Who Should Have a Routine Eye Exam and How Often?

Your eyes are amazing tools for sight, with 7 million cone cells to see the world in color, 100 million rod cells to see in the dark, and light and dark rod cells allowing you to see an astounding range of gray. Having two eyes positioned on equidistant sides of the face gives you binocular vision, helping you perceive depth and gauge distances.

Getting eye exams is important to keep your eyes healthy. But how often should you get eye exams? Are some people in more need of them than others? Let’s look at these questions by examining what a routine eye exam includes, when you need to get them, and how often.

If you live in the Pelham Gardens, Bronx, New York area, and have problems with your eyes, the extensive team of doctors at Bronx Eye Associates can help.

What does a routine eye exam include?

During a routine eye exam, we look at your eyes using specialized equipment to assess their health and check for possible conditions such as astigmatism, glaucoma, and retinal neuropathy from diabetes. We ask questions about your health and family history and may include specific tests to check for refractive errors and vision changes.

We also use tools like corneal topography to check for astigmatism and tonometry to test for glaucoma. If we find evidence of problems with your eye muscles, such as in lazy or crossed eyes, our specialists can help. Overall an eye exam can help identify multiple illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, lupus, multiple sclerosis, arterial disease, and high cholesterol.

When do you need them and how often?

Generally, children under three years of age have their eyes checked regularly by a pediatrician to ensure healthy development and check for common childhood conditions like lazy eyes, crossed eyes, or misaligned eyes. 

School-age children need to have their eyes checked before kindergarten, but after that, exams can be done every one or two years if there are no vision changes or issues.

For the majority of adults, annual eye exams are recommended. This is especially true for anyone Who has diabetes hypertension, or other chronic health issues. Also, those who have any vision issues or wear glasses or contact lenses, should get an exam every year unless recommended otherwise. 

Taking care of your eyes is important to your overall health, so make sure to get those routine exams. When you’re ready, make an appointment with the team at Bronx Eye Associates to make sure your eyes stay healthy.