• Make sure you are using adequate lighting.

• Wear your reading glasses or look through the reading part of your bifocals (if you normally read with your glasses).

• Hold the Amsler grid at normal reading distance (about 14-16 inches).

• Cover one eye at a time with the palm of your hand. Take care not to look through your fingers.
  

• Stare at the center dot of the chart at all times.

• Do not let your eye drift from the center dot.

Ask yourself the following questions as you check each eye separately:

• Are any of the lines crooked or bent?

• Are any of the boxes different in size or shape from the others, squashed or enlarged in appearance?

• Are any of the lines wavy, missing, blurry, or discolored?

If the answer to any of these questions is "yes" (and this is a new finding for you), or if there is an increase or change in pre-existing distortion, you should contact your doctor immediately for an examination. Sometimes these changes may mean that there is leakage or bleeding in the back of the eye causing swelling of the retina.