If you have perfect vision, you may not have ever considered going to the eye doctor. However, eye exams are essential for everyone regardless of the status of their eye health.
Similar to how you would visit a physician for regular health checkups, it is equally important to pay a visit to your eye doctor to get your eyes checked. Eye exams are beneficial to everyone.
Note: Vision loss, resulting from disease or injury, happens to be the ninth most common cause of disability in the United States of America.
Annual visits to the eye doctor can help prevent vision loss before it begins to affect your quality of life. As with almost any disease, early detection is essential in keeping the disease from progressing or inflicting too much damage. From detecting the early signs of an array of health conditions to maintaining your present vision quality, eye exams can be vital for your overall health.
Here are six reasons why you should visit your eye doctor more often.
- Updating Prescriptions
If you wear prescription glasses, you must pay an annual visit to your eye doctor. Your prescription is prone to change over time. Therefore, checkups are necessary to ensure good vision. The doctor will check if your prescription has changed over time. If yes, your glasses will be updated. Additionally, the doctor will also ensure that there are no accompanying issues.
Vision changes are a normal age progression. In fact, you are at a higher risk of developing eye diseases as you age. Regular exams enable your doctor to track your eye health over shorter periods of time and detect any potential problems early on.
Look into eye clinics in Austin, Texas, if you wish to arrange a consultation or have any queries that need answering.
- Detecting Eyes Diseases Early
Eye diseases can develop without any noticeable symptoms. Eye exams are essential, regardless of whether you wear prescription eyewear or not. Owing to the current lifestyle trends, we are exposed to screens constantly. This exposure negatively affects your eyes and causes digital eye strain and damage.
Even if you do not have a family history of eye disease, there is a fair chance you may develop a condition without even realizing it. By the time you notice apparent changes in your vision, the disease may have already progressed to an advanced stage. At this point, there is little that the doctor can do to save your eyesight.
Early detection, however, can help slow down or even halt disease progression. A retina-scope (a hand-held instrument used to visualize blood vessels and nerves clearly) is used to assess the presence of any eye condition, such as glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, and more.
- Detecting Other Health Problems Early
Your eyes are the window to your overall health. Your eye doctor can detect early signs of an array of conditions because most health conditions manifest some symptoms in your eyes. These include diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, high cholesterol, autoimmune disorders, aneurysms, etc.
Your eye doctor can observe and evaluate the health condition of the blood vessels in your retina. The retinal blood vessels are good predictors of the health of your body’s blood vessels. Conditions such as diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension may result in changes in the appearance of the retinal blood vessels.
Early diagnosis of health problems early on is particularly important in this regard, as some conditions may contribute to the development of eye diseases.
Diabetes, in particular, must be carefully monitored as it predisposes patients to the risk of developing a diabetic eye disease, i.e., the leading cause of blindness in adults. Diabetic eye disease presents with no symptoms in its early stages. A comprehensive eye exam can detect early signs of the ailment. Furthermore, early treatment can prevent the disease from progressing and thus avoid loss of vision.
- Ensuring Safety
Good eyesight is necessary to ensure your safety. Vision impairment can put your life as well as that of others at risk. For instance, operating a motor vehicle with poor vision can put people in danger.
A regular eye exam will help diagnose vision impairment if present. Your eye doctor can help resolve the matter with the help of prescription eyewear, thereby ensuring the safety of both you and those around you.
- Improving Quality of Life
Good vision is an integral contributing factor when it comes to your quality of life. Sight is a primary sense that makes up a considerable part of our daily functioning. Vision impairment or vision loss may result in depression and loss of interest in day-to-day activities. When you have good vision, you do not feel impaired in any way and thus feel better.
A routine eye exam every year can play an integral role in ensuring that your eye health remains in check. If your eyes are impaired, you can seek treatment to fix the problem as well.
If you are tired of conventional prescription glasses and contacts, you can inquire about maintenance-free vision solutions at your next eye exam. Many treatments are available that can help improve your vision as well as your overall quality of life.
- Aiding Learning
Eye exams are particularly important for children and teenagers. Good vision is an essential part of learning because most of what children are taught in school is visual learning. Vision problems may hinder the learning process.
Children generally find it difficult to articulate or communicate vision problems. School screenings are often confused for comprehensive eye exams. Unlike an eye exam, visual screening does not require dilating the eyes to inspect their condition. Oftentimes children clear the visual screening test but struggle to perform everyday vision-oriented tasks. In such cases, it is best to consult an eye doctor immediately.
Issues like myopia (near-sightedness) and hyperopia (far-sightedness) can be aided with the help of prescription glasses. Regular eye exams are the best way to keep up with any prescriptions that your child may need. Additionally, they can help diagnose any problems early on.
- Parting Thoughts
An eye exam is a simple and routine procedure that takes very little time. You do not need to set aside a whole day for it, and most insurance plans cover their costs. Additionally, they make eye health maintenance and eyesight care much easier.
Now that you know how vital an eye exam is, schedule a visit with your doctor today. Remember to treat your eyes with care because you only get blessed with one pair in this life.