How often should I have an eye examination?

For adults with no symptoms and no risk factors, a first baseline examination with an eye pressure measurement makes sense from about forty, and after that, depending on the findings, often every two to three years. From about sixty the intervals get shorter, because cataract, glaucoma and macular degeneration become more common at this stage of life. Anyone with glaucoma in the family, with diabetes, who is highly short-sighted or who already carries an eye diagnosis should be examined earlier and more regularly — here the findings set the interval, not the calendar. A binding screening rule of the kind the dentist has does not exist for the eyes in Switzerland, and we do not pretend that it does.

What does an eye examination cost?

That does not depend on the device but on the reason for your visit. If you come with symptoms, with a suspicion or for follow-up of a known diagnosis, there is a medical indication and the examination runs through basic health insurance; deductible and co-payment apply as at any doctor's appointment. If you come with no symptom and no risk factor for a screening check alone, that is not a mandatory service of basic health insurance and is billed to you privately. The same applies to examinations at the request of a third party, for the driving licence or the employer, for instance. We tell you before the examination which category your appointment falls into — not afterwards.

Do I need a referral from my GP?

As a rule no: ophthalmologists in Switzerland are directly accessible, and you can book an appointment without a referral. It is different where your insurance model requires one — GP, HMO and Telmed models require, depending on the contract, that first contact goes through the agreed point. If in doubt, check that briefly with your health insurer before you come. Bring any referral letter you have and earlier findings with you; that saves duplicate examinations.

How long does the appointment take?

Expect about forty-five to ninety minutes if the pupil is to be dilated — most of that is waiting for the drops to take effect. A targeted check without drops, an eye pressure measurement with a slit lamp examination for instance, is considerably shorter. If additional examinations such as a visual field test or OCT are added, the appointment gets correspondingly longer. Do not plan the afternoon too tightly: an eye cannot be hurried, and we want time at the end to discuss the findings with you.

Does my pupil really have to be dilated?

Only where the back of the eye is to be assessed in full. The retinal periphery — where tears and holes arise — cannot be viewed reliably through a narrow pupil. For a spectacle prescription, a pressure check alone or the assessment of the front of the eye, dilation by contrast is often not needed. We decide that by the clinical question and not routinely, and we tell you beforehand what applies to your appointment.

Eye examinations

Eye examination: what is measured, how it works, who pays

'I see well enough — do I still have to?' We hear that question every day. An eye examination does not test whether you see well — you know that yourself. It tests whether something is happening in the eye that you have not yet noticed: a rising eye pressure, fine changes at the centre of the retina, a lens slowly clouding over. Precisely those things do not hurt at the start and do not stand out in everyday life.

book an appointment online Call us and clarify the appointment

What happens at an eye examination

The sequence is the same at all three locations and follows a simple logic: first talk, then measure, then look, then talk again. The last part is the most important — an examination whose result you have not understood has missed its purpose.

Registration and conversation. We ask about your symptoms, how long you have had them, about pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure, about eye disease in your family and about your medicines. What you tell us helps decide what is then looked for.
Pre-measurements by our specialist staff. Visual acuity with and without your current correction, an objective measurement of the spectacle values with the autorefractometer, and the eye pressure measurement. That takes a few minutes and does not hurt.
Pupil-dilating drops — but only where the back of the eye is to be assessed in full. After that you wait twenty to thirty minutes for the drops to take effect.
The doctor's examination. At the slit lamp we assess the eyelids, conjunctiva, cornea, anterior chamber and lens, then the optic nerve head, macula, vessels and the retinal periphery.
Additional examinations according to the findings. OCT, visual field or corneal topography are added when the clinical question calls for them — not as a fixed package.
The discussion. What was found, what it means, what follows from it and when the next check is due. Keep asking until you could explain it to someone at home. That is exactly the measure.

The drops are the part that surprises most people. They paralyse for a few hours the muscle that narrows the pupil — and usually at the same time the muscle with which the eye focuses at near. That is why the pupil is wide (glare) and near vision blurred, and why we can look at the retina through a wide window. Without this dilation the retinal periphery — where tears and holes arise — simply stays inaccessible. The price for it is real: at close range you see blurred, in bright light everything glares, and depending on the preparation and the colour of your eyes that lasts several hours. Do not drive yourself during that time.

Very rarely an eye does not tolerate this dilation. Which warning signs in the hours afterwards need assessing at once, and whom to call then, is in the note 'Plan the journey home without a car' for this section.

Conversely: Not every eye examination needs these drops. For a spectacle prescription, an eye pressure check or the assessment of a red, irritated eye, dilation is usually dispensable. If you need to know for certain, because an appointment follows or you want to come by car: say so when you register. We then plan the appointment accordingly, or tell you openly that it will not work this time.

Plan the journey home without a car. If the pupil is dilated to assess the back of the eye, you will see blurred at close range for several hours and be markedly sensitive to glare. Public transport, someone to collect you, and a pair of sunglasses in your bag. Very rarely, in an eye with a very narrow anterior chamber angle, dilation triggers an acute glaucoma attack: if in the hours after the appointment the eye hurts badly, turns red, appears hard, you see coloured rings around lights or you feel sick: call at once, or outside consulting hours go to the ophthalmic emergency service or the emergency department of an eye clinic — do not wait until the next day.

A word on safety

We examine what the clinical question calls for — not what the devices can do. We do an OCT, a visual field test or a corneal topography when the answer changes something. And when the most honest finding is 'all unremarkable, we will see you again in two years', we say exactly that, instead of booking a follow-up appointment in six months.

Which examination when

For the eyes there is no binding screening schedule in Switzerland of the kind many people know from the dental check. The figures below are therefore points of orientation for people without symptoms — not rules, and not appointments you can miss. As soon as there is a finding, it sets the interval, and then it is tighter. How such an examination without symptoms proceeds, what it looks for and who pays for it are set out on a page of its own: eye screening for detecting glaucoma and macular degeneration in good time.

By age

Stage of life	Usual approach without symptoms
Pre-school age	One ophthalmic check, even when nothing stands out — a squint and a one-sided refractive error are things the child does not notice itself
School age and adolescence	As the occasion requires; check at shorter intervals where short-sightedness is increasing rapidly
About 20 to 40 years of age	Without risk factors rarely necessary; as the occasion requires with contact lenses, screen-related complaints or for the driving licence
From about age 40	Baseline examination including eye pressure; after that, depending on the findings, often every two to three years
From about age 60	Shorter intervals, because cataract, glaucoma and macular degeneration become more common at this stage of life

These checks without symptoms are as a rule self-pay services — what falls into which category is set out further down in the section Costs.

By risk profile

These situations bring the start forward and shorten the intervals. They are the real reason why a blanket age rule does not hold:

Glaucoma in a parent or sibling. Glaucoma begins painlessly and at the edge of the field of vision; optic nerve tissue that is lost does not come back. Where it runs in the family, the checks of eye pressure, optic nerve and visual field start earlier and take place regularly.
Diabetes. The retinal changes in diabetes cause no symptoms for a long time. That is why the retina has to be checked regularly, even when vision is good — the interval according to the findings, the duration of the diabetes and how well it is controlled. More on this under Retina and vitreous.
High short-sightedness. A highly short-sighted eye is built longer, its retina stretched thinner and more prone to tears. Anyone who is highly short-sighted should know the warning signs and have the periphery assessed regularly — see Myopia.
Macular degeneration in the family, or first distortions. Wavy lines and letters that jump should be examined promptly; age-related macular degeneration is less noticeable in its early stage than most people expect.
A known eye diagnosis, or having had eye surgery. After a cataract operation, with retinal findings or under treatment with eye drops the interval follows from the progression.
Long-term treatment with certain medicines. Some active substances call for ophthalmic follow-up. Whether that applies to you is something the prescribing doctor tells you — bring the list of your medicines with you.
Contact lenses. Lenses sit on the cornea all day. An annual check of the cornea and tear film is therefore not a formality, especially where the eyes burn in the evening — see dry eyes.

And regardless of any interval: Some signs do not wait for the next free screening appointment. They are not, however, equally urgent, which is why we separate them here.

Immediately — within the next few hours, not 'later today': a sudden, painless loss of vision in one eye; severe eye pain with a red eye, nausea and coloured rings around lights; any chemical burn — with that, first rinse the eye thoroughly with water for at least 15 minutes. In these cases take a route that does not depend on whether we are open: the emergency department of an eye clinic or the ophthalmic emergency service; if the general condition is threatening, call the ambulance (144). Do not wait for a call back.

