How often should you get an eye exam?
Every year? Every two? The right answer depends on your age, your lenses and your health. Here is the schedule we use.
Most people book an eye exam when something changes: the road signs blur, the menu drifts farther away, the kids squint at the board. But the point of a regular exam is to catch things before you notice them. Glaucoma, early cataracts and the eye changes that come with diabetes rarely announce themselves, and by the time they do, some of the damage is permanent.
Adults
If you're between 18 and 64 with no known eye conditions, a comprehensive exam every two years is the standard recommendation. Once a year is better if you wear contact lenses, work long hours on screens, have a family history of glaucoma or macular degeneration, or take medications that can affect the eyes. From 65 on, yearly exams become the rule, because the conditions that threaten sight get more common with age and are far easier to manage when caught early.
Children
Kids should have a first exam between six and twelve months, another around age three, and one before starting school. After that, once a year through the school years. Children almost never report vision problems themselves; they assume everyone sees the way they do. Here is what to watch for.
If you have diabetes
A dilated eye exam every year is one of the most important appointments on your calendar. Diabetic retinopathy usually has no symptoms early on, and yearly exams are how it gets caught while treatment still works well. More on diabetic eye exams.
Contact lens wearers
Contact lens prescriptions are typically written for one year, and that's not just red tape. Lenses sit on the surface of the eye, so we check yearly for dryness, oxygen supply to the cornea and fit, all of which can change without you feeling a thing.
Any time something changes
Sudden flashes of light, a curtain or shower of new floaters, eye pain, a red eye that won't settle, or vision that changes over days rather than years: don't wait for your scheduled visit. Call us the same day at (248) 375-0040. We keep room for urgent visits.
20/20 Vision is an independent optometry practice and designer eyewear boutique at 3110 Walton Blvd, Rochester Hills, MI 48309, serving Rochester Hills, Rochester, Oakland Township, Auburn Hills and Troy since 1980. Eye exams with Dr. David Dolan, OD. In-network with VSP.