Importance of Regular Eye Exams to Maintain Vision Health

Posted by Su Lee

Regular eye exams can tell a lot about your vision and can also identify other health problems like diabetes and blood pressure. Rohit Varma, MD, MPH and founding director at CHA HPMC’s Southern California Eye Institute (SCEI) explains the importance of eye exams to safeguard your health and wellness.

Importance of Regular Eye Exams

Babies should get an eye exam at birth and then at six months of age. They should undergo a vision screening every year, until they graduate from high school. In adulthood, if there are no vision problems, then a person should get an eye exam at the age of 50 and then every year after that. However, if a person has diabetes, an examination should be performed at least every one to two years and more often if the person has diabetic eye disease, depending on the severity of the eye disease.

Consequences of Neglecting Eye Health

As most of the leading causes of vision loss and blindness in the world are painless, it is very important to have regular eye exams so that these vision-threatening and blinding conditions can be diagnosed and treated early. If these conditions are not diagnosed and treated early, there can be permanent vision loss and blindness.

Preparing for an Eye Exam

For the first exam, a patient should come prepared to spend 30-60 minutes for a complete eye exam which includes checking vision, testing for an eye glass prescription, doing a peripheral vision test, checking eye pressure, and taking pictures of the eye to diagnose potentially treatable eye diseases.

Southern California Eye Institute at CHA HPMC provides highest level of vision care in a state-of-the-art facility. Make an appointment by visiting www.sceyes.org or call 1-833-270-EYES (3937).

 
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