To be assessed the same day: flashes of light together with many new black dots; a shadow moving in from the side into the field of vision; sudden double vision; any injury and any foreign body. What lies behind flashes and new dots is usually a harmless vitreous detachment, but sometimes a tear that leads on to a retinal detachment with a shadow or curtain in the field of vision; the two can only be told apart with the pupil dilated. Call us for that: +41 44 500 69 00, Mon–Fri 08:00–12:00 / 13:00–17:30. Outside these hours the ophthalmic emergency service applies.

The individual methods

No appointment includes all of it. What is done is decided by the clinical question — and each time we tell you why a device makes sense right now.

Visual acuity (visus)

What is measured is how fine a detail your eye can still resolve — each eye separately, at distance and at near, with and without correction. First a device measures the spectacle values objectively, then we fine-tune them together with you: you compare two lenses and say which is clearer. It is not a test you can pass or fail, and guessing is expressly allowed. Why this second step does not replace the first, and why in children drops are additionally needed so that the lens does not mask long-sightedness, is set out under objective and subjective refraction in detail. Good visual acuity, incidentally, does not rule out eye disease — glaucoma and early retinal changes run their course at full visual acuity.

Eye pressure (tonometry)

What is measured is the pressure inside the eye, a central value in assessing glaucoma. Without contact this is done with a short puff of air — the puff startles you the first time but does not hurt. More accurate is the measurement at the slit lamp after an anaesthetic drop: you feel nothing and see a blue light for a moment. While the anaesthetic drop is working — about half an hour — do not rub the eye; you would not feel an injury. Two things we say openly about it: A normal eye pressure does not rule out glaucoma, and a raised value does not prove one. That is why the optic nerve head and the visual field always belong to the assessment, and why we also measure the corneal thickness when the value is borderline.

Slit lamp (biomicroscopy)

A microscope with a narrow, bright slit of light that shows the front of the eye in optical sections: eyelid margins, tear film, conjunctiva, cornea, anterior chamber, iris and lens. You rest your chin and forehead, look past a target and hold still for a few seconds. The light is bright; the examination itself does not hurt. Sometimes we put an orange dye into the eye that makes surface defects of the cornea visible — it colours the tears briefly and washes out by itself. After the dye, put soft contact lenses back in only after several hours, or they will stain.

Fundoscopy (the back of the eye)

The direct assessment of the optic nerve head, macula, retinal vessels and retinal periphery. The periphery needs the dilated pupil; a look at the optic nerve and macula often does not. This examination is not pleasant: the light is very bright, and afterwards you see coloured after-images for a few minutes. It does not hurt, and it is the reason why many diseases can be found before they cause symptoms.

OCT (optical coherence tomography)

A cross-sectional image of the retina at microscopic resolution — without contact, without radiation, without an injection. You look at a fixation point for a few seconds while the device measures. The OCT shows fluid, swelling, membranes and the thickness of the retinal nerve fibre layer at the optic nerve, and makes the progression over years comparable. It does not replace the examination of the eye but answers questions that simply looking leaves open.

Visual field (perimetry)

What is measured is what you perceive without moving your gaze — and how sensitive the eye is at each individual point. For diagnosing glaucoma and following its course it is indispensable, as it is for questions of fitness to drive and for neurological questions. Honestly, it is the most demanding examination of the day: one eye covered, the gaze fixed on the centre, and pressing at every point of light however faint — five to ten minutes per eye, with full concentration. Missing points is normal and allowed for. The first measurement often comes out worse than later ones, because the task is unfamiliar. That is why we assess the course and not single values.

Corneal topography

A measurement of the shape and curvature of the corneal surface, presented as a colour map. It takes seconds, does not touch the eye and asks only that you look at a ring of lights. It is used with pronounced astigmatism, when fitting rigid contact lenses, before a Cataract surgery, where together with biometry it supports the planning of the artificial lens — above all with toric lenses and with an irregular cornea. It matters most where there is a suspicion of Keratoconus, which you cannot see at the slit lamp early on, but can on the map.

