While diseases and general ageing factors can cause eye problems to creep up on you, a regular check up with your optometrist can help catch them in time.

Adolescents & young adults

Ideally, adolescents should be examined annually, especially while they are studying and spending long hours on computers and pouring over homework. This the case whether or not they wear vision correcting eye wear.

Most adults from the ages of19-39 who have optical prescriptions will have conditions that have stabilized and so should be tested every two years.

After 40

After you turn 40, you should visit your optician every year, as there can be vision complications from high blood pressure, diabetes and other age-related diseases.

Even if you don’t need a prescription for spectacles, there are conditions, such as glaucoma, from which you could lose up to 90 per cent of your peripheral vision nerves before you are even aware of having the disease.

Glaucoma

One of the leading causes of blindness in Australia is a disease called glaucoma. Glaucoma occurs when fluid within the eye puts pressure on the optic nerve. It is fairly common in adults over age 35, with 3% of people in this age group threatened by it.

Luckily, when diagnosed early, the effect of glaucoma is almost always controllable with ongoing treatment. Medication works when taken in time, but surgery may be necessary.

So make an appointment to see your local optometrist – and make it an annual event. The cost of your visit will be covered by Medicare if your optometrist bulk bills, so there’s no reason to make your eye health a regualr part of your health and fitness routine. 

Find an optometrist in your neighbourhood, here.