Many people will remember to go for a mammogram or to a dentist’s office to have their teeth cleaned but will never schedule an appointment with their eye doctor to have a regular eye exam. Your eye health is equally important if you want to achieve overall health. Eye doctors recommend that you should go for eye exams even if you’re convinced that you have perfect vision with no family history of eye problems. Several benefits are associated with regular eye exams at the doctor’s office. Below are the advantages of regular checkups with an optometrist.
Early detection of an underlying medical condition
Surprisingly, many people are not aware that an optometrist can be the first to detect their high blood pressure, diabetes, hormonal imbalance, brain tumor or high cholesterol, as the early warning signs of these conditions can be revealed in the eyes during an eye exam. Any condition that affects your circulatory system can be discovered by looking at the tiny blood vessels in or near the retina. Since the optic nerve is directly linked to the brain, eye-related problems, such as eye pain, improper pupil dilation or blurry vision can be an early sign of a neurological disorder, including a brain tumor and an aneurysm.
Save your vision
Getting an annual checkup at the optometrist’s office can help in the early detection and treatment of eye problems that could result in vision loss if not treated early. This is recommended for everyone, including those who wear eyeglasses or contacts and with perfect vision. Many eye diseases present no symptoms in their early stages but your optometrist can screen for these serious eye conditions that may include glaucoma. Schedule a vision exam as soon as possible.
Skin cancer could be detected
A quick eye scan when the eyes are dilated can allow the optometrist to look inside the retina and possibly spot freckles. If your optometrist identifies anything suspicious, he or she will take a photograph of it to allow for monitoring overtime during successive eye checkups. He or she may also turn the eyelids inside out to check for spots and any signs that may be suspicious.
Improved visual acuity
Regular optometrist checkups can also help to reveal any changes in your vision, including refractive errors (astigmatism, nearsightedness, or farsightedness). If there are refractive errors, your optometrist may recommend prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses for vision correction. Poor vision or vision issues can negatively affect certain aspects of your life, including work, school, driving, and reading. The sooner these vision issues are detected by an optometrist, the sooner you can enjoy the quality vision and resume your normal life.
Protection of eye health
Besides improving visual acuity, regular optometrist checkups can also help in the long-term protection of your eye health. Whether you’re indoors or outdoors, your eyes are constantly exposed to environmental elements that may harm them. These include computer and smartphone screens indoors and smoke and dust outside. Regular checkups can help to protect your eye health.
To protect the long-term health of your eyes, visit your optometrist for regular eye checkups even just once a year. This can help to improve visual acuity, protect eye health, and detect serious eye diseases and other underlying medical conditions that may pose a threat to your overall health and even life.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.