet away.

Try to position any task lighting from the side so that it is not either glaring into your eyes or into the screen. The lighting should not be any brighter than three times the brightness of your screen. In most offices, it is ten times brighter. If you are able, it is often helpful to remove half of the bulbs in most fluorescent fixtures.

Remember the Rule of Thumb: When in doubt, ask. We know how important your child’s health is, and we are here to put you and your child at ease.

Q: When does my child need his/her first eye exam?

Answer: According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), children generally should have their first eye exam at six months of age, another exam at age three, and again at the start of school. “Risk-free” children should then continue to have their eyes examined every two years until age 18. Children who currently wear eyeglasses or contact lenses should have annual eye exams, according to the AOA.

Q: Why is it required before school?

Answer: Children need regular eye exams to detect vision problems that may interfere with learning. Routine eye exams are essential for children to be ready to learn in school, and experts say more than 80 percent of information children receive in classrooms is presented visually.

Q: Does my child need an exam before six months of age?

Answer: Children with risk factors for vision problems may need their first eye exam earlier than six months of age. They also may need more frequent eye exams throughout childhood. Examples of risk factors include:

• History of premature birth or low birth weight

• Infection of mother during pregnancy (examples: rubella, venereal disease, herpes, AIDS)

• Developmental delays

• Turned or crossed eyes, known as strabismus

• Family history of eye disease

• High refractive error or anisometropia

• Other physical illness or disease

Q: What’s the best way to prepare my child for a visit? What should I expect?

Answer: Every child and exam is different, but here are a few things we like to let our parents know in advance.

Doctors
Our doctors do not wear white coats at Visionary. One of the reasons we do this is to make children feel more at ease. You can tell your child that they are going to see “Michael” or “Jamie” or you can simply say, “the optometrist.” Sometimes telling a child that they are going to see the eye doctor makes them apprehensive, because they only hear the the “doctor” part, and they’re already afraid of shots and pinches.

Vision Test
There will be a vision test with letters, but if a child is not comfortable with letters for any reason, we have charts that use numbers and some that use symbols that are readily identifiable by most children.

Dilation Drops
Sometimes we will need to dilate a child’s eyes or use other drops. We tell children that by the time they count to ten slowly, the stinging will go away, and that usually helps immensely. You may want to prepare your child by putting rewetting drops in his or her eyes to practice. The drops we use only sting for a few seconds, but for a child, having their eyes held open while a stranger puts stingy drops in them is no fun. We use every method we can to make this as quick, easy, and calm as possible.

Q: My child is entering kindergarten. Do I need to make an appointment for him/her?

Answer: Illinois State Law requires comprehensive eye exams for children entering kindergarten or enrolling for the first time in public, private, or parochial elementary schools in Illinois. Children will be required to have the eye exam performed only by qualified eye doctors. Please arrive 15 minutes before your appointment to complete paperwork. You can also download and fill out the necessary forms in advance by going here.

Q: What is the InfantSEEⓇ program?

Answer: InfantSEE®, a public health program, is designed to ensure that eye and vision care becomes an integral part of infant wellness care to improve a child’s quality of life. Under this program, AOA optometrists provide a comprehensive eye and vision assessments for infants within the first year of life regardless of a family’s income or access to insurance coverage. Learn more about InfantSEE®.

Remember the Rule of Thumb: Come see us BEFORE your prescription expires.

Q: I would like to have a copy of my prescription for my own records. How can I obtain a copy?

Answer: There are several options for obtaining a copy of your prescription.

Option 1: The easiest and fastest way is to log in to your patient portal. Under 'orders' you can access your active prescriptions.

Option 2: Come see our smiling faces! Stop in to have us print a copy for you anytime.

Option 3: This option is ideal for patients requesting more than one prescription or wanting us to transfer records to another eye care provider. You can fill out the Authorization Release form and send a signed copy to us via email or fax.

Q: Why can’t I get my next year’s contact order filled while there is still a month left on my prescription?

Answer: Contact lens prescriptions are only valid for one year. Having a single month left allows for only that month to be filled. This is the perfect time to use the Rule of Thumb.

