You have heard that the eyes are the window to your body. By having regular eye examinations to check and treat any possible eye diseases, you are not only keeping your vision in perfect condition but also improving your overall health.
But perhaps you're looking for more specific reasons why visiting an optometrist for eye exams is important. If so, check out these four benefits.
Helps Your Child Succeed in School
If you are a parent, introducing your kid to regular eye exams before joining school can set them up for academic success. Research shows that 80% of what children learn in and outside the classroom involves vision.
Eye experts recommend that children undergo eye examinations from as early as six months. By the time they enter the first grade, their vision will be in perfect condition. This increases their chances of success in the classroom and other extracurricular activities like sports.
Vision Correction
Regular eye exams are needed for people with eye conditions, including farsightedness, nearsightedness, blurry vision, or astigmatism. The eye doctor checks if your prescription is working and up to date. They can also give you other treatments to ensure you're seeing as best as possible.
If you're wearing contacts, this is also the chance for your eye doctor to monitor your eyes' health. Understand that wearing contacts has certain risks, like interfering with your lubricating glands and reducing the amount of oxygen that gets to the surface of your eyes. Thus, your doctor confirms everything is working as expected and that both the eye and tear film are healthy.
Prevent Glaucoma
Glaucoma is an eye disease that is extremely difficult to detect at the earliest stages. That's because it does not have any noticeable symptoms. In most cases, people who don't get routine eye exams only notice they have the disease after sustaining permanent vision loss. By then, the condition is difficult to control.
With routine eye examinations, your optometrist will easily detect high eye pressure, which is one of the glaucoma risk factors. After that, they can administer the necessary treatments to protect you from the disease.
Identify Overall Health Concerns
During the eye examination, your optometrist checks into your overall body health. By looking at the arteries, cranial nerves, and blood vessels in the eyes, they can tell if you are at risk of severe health conditions like diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, brain tumours, and thyroid disease. Early detection can help manage or even cure these diseases; thus, saving your life.
