Eye Exams

Even if you think you have perfect vision, an annual eye exam can be one of the best things you can do to protect your overall eye health and wellness. Health can change in an instant and underlying conditions can develop without you even noticing. Preventative care by checking and managing your health yearly is the key to long term success.

1. Annual eye exams can detect serious health problems. Many people can first learn they have serious health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and even cancer from a routine eye exam. During a comprehensive eye exam, your Optometrist can observe and evaluate the health and condtion of blood vessels in your retina, which are a good indication of the health of blood vessels throughout your body. Conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia can be detected through visible changes of the retinal blood supply.

   
   Food lovers beware. Annual eye exams are especially important for anyone with diabetes or who might be at risk for the disease (due to obesity, family history or other reasons). Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness among adults. In its early stages, diabetic eye disease has no visible symptoms. A comprehensive eye health exam can detect signs of the disease so treatment can begin soon enough to prevent vision loss. Research has suggested that eye exams may soon identify the risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

2. Eye exams help children succeed in school. Did you know that 80 percent of what children are expected to learn in and outside the classroom requires good vision? An annual eye exam is the only way to ensure your child is seeing clearly and comfortably to succeed in the classroom and in life. It’s also the only way to know for sure if kids are seeing their best for all activities. An eye exam will help you manage your child’s screen time or educate about solutions available to help their vision improve as they grow up.
   
   
3. Myopia is becoming a major concern. The number of children who are developing myopia (nearsightedness) is growing faster than ever. And more kids are getting nearsighted at a very early age. Why is this a major concern? Children who become nearsighted very early in life tend to experience progression that continues throughout childhood, which puts them at a significantly greater risk of very serious sight threatening eye conditions later in life. These conditions include cataracts, glaucoma and retinal detachment.

   
   Scheduling annual eye exams is the best way to assess your child’s risk of myopia. When detected early, myopia control measures can be taken to slow the progression of myopia and reduce your child’s risk of serious eye problems later in life. Please visit one of our eyeTrust Network Optometrist to learn more about myopia control.

4. Vision screenings are not good enough. Don’t substitute a quick test over a comprehensive eye health exam. Passing a vision screening test does not mean that your eyes are perfectly healthy and that you don’t need vision correction. Vision screenings are conducted to screen out individuals with quite obvious vision problems. These people should definitely have annual eye exams. However, people who have passed and have not been screened out should also visit an Optometrist to ensure their vision is as clear and comfortable as possible. Vision can vary day to day. People with low to moderate prescriptions usually accommodate more and make their eyes work harder than necessary. Knowing every year that you’re free from potentially serious eye diseases that don’t have early symptoms such as glaucoma and even eye cancer, can give you eye health relief. Remember, eye health is about preserving your vision so every day you can see the best for success!
   
   
5. Glaucoma: Early detection is important. Of all serious eye diseases, glaucoma is probably the sneakiest. Early stages of glaucoma has very minimal symptoms and hardly nothing to alert you that something is going wrong. People who do not have routine eye exams can become aware of glaucoma, but by that time it may be very difficult to control the condition and prevent additional vision loss. Without successful control with medical treatment and/or glaucoma surgery, the disease can lead to blindness. Early detection of high eye pressure and other risk factors for glaucoma is possible only with routine eye exams.

   
   Source: https://www.allaboutvision.com/en-in/eye-exam/importance/