Contact lenses are a medical device and are therefore governed by Illinois State Law. Contact lenses cannot be dispensed without a valid contact lens prescription. A contact lens prescription cannot be written for a patient under Illinois Law until the doctor has completed the initial fitting and confirmed the prescription at the appropriate follow up visit.

Violations of this law include:

• Dispensing contact lenses in Illinois beyond the stated expiration date of the prescription, or 1 year from the issuance date;

• Filling a prescription in excess of the quantities or frequency stated or in quantities that would last beyond the expiration date of the prescription

For more information, the Illinois legislation can be found here.

Q: If I just want a new pair of glasses with my current prescription, why can’t the optician just read that off my glasses and make me a new pair?

Answer: We aren’t allowed to do that by Illinois State Law, plus the prescription on your current glasses may not be up to date.
According to Illinois State Law “No ophthalmic lenses, prisms, or contact lenses may be sold or delivered to an individual without a prescription signed by a licensed optometrist or a physician licensed to practice medicine in all of its branches.”

Therefore an optician is not allowed to “read” someone’s prescription off of their current glasses and make new glasses from this reading. Doing so would constitute practicing optometry or medicine without a license and they would be subject to severe penalties.

For more information, the Illinois legislation can be found here.

Q: I’m thinking about ordering my glasses online, what do I need?

Short Answer: You need a current prescription from our office as stated above.

However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy and safety of the lenses or the frame fit or quality.

Mileage may vary as the saying goes, but when the Journal of the American Optometric Association decided to road-test the most visited internet glasses providers, their results were disheartening: nearly half of the glasses ordered failed at least one parameter of optical or impact testing. Other failures included incorrect prescriptions and added or omitted lens treatments. The JAOA has an ongoing public awareness campaign for consumers on the details and potential pitfalls of purchasing glasses online.

For more information, visit the JAOA here.

Q: HELP! I bought my glasses elsewhere.

Answer: If you have difficulties with your online purchase, we will try to assist you. Here is our Online 3rd Party Purchase Policy:

• For verifying lens accuracy or checking your prescription, an office visit with a doctor is required. Fees start at $40.

• For fit, we will very carefully try to adjust your frames but we are not responsible if a satisfactory fit cannot be achieved, or if the frames are damaged.

• There is no charge for frame fit and adjustment.***We actually do charge for this

• Replacement of frames or lenses are the patient’s responsibility.

Q: If I only need glasses for reading, can I still wear contacts?

Answer: Yes, there are contacts made for people who do not need a distance prescription but are having difficulty with near work. You still need to have an eye exam and a contact lens evaluation. If you have never worn contacts before, you will also have to schedule a contact lens insertion, removal, and care session so we can teach you how to properly care for your contacts.

Q: Can I lose my contact behind my eye?

Answer: No. The white part of the eye and the inside of your eyelid become one tissue just below the brow line, and just above the cheekbone. The lens cannot go any further back than that. If you lose a contact in the top part of your eye, do not panic. Put a couple of drops in your eye, close your eye, look down and gently massage down from the brow area. This should move the contact down to where you can find it. If you still cannot find the lens, please come in to see us. Do not keep digging at your eye. Many people scratch their corneas by digging excessively trying to find a lost lens.

Q: Can I sleep with my contacts in?

Answer: Sometimes. We do not recommend sleeping overnight in your contacts. Some lenses are approved by the FDA for 7 day or 30 day continuous wear. But even with these approved lenses, you are 7 times more likely to develop a severe vision-threatening condition (most frequently a corneal ulcer) than if you wear lenses only during the day.

For a patient who insists on sleeping in their lenses, we prefer "flex wear". This means primarily taking out the lenses every night, but knowing that you are wearing approved lenses and can, on special occasions, (we all know what those could be) leave them in overnight.

If you do sleep in your lenses, the doctor will most likely recommend more frequent office visits to monitor your eye health. Also, if you sleep in your lenses, any symptoms of pain, redness, blurred vision, discomfort even after removing the lenses, extreme sensitivity to the light or anything other sudden changes in your eyes should be considered an emergency.

Q: Can I swim in my contacts?

