Why should I have an eye exam every year?
Why should I have an eye exam every year?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions that we receive in our office. Having your eyes examined every year is more than just checking your vision and maybe getting a new prescription for glasses and or contacts. It is a very important part of your overall preventative health screening.
What most patients don’t know is that the eye is the only organ in the body that a doctor can observe blood vessels functioning without cutting you open. These same blood vessels course through all the other organs of the body including your heart, brain, liver, and kidneys. When an eye doctor sees abnormalities in the blood vessels of your eye, it may lead to detection of other systemic diseases that would otherwise not be found until it is too late. Some systemic diseases that can show signs during an eye exam include diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, thyroid problems, multiple sclerosis, sarcoidosis, myasthenia gravis, ankylosing spondylitis, pseudotumor cerebri, and even gastrointestinal polyps/cancer.
Here is an example of what the doctor sees when looking inside the eye at the human retina.
Our doctors at Torrington Eyecare are highly trained in the detection of ocular and systemic diseases during routine exams. Many sight threatening disease processes, such as glaucoma, have absolutely no symptoms until extensive irreversible damage to your vision has been done. Only following a yearly preventative eye exam can you be sure that you do not have glaucoma. You CAN have 20/20 vision and still have glaucoma…
Although an eye exam is not a replacement for a yearly physical with your primary care physician, it is a necessary addition, and is highly recommended for patients of all ages. It is even more critical for patients over the age of 50 to have a yearly eye exam as the risk of ocular diseases such as glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration increases significantly.
If it has been more than a year since your last eye exam, call our friendly staff today at (860) 482-4439 to get scheduled. You only get one set of eyes… Let us help you keep them healthy!
If you are a new patient to our practice, please feel free to learn more about us by visiting our homepage by clicking the link below:
