Regular eye exams are extremely important to vision health. Because your eyes are not usually painful or symptomatic before something has gone wrong, it can be vital to keep track of your vision health and ensure that no issues are developing.
An eye exam can pick up early signs of eye or sight conditions, and they can be properly diagnosed and treated. The longer you wait before instituting corrective action, the greater the possibility of permanent or long-term problems.
Eye exams are important for vision health, and good health overall.
Eye exams for children
Regular vision tests and eye exams are especially important for children, whose eyes are still developing.
Although many eye conditions may not develop until later in life, it is essential to have your child go through routine eye exams as a preventative measure.
If your child is found to have any vision problems early on, these can be corrected with lenses or other safe and efficient treatment methods.
Common conditions that can be caught with regular eye exams
There are many vision conditions that are becoming more and more common. These include myopia (or nearsightedness). Myopia is a condition that is being found in more patients each year, particularly in children. Luckily this condition can be treated with corrective lenses in younger patients and lenses, contacts, and even LASIK procedures in older patients.
Diabetes, Hypertension, and Glaucoma can also be caught and diagnosed using routine eye exams before the patient sustains any serious damage or develops a worsening condition.
1. Diabetes and routine eye exams
If you or a loved one have or are at risk for developing Diabetes, eye exams are especially important for your vision and overall health.
Because an eye doctor is able to assess the condition of your retinal blood vessels, they can catch any changes or symptoms that may point to the development of Diabetes.
Diabetic eye diseases are the leading cause of blindness in adults and can be preventatively treated if caught early enough.
As this is a serious condition that must be treated by a health professional, eye exams can help you evaluate your risk and provide you with the information you need to have the condition properly treated.
2. Glaucoma
Without regular eye exams, many people will not be diagnosed with this condition until it has already started to cause symptoms and damage to vision health. Glaucoma has little to no symptoms early on. It can be hard to treat after a patient has sustained a severe amount of vision loss from the disease.
Regular eye exams are the only way to assess early risk factors for this condition and provide preventative treatment and care.
So, why wait any longer?
These are some of the many reasons that regular eye exams are important for vision health. Unfortunately, individuals may think that vision tests can be substituted for eye exams, but this is not the case. While vision tests assess vision abilities, they cannot assess, diagnose, or help prevent some of the many conditions that eye exams can.
Vision health is extremely important, but many neglect this part of their health until they have sustained irreversible vision loss or damage.
Don’t wait to take care of your vision health. Be sure to get routine eye exams and keep your vision in the best condition possible.