The eye test

'Eye test' is an umbrella term in everyday use, and depending on where you have one it means something different. At the optician the focus is on determining the spectacle values. At the ophthalmologist it is one part of the examination — and specifically the part that asks the question which is then answered.

An eye test at the ophthalmologist as a rule comprises:

the objective measurement of refractive power with the autorefractometer as a starting point
the subjective fine-tuning for distance, in which you compare two lenses
the assessment of near vision — from about the mid-forties the most common reason people come at all
the testing of each eye separately and both eyes together, including how they work together and stereo vision
where the clinical question calls for it, colour vision and a preliminary check of the visual field
a look at the eye itself, so that a declining visual acuity does not go unexplained

That is the real difference, and it can be put in one sentence: An eye test tells you how well you see. It does not tell you why. When visual acuity has declined, the new pair of glasses is an answer to the consequence, not to the cause. Sometimes that is exactly right — presbyopia needs reading glasses and nothing else. Sometimes what lies behind it is a beginning clouding of the lens, a Refractive errors, which is changing rapidly, or a retinal change behind it. What is noticeable above all is the rapid change in spectacle values: anyone who needs new lenses several times within a short period should have the eyes examined and not only the glasses.

For the driving licence there are defined requirements in Switzerland for visual acuity and visual field, which follow from the licence category. We check visual acuity and visual field against the requirements of your licence category and issue you the ophthalmic findings. The traffic-medicine check-up from the age of 75 and the examinations for group 2 (C, D, taxi) additionally require a doctor recognised for that purpose — tell us when you register what it is about, and we clarify beforehand whether we are the right place. These examinations are carried out at the request of a third party and are therefore not a service of basic health insurance.

Everything else about the eye test — exactly what is checked, how long it takes, when an optician is enough and when it takes an ophthalmologist, and what it does differently in children — is on our detail page: The eye test at the ophthalmologist. If you want an appointment solely for an eye test, say so when you register — then we plan in the time it takes.

Children and adolescents

Children rarely complain about seeing badly, and there is a simple reason for it: they have nothing to compare with. A child who sees blurred with one eye from the start takes that for normal. The brain suppresses the poorer image, and that suppression is the harder to undo the older the child is. That is why paediatric ophthalmology is one of the few areas in which an examination with no prompting at all really does change something.

To be examined as soon as any of this stands out: A squint, even if it appears only at times or only when the child is tired; a tilted head position when watching television or reading; holding reading matter very close; frequent eye rubbing, blinking or screwing up the eyes; headaches towards evening; sensitivity to light; a child who is noticeably unsteady at ball games or on the stairs.

A whitish or absent red pupil reflex (red reflex) on a flash photograph must be assessed by an ophthalmologist without delay and must not be watched — it is one of the few signs in childhood where days count. With a baby or toddler with a whitish pupil, do not therefore call us first but go directly to a children's eye clinic or an ophthalmic emergency department — we help you find the way there if you reach us.

The sequence differs from an adult appointment. Instead of letters we show pictures or symbols that children who cannot yet read can name as well. In children we determine the spectacle values as a rule under drops that dilate the pupil and relax focusing at near: children can adjust their lens so strongly that long-sightedness is regularly missed without these drops. The drops sting briefly and their effect lasts longer in children than in adults — plan the rest of the day without homework and without screen work, and give the child sunglasses or a peaked cap for the way home. Very rarely these drops make a child red in the face, restless or slightly feverish for a few hours. That passes by itself — if it worries you, call us.

We examine children from kindergarten age. With babies and toddlers, with a pronounced squint and with complex forms of amblyopia we clarify by phone whether a consultation specialising in paediatric ophthalmology is the better place. We would rather say that before the appointment than after an hour of waiting. Call us if you are unsure: +41 44 500 69 00.

What to bring — and how long it takes

A well-prepared appointment saves you a second one. This list is short, but every item on it has at some point left an examination incomplete:

insurance card and, if you have one, the referral letter
all the glasses, which you use — distance, reading and screen glasses, including the old ones
contact lenses with their case. Before a corneal topography, soft lenses should be left out for a few days and rigid ones for longer; what applies to you we tell you when you book
the list of medicines, including eye drops and food supplements
earlier findings, doctors' reports, operation records and lens implant cards
a pair of sunglasses and, if drops are used, a companion or a public-transport ticket
your questions, written down. In the consultation it is regularly precisely the one you cannot think of

How long it takes: Expect forty-five to ninety minutes if the pupil is dilated — most of that is waiting for the drops to take effect. A targeted check without drops takes considerably less time. If a visual field test or OCT is added, the appointment gets longer. We plan realistically and tell you the expected duration when you register; even so, do not put another appointment immediately after it.

