The Importance of Regular Eye Exams

Sight is one of our most precious senses. Routine comprehensive eye exams help ensure clear vision and maintain proper eye health. Taking care of your eyes is a lifelong mission. It is recommended to see your optometrist yearly to help prevent any issues. Improper or lack of care can lead to permanent vision loss.
 

A Comprehensive Eye Exam

Eye exams aren’t just for people who need glasses or contacts. There is much more to a comprehensive eye exam than checking visual acuity and prescribing glasses or contacts to correct refractive error. Visual acuity, or the sharpness of one's vision, is performed at vision screenings and comprehensive eye exams. Vision screenings are administered by medical professionals such as primary care physicians or nurses. Optometrists and ophthalmologists do much more than check visual acuity at comprehensive eye exams. They evaluate ocular health, binocular vision, and other aspects of visual function.
 

Detecting Ocular Disease

During a comprehensive eye exam at O’Rourke Vision Care, the optometrist will evaluate the health of the eye from front to back. Common conditions include glaucoma, macular degeneration, retinal detachment, and cataracts. Early detection and intervention is imperative to preventing vision loss. Many severe eye conditions do not have symptoms in their early stages, which unfortunately can lead to irreversible damage and loss of sight.
 

Providing Preventative Eye Care

Preventative medicine is always better than reactive treatment. Effective eye care strives to prevent diseases from occurring as well as treating diseases when they arise. Routine eye exams allow optometrists to identify risk factors such as family history, systemic conditions, and smoking.
 

Managing early signs and symptoms is key to protecting vision and eye health. Studies have shown that children who develop myopia, or near-sightedness, have a higher risk of developing serious eye diseases later in life. Children can also perform poorly in school due to undiagnosed eye conditions or refractive errors.
 

Detecting Systemic Health Conditions

People often say that the eyes are a window to the soul. They can also be a window into your systemic health. Routine eye exams play a vital role in detecting and monitoring systemic health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. O’Rourke Vision Care utilizes Optomap ultra-widefield retinal imaging and dilation to carefully evaluate the small blood vessels and retinal tissue located inside the eye for these systemic conditions. Many health conditions impact eye health. Prompt treatment can not only protect the health of your eyes, but your whole body.
 

Effective Treatment Plan

If you have a vision problem or eye disease, routine eye exams will help monitor the condition. The doctor will also determine if the management or treatment plan is working effectively, when you need new lenses, or when to begin treatments.
 

Additional diagnostic testing will indicate if a treatment plan is not producing desired results and allow the doctor to implement the most effective care regimen. The frequency of eye exams will depend on various factors, including age and eye conditions. Some eye conditions require more frequent exams than someone with healthy eyes.
 

For more information about the importance of regular eye exams, visit O’Rourke Vision Care at our Pleasant Hills office. Call 412-725-2020 to schedule an appointment today.