Your first visit · OC Eye Associates, Irvine
Your First Visit: What Happens at a Cataract Consultation
Sixty to ninety minutes, a few tests, one dilated exam, and a conversation. Here is the whole visit before you walk in, so you can spend your energy on your questions instead of on the unknowns.
OC Eye Associates · 9 Corporate Park, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92606
Quick answer: A cataract consultation with Dr. Todd Driver takes about 60 to 90 minutes. A technician checks your glasses prescription and takes a quick scan of the back of the eye, your pupils are dilated, and Dr. Driver examines your eyes and talks through what can be done to improve your vision. Expect blurry, light-sensitive vision for two to six hours afterward. Bring photo ID, insurance cards, your current glasses, your contact lens prescription and a medication list, and bring a family member if you like. Nobody decides on a lens that day. Lens measurements happen at a second, undilated visit.
What happens at the visit
A cataract consultation has to answer one question before anything else: is the cataract really what is blurring your vision, or would something simpler fix it? The visit is built around that.
- A glasses check. We measure your prescription first (a refraction), to make sure a new pair of glasses would not improve your vision on its own. Most first visits also include an OCT, a quick, painless scan of the back of the eye.
- Dilation. Drops widen your pupils so Dr. Driver can see the cataract fully and check the health of the rest of your eye, to be sure nothing else is causing the reduced vision.
- The dilated exam and the conversation. Dr. Driver examines your eyes, then talks through what can be done to improve your vision. If surgery makes sense, that is when you first hear about the lens options.
How long it takes, and what dilation feels like
Plan on 60 to 90 minutes, including all of the testing.
After the dilating drops your vision is blurry and light-sensitive for roughly two to six hours, depending on how quickly your eyes recover from them. Many of our patients drive home wearing a pair of sunglasses. If you have a long drive, consider waiting a few hours before you head back, or bring someone who can drive.
Who you'll see, in order
You will meet a technician first, who does the testing. Then you see Dr. Driver for the exam and the discussion. At checkout the front desk books your next appointment, the one where your lens measurements are taken.
The second visit: lens measurements
Choosing a lens depends on precise measurements of your eye, called biometry and corneal topography. Those measurements are more accurate when your eyes are not dilated, and the first visit dilates them, so the measurements get their own appointment.
That second visit is also the longer, in-depth conversation with Dr. Driver about which lens and which surgical plan fit your eyes and the way you use them. The first visit covers the options. The second visit is where the plan is made.
If you wear contact lenses
Contact lenses temporarily change the shape of the cornea, and that shape feeds the formulas we use to choose your lens power. Before the measurement visit, Dr. Driver asks that you stay out of your lenses:
- Soft contact lenses: out for 3 days before the measurement appointment.
- Rigid contact lenses: out for 4 weeks before the measurement appointment.
Every surgeon has their own rule for this. These are his. Wear your glasses in the meantime, and bring your contact lens prescription so we know what you have been wearing.
What to bring
- Photo ID
- Insurance cards
- Your current glasses, even if you rarely wear them
- Your contact lens prescription, if you wear contacts
- A list of your medications, including eye drops and supplements
- Prior LASIK or RK records, if you have them. Helpful, not required. Past laser vision correction changes how we calculate your lens.
Bring someone
A family member or friend is welcome for the whole visit, including the lens and cost discussion. It is a lot of information in one sitting, and we find two heads are better than one when it comes to digesting it afterward.
You don't decide that day
You do not have to commit to a lens at the first visit. If you do choose one, you can still change your mind afterward if you want to go home and do your own reading. The Start here guide and the lens quiz are built for exactly that.
Forms, arrival and parking
Forms. Our office emails new-patient forms before your visit. Completing them at home matters: filling them in at the front desk delays the start of your appointment.
Where. OC Eye Associates, 9 Corporate Park, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92606. Parking is free in the lot at the building, and Suite 150 is on the ground floor.
Hours. Monday to Wednesday 7:30 am to 7 pm, Thursday and Friday 7:30 am to 5 pm. Phone (949) 653-9500.
Before surgery
Once you and Dr. Driver have a plan, there is one more office appointment before surgery: the pre-operative visit. Your eyes are dilated again so he can confirm your eye is ready for surgery. Surgery itself takes place at Newport Bay Surgery Center. What surgery day is like is on its own page.
Printable
Your consultation checklist
Print it, fill in the blanks, and bring it. No quiz, no email address, nothing to submit.
Consultation checklist · Todd Driver, MD · OC Eye Associates · 9 Corporate Park, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92606 · (949) 653-9500
Bring
- Photo ID
- Insurance cards
- Current glasses
- Contact lens prescription
- Medication list (drops and supplements too)
- Prior LASIK or RK records, if any
- Sunglasses for the drive home
- A family member or friend, if you like
Tell us
- Contact lenses: soft / rigid / none. Last worn: ________
- Past eye surgery, including LASIK or RK
- Other eye conditions you have been told about
- Medical conditions and allergies
- The one thing your vision stops you from doing: ____________________
What matters most to me
Number these 1 to 5, or circle what counts. There is no right answer; it steers the lens conversation.
- Driving at night
- Reading without glasses
- Computer and phone
- Fewest follow-up visits
- Lowest out-of-pocket cost
- Other: ____________
My questions
Start with the five questions Dr. Driver wishes every patient asked, then add your own.
Notes from the visit
Ready to talk it through?
A consultation is a conversation, not a commitment. Call, or leave your number and the team at OC Eye Associates will call you back.
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This page is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for a medical examination or personalized medical advice. Individual results vary; candidacy is determined at consultation.