Routine eye health exams are an important part of a person's overall well-being. Eye health exams should be part of your annual complete physical and booked alongside visits to both your family physician and dentist.

Routine eye health examinations by an optometrist are important for people who wear eyeglasses, contact lenses, or who have had laser eye surgery to ensure that their visual acuity is stable. Eye health exams are also important, however, for people who have various medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or arthritis. All of these medical conditions can directly impact your overall eye health and may put you at increased risk of developing certain eye care conditions such as glaucoma or macular degeneration. People with a family history of eye diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, or cataracts should also schedule an annual eye health examination by an optometrist. Early detection of these conditions by your eye doctor allows them to provide better treatment options and produces better visual outcomes.

The risk of developing eye conditions does increase with age, making annual eye health examinations more crucial. 

In our 40’s presbyopia(loss of focusing) sets in, and people find themselves transitioning into the world of reading glasses, bifocals or progressive lenses. 

In our 50-60 we often see the onset of cataracts or other age-related or lifestyle-related illnesses such as heart disease and type-2 diabetes. 

In our 70’s we start to see the beginning of macular degeneration. It is important to remember that these conditions are simply more prevalent with age, but can occur at any stage of our life.

As a child, annual eye health exams are required to determine how our eyes are developing along with determining any visual problems that may hold a child back in school. Children live in an increasingly visual world, and the ability to see clearly is vital to a child's academic success.