What is a visual field test?
A visual field test is a simple and painless test an eye care provider gives you to diagnose or monitor various eye conditions.
A visual field test measures two things:
- How far up, down, left and right your eye sees without moving (when you’re looking straight ahead).
- How sensitive your vision is in different parts of the visual field, which is the name for the entire area that you can see.
Your eyes normally see a wide area of the space in front of you. Without moving your eyes, you can see not only what’s straight ahead, but also some of what’s above, below and off to either side. Providers call all of the area you can see that isn’t right in front of you “peripheral vision.” This surrounds the area that’s right in front of you that you can see (central vision).
Vision is usually best right in the middle of the visual field, so you probably turn your eyes toward the things you want to see more clearly. The farther away from the center of your vision an object is, the less clearly you can see it. When an object moves far enough to the side, it disappears from your vision completely.
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When is a visual field test performed?
When you visit an optometrist or ophthalmologist, a visual field test is part of a routine eye exam. Visual field testing can help your eye care provider find early signs of diseases like glaucoma that gradually damage vision. Some people with glaucoma don’t notice any problems with their vision, but the visual field test shows a loss of peripheral vision.
A visual field test can also help your provider find out more about the part of your nervous system that allows you to see. The visual part of your nervous system includes:
- Your retina, the part of your eye that’s like a translator that changes light energy into an electrical signal.
- Your optic nerve, the nerve that carries the signals to your brain so they can become images.
- Your brain, the place where the signals become the images you see.
Issues with any part of this system can change your visual field. There are well-known patterns in the test results that help providers recognize certain types of injury or disease.
By repeating visual field tests at regular intervals, providers also can tell whether your condition is getting better or worse.
Medical conditions that might cause a provider to order a visual field test
Your healthcare provider may want you to have a visual field test if you have (or they think you may have) certain conditions. Providers use the results to both diagnose and monitor conditions such as:
- Glaucoma.
- Stroke.
- Macular degeneration.
- Multiple sclerosis (MS).
- Graves’ disease.
- Pituitary gland
- Blind spot (scotoma).
Why do some people need to have visual field tests many times?
Sometimes your eye care provider will want to repeat the visual field test right away to make sure the results are accurate. If you’re tired, for example, the test results can be unreliable.
Your provider might also recommend that you take a visual field test again in a few weeks, a few months or a year. This might be necessary to make sure that they find any new problems early. When you have certain eye conditions, your provider will do visual field tests regularly to find out how well the treatment is working.
Visual field tests are especially important in the treatment of glaucoma. These tests will tell the provider if you’re losing vision even before you notice. That’s just one of the reasons why people who have glaucoma should keep all of their appointments with their provider.
