The eyes are one of the most essential sensory organs, and one can’t even imagine any harm to them and if anything happens, you must immediately rush to your nearest eye doctor. But several things develop with time and you tend to not care about them as well. Every eye care professional recommends having at least one proper eye checkup in a year.
Though, most of it depends upon the age and also your current eye condition, whether you wear glasses or not, do you have any prior eye infection or not. Eye exams are important for every age group, especially in times like these, where everyone is stuck at their screen, you need to have regular eye checkups. Many times, vision screening takes place at the school level, but despite it, you need to have an in-depth, more detailed eye exam so there will be no doubt left whatsoever. Eye exams can help you detect issues that vision screening fails to do so.
So the ultimate answer is yes, you need to have an eye exam every other year. You need to take care of the eyes as you do your other materialistic things. But here are some things you should do before and while having an eye exam:
Classic prevention is better than cure:
You must have heard this line a thousand times in every possible situation. Of Course, it should be used because it is right!. But here we are not talking about presentations to avoid eye exams, here we talk about how eye exams act as prevention of further eye-related problems in the future. Eye exams are a must!
WHO says, almost 80% of the partially impaired cases (people with glasses) can be avoided, only if they have an eye exam once a year. And the people who have perfect vision, and think they have healthy eyes, 90% of them had serious issues in the development stage of harmful eye disease and this is why even if you think you have a healthy eye, you need to have an eye exam.
An eye exam is more rather than just about eyes:
Though, eye exams are made to have your eyes checked, so that you can take precautions before working on any eye condition. Being all of this, eye exams are good for your overall general health too. Regular eye exams help the doctor to examine any serious medical condition developing like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol level, or even brain tumor. It is said that you sense everything at a high pace during an eye exam and thus doctors can examine you better.
When you go for dialysis, the doctor can detect all these issues. Because your blood vessels, cranial nerves, and arteries are located in the eyes. You won’t see any major changes in you if you’re developing any serious medical condition because normally it takes late to show any symptoms.
Prescription changes every few months:
If you’re an eyeglass wearer, you undergo some medical prescription from your doctor. Then you must go for a yearly eye checkup every 6 months. If you want, you might start to face other issues like headaches, floaters. And it would be difficult to have the right eye number for you, once you start having floaters. It’s good to have all the tests done before it’s too late!
How many times should one go for an eye exam:
The age between 18-60 faces the utmost and various medical issues, it’s hard to have a disease-free life in between this age. but when it comes to eye problems, it’s harder than you think.
Eyes are soft and very sensitive, any minor convenience and boom, you are stuck in the hospital’s rush in a loop. To have a healthy eye condition, one must have an eye exam once every two years. If you’re an eyeglass wearer, then it must be around every 6 months or at least once a year for sure. Older people, above 65 must have a regular vision screening now and then, and an eye exam once a year.
Many risk factors vary from person to person including things like, any history of serious eye illness like macular degeneration, glaucoma, high blood pressure, diabetes, previous eye surgery like Lasik, smile, all of them need to have an eye exam, and it won’t just tell you about your vision but overall eye health as well.
If you belong to the visually impaired group, then the need to have eye exams and the risks too are maximum.
What happens during an eye exam, and is it safe?
It’s very safe, and just by its title, you should not be intimated. During an eye exam, an optometrist, ophthalmologist known as your eye doctor will check several things like:
- Visual acuity means what’s your vision, and how clearly you see far and near things.
- Eye alignment, which means they will check when you focus on a particular spot, where your eye looks. People having squints might face issues during this checkup.
- Eye movement, it’s a checkup for your eye muscles, it’s done with the movement of your eyes, and how rapidly and firmly your eyes move.
Apart from these normal checkups, they will also have an in-depth check of your inside eye. This is done to check if there’s any eye disease, like glaucoma, cataracts, high blood pressure, or any other general health problems. There is no argument in having your eyes checked as they serve you to see more clearly and to have a proper monetization of the high risk involved with your eyes.
With age, the importance of having a regular eye exam increases, and when you go yourself to the ophthalmologist, then they will tell you how frequently you need to have an eye exam.