Sehklinik Zürich

Hallenstrasse 8, 8008 Zürich. Consulting hours Monday to Friday 08:00–12:00 / 13:00–17:30. Phone +41 44 422 25 55. By public transport you reach us from Stadelhofen station in a few minutes' walk, or by tram and bus to Kreuzplatz — given the drops, the more comfortable option. Getting here, parking and the team under Zurich location.

Sehklinik Wetzikon

Bahnhofstrasse 126, 8620 Wetzikon. Consulting hours Monday to Friday 08:00–12:00 / 13:00–17:30. Phone +41 44 930 61 00. Visitor parking belongs to the property; by train it is around twelve minutes' walk from Wetzikon station, and one from the Schloss bus stop. Details under Wetzikon location.

Sehklinik Meilen

Dorfstrasse 94, 8706 Meilen. Consulting hours Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 08:00–12:00 / 13:00–17:30; on Wednesday the hours vary, ask by phone. Phone +41 44 923 03 81. From Meilen station it is two minutes' walk. Details under Meilen location.

You book appointments at all three locations online or by phone on the central number +41 44 500 69 00. Written enquiries we take through the contact form. An overview of our other consultations is under Ophthalmology.

Costs & health insurance

What does the insurer pay for — and what not?

What decides coverage is not the device but the reason for your visit. Because most misunderstandings arise from this, here it is as precisely as it can be said.

Service	Coverage	What this means for you
Examination for symptoms or a concrete suspicion	Basic insurance (OKP)	Anyone who comes with a symptom — worse vision, a red eye, flashes of light, double vision, pain — has a medical indication. The examination and the additional examinations needed for it are billed through basic health insurance. Deductible and co-payment apply as at any doctor's appointment.
Follow-up with a known diagnosis	Basic insurance (OKP)	Glaucoma, diabetes, macular degeneration, retinal findings, having had eye surgery: the check is medically justified even when you feel well and see well. The interval follows from the findings.
Screening without symptoms and without a risk factor	Self-pay	Anyone who simply wants a check once, with no symptom, no underlying condition and no family history, has no medical indication in the sense of basic health insurance. That examination we bill you privately — and we tell you so beforehand, not with the invoice.
Examination at the request of a third party (driving licence, employer, fitness)	Self-pay	An examination that someone else requires is not treatment of an illness. You pay for it yourself, whatever the result. Some employers cover the cost against a receipt — ask them before you come.
Spectacle and contact lens prescription with no suspicion of disease	Self-pay	Determining the correction values alone is not a mandatory service for adults. If a disease finding emerges in the process, the judgement changes: the further assessment is then medically indicated. Adults as a rule pay for lenses and frames themselves; some supplementary insurance policies contribute.
Eye examinations in children and adolescents	Its own rules — not automatically self-pay	For children and adolescents the self-pay rule above does not apply without qualification: assessing a squint, a one-sided refractive error and amblyopia is a medical question and is as a rule billed through basic health insurance; children have no deductible in the standard model (unless an optional deductible has been chosen), and the co-payment applies. Different rules also exist for spectacle lenses. What applies in your case we clarify with you before the appointment.
Additional examinations: OCT, visual field, corneal topography	Basic health insurance (OKP) where medically indicated	These methods are not extras you book on top but examinations that a clinical question calls for. Where there is one, they run through basic health insurance; in screening alone, without an indication, they do not. That is why we use them selectively and not as a package.

Deductible and co-payment. Of the costs that run through basic health insurance you first bear your chosen deductible in full, then the co-payment of ten per cent up to the statutory annual maximum. An examination 'at the insurer's expense' is therefore rarely free for you. That is not a peculiarity of our clinic but the logic of Swiss basic health insurance — and the reason why the question of the bill can be settled before the appointment and not only after it.

