You can see an eye doctor, optometrist, or ophthalmologist for emergencies, vision correction, or annual exams. The frequency of these visits depends on your unique needs. Age, injuries, and medical conditions, such as infections and diabetes, may influence your decision to seek professional intervention. Here is how often you should see your local optometrist:
Proactive Routine Visits
You should see an eye doctor every one to two years to get a comprehensive eye exam. Regular visits involve visual acuity tests and other diagnostic evaluations to assess your vision and eye health. The frequency of routine visits varies depending on your age, medical condition, and risk factors. If you wear contact lenses or glasses, you should see your doctor yearly to track your condition and renew your prescriptions. Your doctor can also recommend frequent visits to correct eye conditions discovered during annual exams. Children usually require an eye exam within their first year and one other before kindergarten. After those visits, they can get routine checks every couple of years to evaluate their eye health and vision. Routine visits are recommended even if you don’t have vision problems since they help maintain your vision and provide early intervention.
Unplanned Emergency Visits
Emergency visits to an optometrist are needed for injuries, infections, and inflammation. Get professional care immediately if you have grit, chemicals, or other foreign objects in your eye. Seek emergency care if you’ve suffered a traumatic blow to the eye to correct any damage caused by the injury. You should also see a doctor for eye pain, fatigue, and blurry vision. Other signs you need to see a doctor include light sensitivity, dry or itchy eyes, double vision, flashes, and halos. These symptoms may stem from infections, eye diseases, or medical conditions like hypertension and diabetes. Concerns, such as trouble seeing at night or problems with near or distant vision, also warrant a visit to your doctor’s office.
Risk Factors Monitoring
Factors like advanced age, diabetes, and high blood pressure can put you at a higher risk for eye disease. Your doctor can recommend more frequent eye exams and visits to track the risk factors and address emerging issues. Consult a doctor if you have a family history of glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, or other eye diseases. Let your doctor know if you’ve had an eye injury or surgery or if you take medications with vision-related side effects. Doctors can perform comprehensive exams to identify early indicators of eye disease, and early diagnosis helps to slow down disease progression. Your doctor can create a personalized plan to help manage the disease and reduce the impact of risk factors on your eye health.
Eye Condition Management
Unique care requirements are needed for eye conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and refractive errors. You may need annual or more frequent visits as part of your treatment. Cataracts cause cloudy vision, making it hard to read or drive at night. Progressive damage to your optic nerves can lead to permanent loss of vision due to glaucoma. Diabetic retinopathy occurs when high blood sugar damages retinal blood vessels and is a leading cause of blindness in working-age adults. Age-related macular degeneration is another progressive eye disease that affects your central field of vision and leads to blindness. If you have any of these eye conditions, consult your doctor for a personalized appointment schedule.
Speak to an Eye Doctor Today
Eye diseases and conditions can be treated or managed to reduce the impact on your day-to-day life. Seeking professional diagnosis early and attending regular appointments allows you to sport issues, correct damages, and address risk factors and underlying medical conditions. Contact an eye doctor today to learn more about exams and appointment schedules.