There may be a number of reasons why you could not just visit an eye doctor. It ranges from financial reasons to personal ones but these should not deter you to check your vision. If you have a computer, you can do the test all by yourself. Note, however, that doing self eye tests are not to be substituted to the professional examinations of an ophthalmologist. Self tests should be able to give you an idea about how good or bad is your vision’s current status.
First method of self eye test is by using a Snellen Eye Chart. A Snellen eye chart consists of rows of alphabet letters in various sizes. You can read these letters from a distance of 20 feet. Reading the last row of letters should be able to give you an idea if you still have a normal vision or not. If you don’t have a Snellen chart, you can print it out from the various eye testing tools you can find via online.
The second method is by using University at Buffalo’s IVAC tool. Using a physical ruler (or any means of measurement), measure the length of the line on screen. The length will depend on your computer’s resolution so you have to make use of the physical ruler. Next, measure the distance between your eyes and the computer screen. You can then commence on reading, and press smaller to have next rows of letters for you to read on. Stop only when you cannot read the letters anymore.
Third method is through the thinkquest.org but this entails that your monitor should have 15”, 17” or 19” size. You must stand 4 feet away from the screen and begin the test. Stop when you can no longer read the set of letters by hitting the stop button. The site then will give you the result of your eye vision.
Finally, you can use the DIY wherein you can open a Snellen chart right on your computer screen. Measure the letter E using a physical ruler and multiply the size by 2.838. The resulting number should be your distance from the computer. Read the letters from top to bottom in order to test your vision.