Nowadays, it is easy to get contacts or glasses from online sources that don’t force you to take a trip to the eye doctor. While this may be convenient, it could cost you more in the long run. Your eye doctor does more than just give you a prescription for contacts or glasses. They check your eyes for vision problems, eye disease, and other general health problems. Eye doctors can detect a problem before any symptoms become noticeable. For this reason, it is recommended that adults get comprehensive eye exams every one to two years.
Making sure your eyes are healthy is an essential part of everyday life. Here are some of the biggest daily threats to the eyes that make seeing your eye doctor annually a must:
Vision Correction: Glasses and Contacts
The most common reason that people go visit their eye doctors is to get an eye examination to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism. Along with checking your vision, your doctor will need to monitor the health of your eyes, especially if you wear contacts. Contacts reduce the amount of oxygen to the surface of the eye and obstruct the lubricating glands. This can lead to dry eye and other issues as well. During the examination, your doctor will make sure that everything is functioning normally.
Dry Eyes
Having dry eyes is one of the main reasons that people go to the eye doctor. Having dry eyes comes with burning, irritation, redness, and overall discomfort. Though there are some home remedies for this condition, it is best to understand the underlying cause in order to completely take care of the problem. Dry eyes can have lasting effects on your vision and health. It can lead to blurry vision and damage to the cornea. If you are experiencing symptoms of dry eye, it is important that you go see your eye doctor.
Digital Eye Strain
Digital eye strain is very common, especially in today’s world. So many things that we do daily involve a screen. Computers, phones, televisions, tablets, e-readers, and game consoles all cause eye strain. The use of digital devices like these has fundamentally changed a major function of our eyes, blinking. Blinking releases a lubricating substance from tiny glands that are along the eyelids. This helps to slow the evaporation of the tear film over the eye. When staring at a screen, we blink a lot slower than normal, this causes the glands to clog up. It results in a tear film that evaporates quickly and can lead to dry eye.
Allergies
Eye allergies can lead to burning, itching, redness, and general irritation. These symptoms are common with people who have hay fever or other allergies that leave the eyes vulnerable. The best way to manage these symptoms is to meet with an eye doctor. They will make sure that you aren’t causing damage to the eyes and prescribe medicine to help with the symptoms.
Sun Damage
Most know that sun damage can harm your skin and lead to cancer, but it can also have significant damage to the eyes. Ultraviolet (UV) rays can harm your eyes and cause vision problems. It is very important to wear sunglasses when outside to block the eyes from these rays. At an annual eye exam, your doctor screens for potential risks from sun exposure.
Schedule an Appointment
There are a lot of benefits to getting a comprehensive eye exam annually. Your eye doctor at Boston Eye Group can make sure your eyes are healthy, functioning, and that there are no signs of damage. To make an appointment, call Boston Eye Group today. We have many locations for your convenience, visit one of our departments in Andover, Brookline, and Lawrence.
