The Importance of Regular Eye Checkups

Most people book an eye test because something has changed — the road signs are less crisp, the menu is harder to read in a dim restaurant. That is a good reason to come. It is not the main reason the appointment exists.

Half the appointment has nothing to do with glasses

The refraction — the part with the lenses and “better one, or two?” — establishes your prescription. The rest of the appointment looks at the health of the eye, and most of what it looks for produces no symptoms at all in its early stages.

• Raised pressure inside the eye
• Changes at the optic nerve head
• Changes in the retinal blood vessels
• Changes at the macula
• The condition of the lens and the front of the eye

None of those announce themselves. Several of them are managed far more easily when they are found early, which is the entire argument for a schedule.

Why the interval is a recommendation, not a rule

At the end of an appointment your clinician suggests when to come back. That suggestion is based on your age, your prescription, your family history, your general health and what was found on the day — which is why two people leaving the same clinic on the same afternoon may be given different intervals.

If your circumstances change between appointments, the interval should change too. A new diagnosis, a new medication or a new symptom are all reasons to ring rather than to wait for the date on the card.

What to bring

Your current glasses and contact lenses, a list of your medication, and — if you have had tests elsewhere — the prescriptions or letters. A previous record turns a snapshot into a comparison, and a comparison is worth considerably more.

Children

Children rarely report a problem, because they have nothing to compare their vision against. A child who has only ever seen one way assumes that is how seeing works. This is why school-age checks are worth keeping even when nothing appears to be wrong.