Importance of Routine Eye Exams

Overlooking routine appointments such as eye exams and dental check-ups is all too easy. After all, when we aren’t experiencing any unpleasant or debilitating symptoms it can seem completely unnecessary and a waste of time. Nothing could be further from the truth though. Routine eye appointments are recommended for all patients on a fairly regular basis with very good reason – they are crucial elements in your preventative care. Exactly how often you’ll be asked to attend eye exams will depend on the health of your eyes and how well you can see without visual aids, but most patients are invited to have a comprehensive eye exam at least once every two years. 

 

What Makes Routine Eye Exams so Important?

There is a range of reasons why it is crucial to make sure that you attend your scheduled routine eye exams. 

They are Used to Assess the Health of Your Eyes

Many people are surprised to learn that at an eye exam, your eye doctor will spend just as much time checking the health of your eyes as they do evaluate how accurate your vision is at different distances. There are many different types of eye diseases, some of which are particularly common in the U.S. Estimates suggest that as many as 24 million U.S adults have cataracts while 7 million Americans have been diagnosed with glaucoma. Both of these can severely compromise your vision, potentially leading to blindness. Sadly, some eye diseases do not cause obvious symptoms immediately and this can mean that by the time that you become aware of them, the problem you are suffering from can have progressed to a more advanced stage. Fortunately, virtually all eye diseases can be detected during a routine eye exam. Not only that, but comprehensive eye exams can also enable your eye doctor to detect general medical problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and even some types of cancer. 

They will Determine how Clearly you can See

Routine eye exams are best known for detecting changes to the clarity of your eyesight. Our vision is the primary sense with which is we connect and react to our environment. Poor vision can have a significantly detrimental effect on the quality of our life. There are lots of different ways in which our sight can be adversely affected, but refractive errors, which occur as a result of the way light is processed by our eyes, are the main reason for patients to be advised to wear prescription lenses, either in the form of glasses or contact lenses. When your vision stabilizes, you may even be eligible for laser vision correction. Some of the problems that can affect the quality of your vision include poor depth perception, misalignment of the eyes, and the inability of the eyes to work properly together. Your eye doctor will also check for these at your routine eye exam. 

Regular Eye Exams Help to Keep you Safe

We rely on our eyes for many things, but one of the most significant is for our safety. In fact, many of us take for granted the way in which our vision protects us day to day – for example, by enabling us to read safety instructions, to see when it is safe to cross the road, to help us to take the right medication. If our eyesight is compromised, so is our safety. What greater reason do you need to attend your regular eye exams?

If you have any questions about routine eye exams, or to schedule an appointment with our experienced and knowledgeable eye care team, please contact our office in Crestview, FL.