Importance of Periodic Eye Examinations

By Indu Dennis

Despite your age or physical wellbeing, a yearly examination of eye will helps to identify any issues at the early stage and take treatment for the same. Periodic eye exam checks for common diseases, assessment about how your eyes works and evaluates as an indicator for your overall health.
For children, vision and eye health is a critical part in learning and development stage. Vision problem underline developmental delays or trouble in learning. If any of these factors like premature birth, personal or family history of eye disease, serious injury etc put your child at increase risk. Taking regular examination and proper screening are required for all infants and children under 5 years.
Like our body, our eye also gets weaken as we age. Eye disease mainly occurs in human at the age of 40. From the age of 40 to 65, eye examination is required for every two to four years. Presbyopia, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration are common age- related eye diseases that lead to vision loss and dependency.

In periodic eye exam doctors will not only evaluate nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism, but also check for any diseases like Amblyopia- which occur when the eyes are misaligned, Strabismus- turned eyes defect, other diseases like glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and other disease developing due to high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
A periodic comprehensive eye examination is one of the best ways to protect your vision because it can detect problems at their earliest stage. People who spend long hours in front of computer monitors, welders, those working on micrometers etc. require regular examination to determine the need for prescription spectacle lenses. The doctors will also provide suggestions and advice on the proper care and eyewear for certain task-specific jobs.

Here are some basic procedures of eye exam:
1. Medical history - At first the doctor or optometrist will assess your past and current medical history, and medical history within the family to determine your eye health condition
2. Visual Acuity Examination- As a base, optometrist examines the clearness of your vision by means of eye chart to determine the current visual sharpness.
3. Ocular Motility Examination- It is tested to determine how well your eyes and visual system function in terms of movement, reflexes and tracking
4. Detect Refraction error - As part of this step, a phoropter or similar device is used to determine rate of refractive error and determine the standards and measurements for eyeglasses if one is needed.

5. Biomicroscopy- A slit lamp is used to shine a high intensity light into the eye to facilitate an examination of the anterior segment of the human eye - including the conjunctiva, iris, natural crystalline lens and the cornea.
6. Ophthalmoscopy- It is a test that allows your optometrist to see inside the fundus of the eye and other structures (including the retina, optic disc, macula and fovea). This helps to detect symptoms of conditions such as retinal detachment or glaucoma.
Regardless of your age or physical health, annual eye exams are important for seeing more clear vision. In addition to routine check up it is also important to self care your eyes by doing regular exercise, nutritious diet and following healthy lifestyle.

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