How often should you get an eye exam?

Everyone knows you’re supposed to get a physical every year and you go to the dentist every 6 months. But how often should you get an eye exam?

The short answer is... every year!

But my vision hasn’t changed!

That’s wonderful! Your annual comprehensive eye exam is about so much more than updating your glasses prescription. It helps to monitor for potential eye and systemic health problems that could have come up in the last year. Some eye diseases have no symptoms in the early stages, like glaucoma. Other times, we are able to find signs of a medical condition you may not know you have. By taking a look inside the eyes, we can see complications from diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lupus, and so much more. It is not uncommon that we see changes in the eyes before you have changes in the rest of your body.

Early detection allows us to contact your primary care doctor so that you can get prompt care, which overall leads to better health outcomes.

Monitoring ocular health

Your annual eye exam is a great time to discuss any chronic problems you have with your eyes. Dry eye and ocular allergies, for example, are very common problems that almost all of my patients are living with on a daily basis. Some even write it off as just part of life. But it doesn’t have to be! Your yearly exam is a great time to discuss possible causes and solutions, and can set the foundation for a comprehensive dry eye workup. These aren’t things you have to live with!

The annual eye exam is also where I tend to find problems that have little to know symptoms, or symptoms that get ignored. I have seen this with vessel occlusions and retinal detachments. Both of these can cause vision loss.

As mentioned above, glaucoma usually has no symptoms until the late stages of the disease. Unfortunately, vision loss from glaucoma is permanent. An annual exam ensures that diseases like this don’t go undetected before it’s too late.

Updating your prescription

Your eyes are hard at work every day. It is very common to have slight changes in your prescription from year to year. Updating your Rx can help prevent eye fatigue and can increase clarity. We often don’t even realize that our vision has become a little blurry because the change occurs so slowly over time.

It’s also a great time to have your existing frames adjusted and make sure that everything is still fitting well- even slight adjustments from daily wear and tear can make a big impact your vision.

What about my kids?

For kids, it is especially important to have them evaluated annually because they often won’t complain about having problems seeing. Sometimes, there can even be underlying problems such as amblyopia, in which it is very common for children not to know there is a problem with their vision.

The American Optometric Association recommends that children receive their first eye exam at 6 months old! Check out our post here for more information on eye exams for kids and warning signs that your child might need an exam.

Your vision is so valuable! Getting your eyes checked every year ensures you’re not only seeing your best but also that your eyes- and your body- are healthy!