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Contact UsYour Vision vs. Your Eye Health
by Eustacis Imler, O.D.
Contrary to popular belief, having 20/20 eyesight is not necessarily equivalent to owning a healthy set of eyes. Much too frequently, fortunate individuals, blessed with excellent vision the majority of their lives delay their initial eye examination until they perceive a problem with their visual system. Thus, some hesitate to visit an optometrist until they approach approximately forty years of age, when they encounter an inevitable deterioration of their fine-focusing abilities. Others wait to see an eye care practitioner until they experience some sort of ocular discomfort, whether that be dryness, itching, pain, or even worse--vision loss. Such behaviors do not exemplify human laziness, they merely reflect a lack of public awareness about the significance or routine, yearly eye exams.
The purpose of a comprehensive annual eye examination is multifaceted. Testing performed during a routine exam not only allows eye care providers to diagnose and correct refractive anomalies
such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, but enables them to detect both ocular and systemic diseases, as well. 
By performing
complete eye exams, optometrists have the opportunity to assess the health of both external and internal ocular structures, thereby screening for conditions such as skin cancer, cataracts, and glaucoma.
Moreover, a thorough ocular health evaluation consists of a careful retinal exam, whereby an eye doctor checks for eye diseases like age related macular degeneration, choroidal
melanomas, and retinal detachments. Equally important, however, because the retina is the only place in the human body which permits direct visualization of blood vessels, retinal exams aid in the
diagnosis of several systemic vascular disorders such as diabetes, hypertension, carotid artery blockage, and arteriolosclerosis.©
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