What Is a Refraction Room?
A refraction room is the examination room in which refraction is carried out — the measurement that determines a patient’s spectacle prescription. It holds a patient chair, a support for the instruments, a phoropter or trial frame, and a test chart at a fixed viewing distance.
In an eye hospital it is usually one of several rooms in the outpatient flow. In an optical practice or optometry clinic it is often the main examination room. The furniture is the same kind; what differs is how many rooms there are and what else each room has to do.
This page explains the room and its furniture. It is not clinical advice: how a refraction is performed, and what a practice needs to comply with locally, are decisions for the practitioner and the practice.
The room where the prescription is measured.
Refraction has two parts. The objective part estimates the eye’s refractive error with an instrument — an autorefractor, or a retinoscope in the practitioner’s hand. The subjective part refines that result while the patient compares lenses in a phoropter or trial frame and reads a chart.
A refraction room is laid out around that sequence: the patient seated and facing the chart, the phoropter on an arm in front of the patient’s eyes, the other instruments on a tabletop the practitioner can reach without standing up, and lighting that can be dimmed.
A refraction room in a hospital, and in an optical practice.
Eye hospital or hospital eye department
Refraction rooms usually sit side by side along the outpatient route, often after a separate pre-test area. Patient numbers are high, so each room tends to be fitted the same way, typically with one combined refraction unit, so that any practitioner can work in any room.
Optical practice or optometry clinic
One room often handles refraction and other tests. Floor area is tighter and the room may also be where frames are discussed. A compact combined unit, or a separate chair and instrument table placed where the room allows, is the usual answer.
Patients who stay in a wheelchair
A separate, height-adjustable instrument table can be moved to the patient rather than moving the patient to the chair. If this matters to your practice, plan the table and the floor space for it from the start.
What a refraction room holds.
- Patient chair — usually electric, so the patient’s eyes can be brought to instrument height. Patient-chair seat heights in our range run from 500 to 710 mm as specified.
- Instrument support — either a combined refraction unit (chair, tabletop and arm on one frame) or a separate instrument table. Separate tables in our range have tabletops from 400 × 480 mm to 600 × 1080 mm.
- Phoropter arm — holds the phoropter in front of the patient and swings it away.
- Test chart — printed, projected or on a screen, at the viewing distance the chart is designed for.
- Practitioner stool — our optometrist stool adjusts from 450 to 550 mm seat height.
- Lighting control — so the room can be darkened for parts of the examination.
The full list, with the instruments, is in the refraction room equipment checklist.
What decides how big the room has to be.
Two things: the viewing distance of the chart, and the footprint of the furniture. A chart designed for 6 m needs that optical distance; a mirror on the opposite wall folds the path, so the room can be roughly half as long. That is a decision about the room and the chart, not about the furniture.
The furniture footprint is fixed by the model. As specified, combined units in our range occupy from 940 × 800 mm (C-3) to 2330 × 1300 mm (TG-1010), and stand 1550 mm to 2130 mm tall. Add the clearances your practice needs around them. The room layout guide lists every model’s footprint and height.
Questions about refraction rooms.
What is a refraction room in a hospital?
It is an examination room in the eye department where the patient’s refractive error is measured and the spectacle prescription is refined. Hospitals usually have several identical refraction rooms along the outpatient route, each with a patient chair, a phoropter on an arm, the instruments on a tabletop and a test chart.
Is a refraction room the same as an eye examination room?
Often the same room is used for both. “Refraction room” describes what the room is used for — measuring the prescription — while an eye examination room may also be used for slit-lamp examination, tonometry and other tests. In larger clinics these are separate rooms.
What furniture does a refraction room need?
A patient chair, a support for the instruments (a combined refraction unit, or a separate instrument table), an arm for the phoropter and a practitioner stool. The diagnostic instruments are a separate purchase.
How large should a refraction room be?
It depends on the chart viewing distance (a mirror roughly halves the length needed) and on the furniture footprint. We do not state a minimum room size; the room layout guide gives the specified footprint and height of every model so you can add your own clearances.
Planning a refraction room? Send us the floor plan.
Give us the room dimensions and the instruments you will use. We reply with a configuration that fits, a lead time and a quotation.