Regardless of your age or physical health, it’s important for you and your loved ones to have regular eye examinations. Yearly eye exams performed by your optometrist not only help determine your prescription, but they also check for common diseases, assess how your eyes work, and evaluate your eyes as an indicator of your overall health.
For the same reason you visit the doctor for a physical each year, annual eye exams are necessary to maintain healthy vision. Below are more reasons why yearly eye exams are so important.
Prevention, Prevention, Prevention!
Having your eyes checked every year not only helps stop certain vision problems from getting worse, but also helps prevent vision concerns from developing into serious eye complications. Your annual eye exam is how your optometrist can prevent vision problems now and in the future.
Even if you feel your eyes are healthy, many adults who use a computer daily often suffer from vision problems associated with eye strain. Issues such as these can worsen over time if not properly and routinely checked by an optometrist.
Protecting Your Vision Over Time
Vision changes are a normal part of aging, but if not monitored properly with yearly exams, serious vision problems can impact your eye health. Regardless of whether your vision is corrected with glasses or contacts, your annual eye exams are still essential.
Helping More than Just Your Eye Health
Eye exams are not only for keeping concerns from developing into disease or possible vision loss. They also provide optometrists a closer look into your overall health.
Regular eye exams can help detect signs of serious health concerns, like diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and even brain tumors. By dilating the eyes, your optometrist can detect signs and symptoms of these conditions. This involves looking closely at the blood vessels, arteries, and cranial nerves located in your eyes. This is important because some of the symptoms do not appear until they have developed into serious concerns.
Keeping Your Prescription Updated
If you wear glasses or contacts, it’s important to visit your optometrist once a year to make sure your prescription is up-to-date. It’s common for vision to change over time, and with an out-of-date prescription, you risk eye strain and headaches.
Catching Symptomless Eye Diseases
Common eye diseases like glaucoma develop gradually. While the condition often shows few to no symptoms, if left untreated, it can result in vision loss.
A thorough eye exam performed by your trusted optometrist is the only solution to catching symptomless eye diseases before they pose a real threat to your eye health. Testing for glaucoma is typically done by evaluating your eye pressure, the health of the optic nerve, and the state of the cornea, things only a trained eye professional can examine.
Eye Exams for All Ages
It is never too late or too early to have an eye exam. You can start bringing in children for a scheduled eye health exam a few months after birth! Factors such as delayed development, premature birth, or family history of eye disease can put your young child at risk for developing eye-health complications. Be sure to schedule your young one’s eye exam, beginning as a newborn up to five years of age.
Once your child enters grade school up into their senior year of high school, they should be visiting your family optometrist for annual eye exams. If your child has no symptoms of vision issues and does not have a family history of vision problems, have their vision checked every two years. Talk to your optometrist about what checkup schedule is best for your child.
Adults that don’t need corrective lenses and no history of eye health complications can visit the optometrist every two years. It’s not recommended to go any further than two years, as the risks for eye issues and disease increase with age.
If you do wear glasses or contacts, you’ll need to have your eyes checked annually. If you notice any problems with your vision, be sure to schedule an appointment with your eye doctor as soon as possible.
There are many reasons why a yearly eye exam is essential for your ocular and overall health. At Atlantic Eye Consultants, our optometrist, Dr. Delianides, performs yearly eye exams for individuals and families in Virginia Beach. He also specializes in cataract and refractive surgery eye surgery and is fully certified in LASIK! Contact us today to schedule your appointment!