Your First Appointment

About Your First Visit

• Please arrive 15 minutes before your first appointment to review your registration information
• Bring your glasses and contact lenses as well as prescription information, if available your insurance card(s)
• Bring a list of the medicines and any eye drops you take

If you are having a comprehensive eye examination, your appointment will take between 60 and 90 minutes, including dilation of the pupils. If additional testing is required, more time should be allowed. We recommend that you bring sunglasses with you, but we provide complimentary ones for your convenience.

Contact Lens Wearers

Please wear your contact lenses to your eye exam and bring information on the brand and prescription of the lenses. This will expedite your visit and allow us to serve you better. Please bring or have the names of any contact lens solutions you are using. Be aware that most insurance companies do not cover contact lenses and there may be an additional charge for evaluation and fitting of lenses.

Contact lens evaluations take 15-20 minutes and may include corneal imaging, refraction of your contact lens and observations of the lenses on your eyes. We offer a wide range of contact lenses at competitive prices.

If you are being evaluated as a candidate for laser vision correction, it is important to stop wearing your contact lenses for at least 14 days. Please contact our refractive coordinator or the administrative assistant with any questions about this.

What to Expect at Your Eye Exam

At Eye Care Associates in Minneapolis, your visit is important to us. You can expect to be treated as an individual, not just another patient, regardless of the reason for your visit. If you are having a complete or comprehensive eye examination, your visit will begin with a qualified technician taking a preliminary medical history and will measure your vision and eye movement, perform preliminary lens refraction, test eye pressure for glaucoma, and sometimes apply drops to dilate the pupils in preparation for the medical portion of your eye exam. After the dilating drops have taken effect, which requires between 15 and 30 minutes, your doctor will examine your eyes for disorders such as dry eye, cataracts, glaucoma, and retinal problems including macular degeneration. The doctor will then explain the results of your examination and give instructions for future care.

If the eye exam indicates the need for further special testing, these tests will be performed by a technician and evaluated by the doctor. Some of these tests will need to be performed at a separate appointment and can vary in time from 15 minutes to an hour or more.

If surgery or other treatment has been recommended by your doctor, your options will be explained to you in detail. A technician or surgical assistant will help to schedule your surgery and answer any questions you may have regarding your upcoming procedure.

A Special Note to Our Medicare Patients

Refractions (the measurement of eyeglass prescriptions) are not covered by Medicare; therefore, payment of refractions is expected from the patient. Certain elective procedures may also not be covered by Medicare. Our office will assist you by answering any questions and addressing any concerns you may have regarding billing and Medicare coverage.

Call Us or Email Us Any Time

When you have questions about your treatment or eye problems, please feel free to call us or email us at info@eyecare1.com at any time. Our technical and office staff are trained to answer most of the questions you may have. If one of them is unable to assist you, one of our doctors will be consulted, and your call will be returned. We always try to avoid undue delays in returning calls. One of our doctors is always available after normal office hours and on weekends for telephone consultations and for urgent and emergency eye care. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Please call 612-338-4861 or 612-788-1621.