Regardless of your age and health schedule regular eye exams. Here’s why.
During your eye exam your doctor will update your prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses, as needed. Your eyes also need to be checked regularly for common eye diseases. Your doctor will measure the teamwork of your eyes, how well they work together. Your eyes also are early signals to help evaluate your overall health.
Eye Exam Near You
A comprehensive eye exam includes several tests and procedures to examine and evaluate your eye health and the quality of your vision. Some of the tests are simple, like having you read an eye chart, while others are more complex, such as a high-powered lens deep examination of the tissue inside of your eyes.
Eye care experts recommend comprehensive eye exams annually or at least once every two-to-three years, depending on age, risk factors, and overall physical condition.
Children. Some experts estimate that approximately 5% to 10% of pre-schoolers and 25% of school-aged children have vision problems. According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), all children should have their eyes examined at 6 months of age, at age 3, and again before starting school. Children without vision problems or risk factors for eye or vision problems should then continue to schedule eye examinations every two years throughout school.
Children with existing vision problems or risk factors require eye examinations more frequently.
Common risk factors for vision problems include:
- premature birth
- developmental delays
- turned or crossed eyes
- family history of eye disease
- history of eye injury
- other physical illness or disease
The AOA recommends that children who wear eyeglasses or contact lenses should have their eyes examined annually or according to their eye doctor’s instructions. Read more about Pediatric Eye Exams.
Adults. The AOA recommends annual eye exams for adults who wears corrective lenses. If you don’t normally need vision correction, you should still schedule an eye exam every two to three years up to the age of 40. If your rate of visual change and overall health suffers you may need more frequent eye checkups. Doctors often recommend higher frequency of eye examinations for adults with diabetes, high blood pressure and other disorders. Many diseases can impact vision and eye health so discuss your specifics with your doctor.
Once you pass age 40, your doctor will recommend eye examination every one to two years to assess the common age-related eye problems such as presbyopia, cataracts and macular degeneration. Read more about Vision After 40.
Because the risk of eye disease increases with advancing age, everyone over the age of 60 should be examined annually. Read more about Vision After 60.
For more information feel free to contact us at Vision North Eye Care.
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