Routine eye tests go well beyond just making sure your vision isn't blurry, eye tests play a big part in ensuring that your eyes stay healthy which is crucial for indicating whether you need to start wearing glasses or change your prescription and detect common and serious eye conditions. At Abernethy Owens practices eye clinics, we offer a range of professional eye care services and quality optical products. Sight is one of our most important senses and you shouldn’t take it for granted. Here are a few reasons why eye care is important and why you should make regular eye tests a priority.
Are Some People More Likely to Develop an Eye Disease Than Others?
Some people are more at risk than others. While it’s important for everyone to have a regular eye examination, it's particularly important to have regular eye tests if you:
- Are over 60
- Are from various ethnic groups which pose a higher risk
- Have diabetes
- Are from a family with a history of eye disease
Early Detection of Any Potential Eye Health Issues
Many vision-threatening eye diseases have no or minimal symptoms until the disease has progressed, therefore regular eye tests are vital to ensure early diagnosis. Early detection and treatment is essential to halting or slowing down the progression of the disease and saving eyesight. During your eye examination, your Ooptometrist will look for signs of these diseases. Early treatment is critically important to prevent the below common eye diseases from causing permanent vision loss or blindness:
- Cataracts (clouding of the lens) - the leading cause of vision loss
- Diabetic retinopathy - causes damage to blood vessels in the back of the eye
- Glaucoma - a serious disease with little or no symptoms that damages the optic nerve
- Age-related Mmacular Ddegeneration - the gradual breakdown of light-sensitive tissue
Eye Tests Can Detect Other Serious Health Problems
The eyes are known as the window to the body, and many people first learn about serious health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and even cancer from a routine eye test. During an eye test, your Optometrist can look at and evaluate the health and condition of the blood vessels in your retina, which are a good indicator of the health of blood vessels throughout your entire body. Illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia all are detectable through changes in the appearance of the retinal blood supply and blood vessels.
Vision Deteriorates with Age
It is completely natural for our eyesight to weaken as we age, changes in vision commonly occur in our forties. There are a number of age-related eye conditions such as presbyopia, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration that can begin to affect not only vision, but daily life as well. While some of these conditions are more of an inconvenience, others could lead to permanent vision loss. It’s important to have your eyes tested regularly from around the age of 40, as early diagnosis is extremely beneficial in effectively managing age-related conditions.
Should Children Have Regular Eye Tests?
Proper learning, motor development, reading, and many other skills are dependent upon not only good vision, but proper eye function. Children that have developmental delays, reading difficulties or problems with focusing or hand-eye coordination may have an underlying vision problem. Often they don’t know that the vision they are experiencing is abnormal so they aren’t able to express that they need help. Most conditions are much easier to treat when they are caught at a young age while the eyes are still developing, an annual eye exam is the best way to ensure your child has clear vision and can comfortably learn and participate in sports and other activities.
Only a comprehensive eye examination by an Optometrist (or Oophthalmologist) can insure your vision is as clear and comfortable as possible — and that you're free from potentially serious eye diseases. If you haven't had your eyes examined recently, contact your local Abernethy Owens eye clinic practice to schedule an eye test today. Call 1800 411 744 or book online now.