If in doubt, ask beforehand. The most common reason for anger about an eye doctor's bill is not its size but the surprise. Tell us when you book why you are coming; then we tell you which category your appointment falls into. In writing you can reach us through the contact form, for an appointment all it takes is online booking.

Referring physicians will find the details on registration, transmission of findings and feedback under Referrals.

Related conditions

Eye screening Glaucoma Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)

Medically reviewed by PD Dr. med. Andrea von Rückmann

Your ophthalmologistPD Dr. med. Andrea von RückmannView profile

Frequently asked questions

: For adults with no symptoms and no risk factors, a first baseline examination with an eye pressure measurement makes sense from about forty, and after that, depending on the findings, often every two to three years. From about sixty the intervals get shorter, because cataract, glaucoma and macular degeneration become more common at this stage of life. Anyone with glaucoma in the family, with diabetes, who is highly short-sighted or who already carries an eye diagnosis should be examined earlier and more regularly — here the findings set the interval, not the calendar. A binding screening rule of the kind the dentist has does not exist for the eyes in Switzerland, and we do not pretend that it does.
: If the pupil has been dilated with drops: no. The drops need around twenty to thirty minutes to take effect and wear off over several hours. During that time you see blurred at close range and are markedly sensitive to glare — neither is compatible with driving a vehicle. So come by public transport, have someone collect you, and bring sunglasses. Very rarely, in an eye with a very narrow anterior chamber angle, dilation triggers an acute glaucoma attack: if in the hours after the appointment the eye hurts badly, turns red, appears hard, you see coloured rings around lights or you feel sick, call at once — outside consulting hours the ophthalmic emergency service, or the emergency department of an eye clinic directly. Do not wait with that until the next day.
: That does not depend on the device but on the reason for your visit. If you come with symptoms, with a suspicion or for follow-up of a known diagnosis, there is a medical indication and the examination runs through basic health insurance; deductible and co-payment apply as at any doctor's appointment. If you come with no symptom and no risk factor for a screening check alone, that is not a mandatory service of basic health insurance and is billed to you privately. The same applies to examinations at the request of a third party, for the driving licence or the employer, for instance. We tell you before the examination which category your appointment falls into — not afterwards.
: As a rule no: ophthalmologists in Switzerland are directly accessible, and you can book an appointment without a referral. It is different where your insurance model requires one — GP, HMO and Telmed models require, depending on the contract, that first contact goes through the agreed point. If in doubt, check that briefly with your health insurer before you come. Bring any referral letter you have and earlier findings with you; that saves duplicate examinations.
: Expect about forty-five to ninety minutes if the pupil is to be dilated — most of that is waiting for the drops to take effect. A targeted check without drops, an eye pressure measurement with a slit lamp examination for instance, is considerably shorter. If additional examinations such as a visual field test or OCT are added, the appointment gets correspondingly longer. Do not plan the afternoon too tightly: an eye cannot be hurried, and we want time at the end to discuss the findings with you.
: Only where the back of the eye is to be assessed in full. The retinal periphery — where tears and holes arise — cannot be viewed reliably through a narrow pupil. For a spectacle prescription, a pressure check alone or the assessment of the front of the eye, dilation by contrast is often not needed. We decide that by the clinical question and not routinely, and we tell you beforehand what applies to your appointment.
: An ophthalmic check at pre-school age makes sense even when nothing stands out — children do not compare, and one eye can see worse for years without anyone noticing. A child has to be examined earlier as soon as something does stand out: a squint, even an intermittent one, a tilted head position, holding reading matter very close, frequent eye rubbing or headaches. A whitish or absent red pupil reflex (red reflex) on a flash photograph must be assessed without delay and must not be watched — with a baby or toddler do not call us first for that but go directly to a children's eye clinic or an ophthalmic emergency department. We examine children from kindergarten age; with babies and toddlers we clarify by phone whether a consultation specialising in paediatric ophthalmology is the better place, and help you find the way there.

An appointment after which you know what the next step is.

Tell us on the phone what it is about — a check, symptoms, an eye test or a second opinion. Then we plan in the right examination time and tell you beforehand whether drops will be used and whether you had better leave the car at home.

book an appointment online

+41 44 500 69 00 — Mon–Fri 08:00–12:00 / 13:00–17:30. Or in writing through the contact form.