3 reasons why you need an eye exam yearly

( For the full blog post, please go to drjenwademan.com )

If you don’t need contacts or glasses, chances are you may be wondering why you need an eye exam every year.  Seeing a clear 20/20 is just part of a comprehensive eye exam; the battery of screening tests check for a variety of conditions, while the eye health exam offers an extensive look inside and around some of the most important parts to your eyes.   The comprehensive eye exam is  necessary to ensure healthy eyes and vision.
​Here are 3 reasons why:

• Family history. Some family traditions are welcomed into our lives while other family traditions can be very unwanted. When certain eye diseases present in our family history, it can increase the risk of developing the disease ourselves.  In fact, family history can say a lot about our eye health; for example, a family history of glaucoma can translate to being 4 to 9 times more likely to develop the eye disease. Family history is an important piece of information about your eye health.  It gives your optometrist insight into preventative steps to minimize your risk and manage your care to protect your sight in the short and longterm. 
• Overall systemic health. High blood pressure, Auto-immune disorders and diabetes can can play a significant role in your eye health and potentially cause vision loss. Diabetes (diabetic retinopathy) is the most frequent cause of blindness in adults by permanently damaging the blood vessels in the back of the eye.  These conditions can often be detected at your comprehensive eye exam, before diagnosed by your primary care physician and before symptoms present. Your comprehensive eye exam involves a direct look at the blood vessels inside your eyes-no other place in the body allows for such a direct unaided view.
• To monitor eye health.  To put it plain and simple: you don’t know what is changing or not, if no one is looking.  Is your eye pressures slowly elevating, which could indicate risks for glaucoma, or even a brain tumor?  Is your vision changing because of your contact lens prescription or because you have an underlying corneal issue that could be detrimental to your vision?  Not all eye conditions present with symptoms, meaning you may not know you have a problem because you don’t feel or see anything.

Comprehensive eye exams allow for the opportunity for an extensive check-up that often connects overall systemic health and family history to eye health and vision.  Scheduling you're yearly eye exam means taking preventative steps to ensure minimal risk and optimal eye health in the short and longterm.
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Author

Jen Wademan, O.D.