If 2020 was not a year full of chaos, it would probably have been an advertising boom for eye care professionals to capitalize on.  I wonder how may 2020 vision ads, we miss out on this past year?

I would like to encourage you to schedule an eye exam this year. Everyone needs regular eye exams. Even if they do not need corrective lenses.  Having perfect or near perfect vision is not the same as having healthy eyes.  If you don’t need corrective lenses you just don’t need to go in for that exam as often. Don’t take your vision or your eye health for granted.  If you have not had a eye exam in the last year or two, think about adding an eye exam to your healthier life to do list for 2021.

If you have corrective lenses, like I do, how quickly your vision changes will dictate how often you go in for an eye checkup.  If your vision seems to be holding steady, placing an eye exam on your calendar every other year is a still good idea.  You may not notice subtle changes in your vision that would be detected at an exam.  Plus, corrective lens prescriptions have an expiration date.

Eye exams are not just to check for vision correction. Your ophthalmologist will also check your eye health.  In a comprehensive eye exam, your vision will be checked. The doctor will also run a number of simple tests, looking for things like, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, cataracts and many other eye anomalies’ that are not looked for in a regular medical physical with your general practitioner.  Retinal imaging can see early signs of eye diseases and find them before they get bad enough to cause permanent side effects.

They can identify other health issues too. Like high blood pressure, aneurysms, risk of stroke, diabetes and even heart attacks.  Surprising things like Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Grave’s Disease, Sarcoidosis, Lyme Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Brain Injuries, even the presents of Sexually Transmitted Diseases can be detected during an eye exam.

If they think they see any of those indicators, you would then be directed by the ophthalmologist to follow up with your doctor for additional testing. There is even a possibility that with a routine eye exam, they can see the presence of certain types of brain tumors before you have any obvious symptoms of it.

If I have not convinced you that it is good practice to make an eye exam a part of your annual or biennial health review.  Then I have not accomplished my goal, to get you to take your eye health seriously.

Since the risk of eye diseases as well as many other diseases increases with age, the older we get, the more important it is to place an eye exam on our calendars annually.  Especially if we wear corrective lenses or have a family history of eye disease or any of the other diseases. There are probably many more diseases that can be detected during a comprehensive eye exam that I have not mentioned here.  I am not a doctor.  You might want to review your family health history with your eye doctor, so they can add notes to their watch list for you and be on the look out for early signs of any health conditions on your list that might be detected early in one of your eye exams.

If you have not created a family health history and health watch list, it’s a good idea for everyone to create one, helping to navigate our health and to be more proactive. I created a workbook about how to do that, The Smart Patients Healthcare Handbook link is on the home page of this website.  I’ve also made a series of videos on YouTube about how to fill it in your handbook or create your own DIY version.

Let me know in the comments.  Do you have an eye exam annually? Every other year? Never?  Will you be adding an eye exam to your 2021 calendar? If you are adding an eye exam to your 2021 calendar of health appointments that makes me very happy. Your eyes are your window to the world. Your eyes are also a window into your health.

Keep a close “EYE” on your health. Be proactive and take control of your quality of life. 

Here’s to a healthy, happy and might I add, uneventful 2021.