Why do I need a yearly eye exam?

You know the saying “the eyes are the window to the soul”?... Well, the eyes are also the window to your ocular health! Yearly eye exams are an easy and important way to protect your eyes and your overall health. We can determine your visual needs by increasing your clarity and comfort in the world. These exams are particularly important for contact lens wearers, as the health of their eyes must be evaluated yearly to ensure a comfortable and accurate fit!

During the eye exam, your optometrist will ask you various questions pertaining to your daily routine, your dietary habits, and your family history. These answers will be vital in painting a picture of your ocular and systemic health. The optometrist will test your vision to determine any changes to your prescription for either glasses or contact lenses. Ensuring the best clarity to keep you eyes clear and comfortable when viewing objects near and far.  

A yearly eye exam can also help detect early signs of serious health conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and even brain tumors! Eyes are the only place in your entire body that provide a transparent view of your circulatory and nervous system, allowing your optometrist to work together with your primary care physician in keeping your body healthy. Medicine is constantly evolving and helping people live happier and healthier lives, the eyes have joined the cause in getting us closer to more information and help preventative care take it’s course.  Book your appointment today!  

See and Be Seen at Eyed LA Optometry, Brentwood, West Los Angeles, CA

www.eyedla.com

Why do I need a contact lens fitting every year? I’ve had the same brand and prescription for years!

This is one of our top five questions we encounter on a daily basis and hope to educate our readers with an informative answer. Contact lens wearers are considered to be using a medical device in their eye, therefore, evaluations are a must to ensure safe and healthy wear. There’s a lot more than just measuring the size of the eye and calculating the prescription; allow us to go a little deeper into the evaluation.  

During a contact lens fitting, the ocular surface of the eye is observed for any abnormalities caused by over wearing contact lenses. Overwear is defined in three different ways: a patient may be extending the replacement schedule of the contact lenses (replacing a 2 week lens every month), wearing the lenses beyond 14 hours, or sleeping in the contact lenses. All of these options can lead to long term complications on the surface of the eye, which, in turn, can affect the patient’s visual acuity. This not only damages the surface of the eye, but can also result in loss of vision, the last thing a patient would ever want to experience. With yearly education to the patient about wear and care, it will reduce ocular risks significantly.

Once the health of your eyes is determined, your eye care provide can offer new technologies from this growing industry to continue safe and healthy wear. Each year new brands are released by all different companies to increase clarity and comfort for all patients, including patients that may not have had success in previous years. Once the brand is determined the optometrist will give a prescription with the brand, size and current prescription. This prescription is only active for one year. Just like a prescription given from a regular primary care physician, it does have an expiration date. Contact lens prescriptions work exactly the same way. Even if the brand and prescription stay stable for many years, it needs to be confirmed by your optometrist every year. This will ensure the best clarity, comfort, and overall performance of your contact lenses. So swing by Eyed LA, tell us about your contact lens experience, and we’ll ensure a detailed evaluation for your best wear.  

See and Be Seen!  At Eyed LA in Brentwood, West Los Angeles, CA

www.eyedla.com