Visiting the Eye Doctor Regularly, Even if You Have 20/20 Vision
If you have perfect vision, there’s no need to have regular check-ups with an optometrist, right? Wrong. According to the American Optometric Association, everyone under the age of 60 should have their eyes examined every two years (that jumps to annually if you’re older than 60). And that includes people who don’t have any issues with their eyesight.
Why go to the optometrist when you have 20/20 vision? A number of diseases—including some that may lead to blindness—may not have noticeable symptoms, meaning they can only be detected by an eye doctor during a check-up. Here are four specific health issues and diseases that could get caught in a routine visit to the optometrist:
- Glaucoma: Only an eye doctor can diagnose glaucoma, which is the leading cause of vision loss. Open-angle glaucoma, the most common form, shows no symptoms, so you may not notice something is wrong until you’ve already lost significant vision.
- Macular Degeneration: More than 10 million Americans are affected by Age-Related Macular Degeneration. This dangerous disease is the leading cause of vision loss for Americans aged 65 and older. Regularly visiting an eye doctor can lead to early diagnosis, which will ensure proper treatment and improve your outcome.
- High Blood Pressure: If you’re not seeing your primary doctor often, eye doctors can test for high blood pressure and hypertension, which have been found to affect your vision. Hypertension has been linked to issues with the retina that can prematurely impact your sight.
- Diabetes: As with high blood pressure, eye doctors regularly check for diabetes by looking closely at the blood vessels of the eye. Diabetes shows no visible symptoms, and can lead to a number of health issues including diabetic retinopathy and vision loss.
Regularly seeing specialty doctors like optometrists may help you get treatment for current issues and could prevent more damaging health problems in the future. For other ways to keep your eyes healthy, check out these posts from both this blog as well as A Healthier Michigan:
- Simple Recipes That Can Delay Age-Related Macular Degeneration
- What Age and How Often Should Kids Get an Eye Exam
- 5 Questions for Your Ophthalmologist
About the Author: Susan Mithoff Quade
Dr. Mithoff Quade is a 20+ year member of the American Optometric Association and the Michigan Optometric Association. She is the third generation optometrist with more than 20 years in private practice in Trenton, MI. At her family vision care practice, Dr. Mithoff Quade treats patients ages six months and older, internal and external eye diseases and specializes in children’s vision disorders, dry eye therapies and specialty fit contact lens. Dr. Mithoff Quade is a graduate of Illinois College of Optometry and an externship with Great Lakes Naval Hospital.
Photo credit: H. Michael Karshis
I didn’t realize that so many diseases don’t have visible symptoms. I try to get my eyes checked every year. Hopefully, this will help keep my eyes healthy for a long time.
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Wow, I had no idea that it was as possible as it is to get glaucoma, which is a leading cause of vision loss. I really appreciate that you brought light to these eye conditions as well as pointed out the importance of visiting an optometrist regularly to make sure you do not have them. I imagine that visiting an eye doctor regularly would also help you know how to avoid these kinds of eye conditions. Thanks for sharing this! http://www.langfordoptometrists.com/
Twice a year? Wow, I would’ve never guessed that you’d need to get your eyes checked that often. I maybe decide to see an eye doctor once every two years. Maybe I should see one more often, my eyes have been irritating me lately, I should see what’s wrong with them. Thanks for the list of eye issues to watch out for. http://www.edmontoneyeexam.com
I thought of opticians the same way I thought of regular doctors, you only visit them when there is a problem. Being aware of the fact that a lot of things can change between regular visits is important. You wouldn’t want something like macular degeneration or glaucoma to slip under the radar until it’s too late. http://www.olyeye.com/
I haven’t been to the eye doctor in years, but I do have an exam done every now and then at my regular doctor’s. I have 20/20 vision and so it really hasn’t been that important to me to get my eyes checked. However, diabetes does run in my family and so I definitely think that it would be important to see an eye doctor for that reason. What exactly do optometrists look for when they check the blood vessels of the eyes? http://www.drronsealock.com/eye-examinations
That is really interesting that even people with perfect vision should be visiting the eye doctor every other year until they are 60. I really had no idea that seeing the eye doctor could be beneficial unless you had bad eye sight. I didn’t know that having high blood pressure also meant that you should see an eye doctor even more often. Thanks for the helpful information!
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This is some great information, and I appreciate your point that an eye doctor can check if you have diabetes. Several members of my family have developed diabetes in their adult years, so I’m worried that I might as well. I’ll definitely look into visiting an optometrist regularly so they can check for signs of it. Thanks for the great post! http://www.bonniedooneyecare.ca/services.html
I didn’t know that glaucoma can only be diagnosed by an eye doctor. My fiance has perfect vision, and he insists that he doesn’t need to visit the optometrist. After reading this, I think I will tell him to anyways in case he has any other eye conditions he isn’t aware of. http://www.drdiannepowelloptometrist.com
Thank you for the help. I am having an eye exam next week for the first time in a while. I had not realized that it could reveal issues of high blood pressure and things like that. How often should I have exams done? http://www.theeyedepot.com/Eye-Exams-Bradenton-FL.html
I don’t know if it is just me or if a lot of people just don’t go visit the optometrist. You would think that people would go more regularly to get checked for glaucoma or macular degeneration but I think a lot of people don’t deal with their eyes the same as their teeth or other parts of their body. I am thinking that it would help out a lot to start going more often. http://www.rivervalleyeyecare.ca/
This is some great information, and I appreciate your point that an eye doctor can catch signs of glaucoma. I’ve never had problems with my vision before, so I didn’t think I needed to visit an optometrist. Knowing that they can catch signs of otherwise undetectable diseases, I’ll definitely look into visiting regularly. Thanks for the great post! http://www.GoshenEyeCare.com
I appreciate you sharing this article with us, Dr. Quade! I think a common misconception — as you’ve pointed out in your article — is the idea that if you have 20/20 vision you don’t need to see your ophthalmologist. I feel very confident and grateful that we live in a world in which we can prevent many eye diseases. I have high blood pressure (I have for my entire life), and I didn’t know that it affected your vision. I’ll be sure to talk with my doctor about this! Thanks again, Dr. Quade! http://www.jojohnsonmd.com/about-us
I’ve never had any vision issues, so I didn’t think that I needed to see an eye doctor, but getting a check-up may be a good idea, as you said. My insurance has just been updated to allow for yearly checkup appointments with an eye doctor, and the fact that they can find issues like diabetes and high blood pressure early, both something that I have a family history in, makes it sound like the checkup would be well worth my while. I’ll have to find an optometrist in my area to see soon, and I’ll definitely take your advice and set up yearly appointments.
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Thanks for sharing, Rhianna!