Visual Field Assessment and Management in Manlius and Syracuse, NY

Your visual system includes many components, and each has a significant role in how well you can see. While it is crucial to be able to see objects right in front of you, it’s also crucial to correctly identify things outside of your central vision. This is known as peripheral vision.

A visual field test, also known as a perimetry test, measures peripheral and central vision. It helps to assess a person’s ability to see in all directions around them, including above, below, and to the sides. At Savedoff, Ciccone & Davis, Doctors of Optometry, P.C., we perform visual field assessments and solutions at our eye care centers in Manlius and Syracuse, NY, as part of our comprehensive vision services. Learn more about this type of examination and when medical intervention might be recommended.

What Is Visual Field Assessment?

A visual field test is a painless eye health examination that helps eye specialists diagnose or monitor various eye conditions. Eye health examinations are an important part of overall health and should be part of everyone’s regular health maintenance routine. Normally, the eyes allow us to see a wide area of space. Without needing to move the eyes or head, a person with a healthy visual system should be able to see not only what’s straight ahead, but parts of what’s above, below, and off to either side.

Individuals with suspicion of an eye condition that impacts peripheral vision might be administered a visual field test. The eye examination may be performed to help monitor a preexisting health condition. The results of a visual field test can be used to diagnose and monitor ocular diseases, such as glaucoma, and other health conditions:

• Glaucoma: Eye diseases that can damage the optic nerve, leading to vision loss and blindness
• Macular degeneration: An age-related disease that causes the gradual loss of central vision
• Stroke: A condition in which blood flow to the brain is cut off
• Graves’ disease: An autoimmune disorder that causes the thyroid gland to produce too much thyroid hormone
• Blind spot (scotoma): Partial or total vision loss in your visual field
• Multiple sclerosis (MS): A chronic autoimmune disease that affects the brain and spinal cord
• Pituitary gland disease: A condition that causes the gland to produce too much hormone or not enough

Additionally, people with diabetes and high blood pressure may need visual field testing because they have a greater risk of developing blocked blood vessels in the optic nerve and retina. Testing is performed to monitor any effects of these conditions on their vision.

About Our Perimetry Testing and Treatment

At Savedoff, Ciccone & Davis, Doctors of Optometry, P.C., we are committed to helping our patients improve their visual abilities and correct vision deficiencies impacting their quality of life. Our board-certified optometrists and other highly trained eye care specialists provide comprehensive services for individuals experiencing field visual defects.

At our advanced eye care centers, we perform various visual field tests using the latest medical instruments and equipment. During the non-invasive procedure, patients will be asked to undergo a series of tests to gauge their peripheral visual abilities. Each eye is tested separately, and the process typically takes three to six minutes per eye.

Field tests patients may be administered include:

• Confrontation visual field test: The examiner holds their hands out to the sides and moves them inward toward you. You signal when you see their hand.
• Automated static perimetry test: The patient looks into a bowl-shaped instrument called a perimeter and presses a button when they see small, dim lights in their peripherals.
• Amsler grid test: A patient looks at a large dot in the middle of a grid of straight lines and describes areas where the lines look blurry, wavy, or broken.

If a person is found to have visual field defects, doctors will recommend treatment to correct the deficiency.