Answer: No. You should not swim in your contacts. There are organisms in water, both fresh and seawater that can eat through an intact cornea in 24 hours. The chemicals in treated pool water can also soak into your contacts and cause corneal swelling or a chemical corneal abrasion.

There is good news for patients who want to be able to see at the pool or beach. Your risk of serious infection or chemical reaction diminishes greatly with single use lenses. Even if you wear standard disposable lenses, ask your doctor if you could be fit with a small supply of supplemental single use lenses. These single use lenses are also available for patients who wear astigmatism contacts.

NOTICE: All eyewear at Visionary Eye Care are considered medical devices and as such are regulated by Illinois State Law.

Remember the Rule of Thumb: Always check the details of your benefits package regarding your vision and medical plans with your provider and/or employer.

Q: What kind of insurance do you accept?

Answer: We accept the following vision insurance plans, which will cover a certain portion of your annual exam and materials in most cases. See your specific plan for details.

• VSP

• EyeMed Vision Care Plans

For medical visits (anything outside of a routine exam - see distinction below), we accept the following insurance plans. Please note we do NOT accept the HMO plans for any insurance.

• BCBS PPO

• Cigna

• Aetna PPO

• Humana PPO

• United Health Care PPO

• Medicare

Q: Do I need to bring my insurance card?

Answer: We do ask that you present and verify your medical insurance at each visit, just like you would at any doctors’ office. We know that some vision insurance plans do not give out cards, so we may just verbally ask you if your benefits are the same from your last visit.

Q: What information do you need to verify my insurance?

Answer: At minimum, we need the following information 24 hours before your appointment – sooner is much appreciated! This allows us enough time to verify your benefits and gives us time to notify you of any issues and solve them before your visit. For more on verifying benefits, please see the information below.

• Name of your vision insurance company

• Name of your medical insurance company (they are usually different)

• Your date of birth

• Last four digits of your social security number

• Name of the person who is the Primary Insured

• The Primary’s relationship to you: parent, spouse, partner, etc

• The Primary’s date of birth

• Last four digits of the Primary’s social security number

• A copy of the medical insurance card, front and back, which can be faxed or emailed to us (you can also bring your insurance card in with you to your appointment, and we will scan it for our records).

Q: What's the difference between Medical Insurance and Routine Vision Insurance?

Answer: This one has multiple parts, so we’ll break it down.

Medical Insurance
We can bill medical insurance for examinations and treatments that have a medical diagnosis. Examples include eye infections, dry eye syndrome, and diabetes. Conversely, most Routine Vision plans will not cover these types of visits.
We can submit claims directly to BCBS PPO, Cigna PPO, Aetna PPO, United Healthcare PPO, Humana PPO, and Medicare.

Routine Vision Insurance
Routine Vision is considered one annual visit for an eye health examination and a refraction (glasses prescription). Most Medical Insurance plans do not cover Routine Vision, but it is sometimes offered as an additional benefit (carved out or subcontracted) to another company.

We can submit claims directly to VSP and EyeMed.

It is important to note that almost all medical insurance providers do not provide routine vision coverage. If you have both medical insurance and vision insurance, the medical insurance is “carved out” or subcontracted to a separate vision insurance carrier. Sometimes one medical insurer may use several different vision insurance providers depending on what plan your employer chooses. So if you are coming in for routine vision, providing only your medical insurance company’s name does not provide enough information – we need to know both.

Q: What do you mean by “verifying benefits?”

A: We do our best to contact your insurance provider(s) and find out if your coverage is active, what services are covered, if your deductible has been met, and what copays you will be charged. We are better able to estimate the charges you will be responsible for by verifying this information in advance of your appointment. Of course, we cannot guarantee coverage and may have to adjust your balance due as we receive Explanations of Benefits from your insurance company. Remember, you are responsible for all services and materials, as well as all co-pays, co-insurances or deductibles as determined by your insurance plans.

Q: What if my plan is out-of-network or I don't have the information for my plan right now?

A: You will be responsible for paying for all services at the time they are rendered. We are more than happy to help you submit claim forms for reimbursement and/or complete any documentation you made need.