Taking a thorough case history is one of the very most important parts of your entire examination. It is a time for you to just sit down and talk to your patient and formulate a picture of the patient’s overall health status. You’ll inquire about their medical conditions, medications, and family history to help determine risk factors for certain conditions.
You’ll also learn about their previous ocular conditions and their history with glasses and/or contact lens wear. All of this information will be extremely helpful when working through their chief complaint and history of present illness to come up with some possible diagnoses which will also aid in guiding your examination.