How Often Do I Need a Comprehensive Eye Exam?

Eye exams are an essential part of your preventative care routine. Your eye doctor can assess more than just your visual acuity during the exam. Comprehensive eye exams give accurate insight into your general health. It is thus ideal to understand how often you need an eye examination.
 

What Is a Comprehensive Eye Exam?

A doctor of optometry conducts a comprehensive eye exam. Eye exams are a crucial part of preventative health care and are comparable to a physical but for the eyes. They look at your eyes, entire visual system, and prescriptions, while also taking into account your medical history. Comprehensive eye exams can detect eye diseases and disorders like cataracts and glaucoma. 

 

What Does a Comprehensive Eye Exam Include?

Tests can vary based on your medical history and eye doctor. But most comprehensive eye exams include: 

• Ophthalmoscopy and pupil dilation – Examines your optic nerve, blood vessels, and retina

• Tonometry – Measures the pressure inside your eye

• Slit-lamp exam – Detects common eye conditions and diseases. The instrument assesses your eye health by examining the structure of your eye

• Retinoscopy – Approximates the prescription of your eyeglasses

• Refraction – Uses a phoropter to fine-tune your final eyeglass prescription

• Cover test – Identifies strabismus problems
   

Importance of a Comprehensive Eye Exam

Comprehensive eye exams give immediate feedback about your eye health and general health. Your optometrist checks your eyes for conditions such as presbyopia and refractive errors. If you have any of these eye problems, you can start your treatment immediately. Your ophthalmologist can also discuss further treatment plans with you.

One of the best advantages of comprehensive eye exams is prevention. Healthy vision requires constant and regular maintenance. Neglect of eye care can lead to severe consequences. You can risk getting degenerative eye diseases. Eye conditions like diabetic retinopathy do not show symptoms in their early stages. If left untreated, it results in irreversible vision loss. 

Your optometrist can also determine whether you risk getting diseases like diabetes. It can also determine if you have suffered some impairments after getting a stroke or if you have a brain tumor. Your eyes can show illnesses before they become apparent in your body.

Seeing your eye doctor can protect your eye health through early treatment. Early diagnosis and treatment are also less costly. Early identification of eye problems saves thousands of dollars for treatment.
 

Should Children Have Comprehensive Eye Exams?

Eye examinations are essential for the development of healthy vision. Children do not know what proper sight should be and likely cannot recognize if they start developing eye problems. Poor vision can affect your child’s performance in school. Schedule an appointment with your ophthalmologist to check your child’s eyes.
 

How Often Should You Have a Comprehensive Eye Exam? 

Yearly comprehensive eye exams play a role in the health of your vision. Your optometrist will give you a thorough visual examination. Doing so will help you with corrective options customized for your needs. Most adults struggle to read at the age of 40 because of presbyopia. The condition makes reading small prints difficult. As you age, taking comprehensive eye exams is essential.

For more on comprehensive eye exams, contact Marshall EyeCare Physicians at our office in Aberdeen, New Jersey. You can call (732) 837-0988 today to schedule an appointment.