When was your last eye exam? If you can’t remember, it might be time to add one to your calendar.
It’s easy to assume you only need to see an eye doctor when your vision gets blurry, or your glasses prescription stops working, but a yearly wellness eye exam can tell us much more than how well you can read an eye chart.
With more than 20 years of serving the Bronx, New York, Bainbridge Eye Care makes preventive eye care our top priority.
Dr. Nicanor Lacsina and Dr. Yelena Pinkhasova share six reasons your yearly wellness eye exam deserves a spot on your calendar.
Vision changes aren’t always obvious. You may gradually start holding your phone farther away, squinting at road signs, or struggling to see clearly at night without realizing how much your eyesight has changed.
During your wellness eye exam, we check how clearly you see at different distances and determine whether you need a new or updated prescription.
Even a small adjustment to your glasses or contact lenses can make reading, driving, working, and other everyday activities more comfortable.
Healthy-feeling eyes aren’t necessarily healthy eyes. Conditions such as glaucoma can damage your vision so gradually that you might not notice pain or vision changes in the early stages. In fact, half of the three million Americans with glaucoma don’t even realize they have it.
Unfortunately, by the time you recognize that you’ve lost peripheral vision, some of that damage may be permanent.
During a comprehensive eye exam with Dr. Lacscina or Dr. Pinkhasova, they can detect subtle changes before they begin to interfere with your vision. Detecting eye disease early also allows us to start treatment sooner, which in some cases, prevents blindness.
If you have diabetes, regular eye care is especially important. Chronic high blood sugar can damage the tiny blood vessels that supply your retina, which can then lead to diabetic retinopathy.
In its early stages, diabetic retinopathy may not affect your vision at all. That said, as it progresses, it can cause blurry vision, floaters, dark areas in your vision, and even vision loss.
A dilated eye exam allows us to examine your retina for changes that could signal diabetic eye disease, sometimes before you notice symptoms yourself.
Your eyes provide something unusual: a direct view of blood vessels without surgery or other invasive testing. Changes inside your eyes can sometimes provide clues about conditions affecting the rest of your body.
For example, during a comprehensive exam, our team may notice signs associated with conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol.
Of course, an eye exam doesn’t replace your regular physical or other preventive screenings, but it can add another valuable piece to the picture of your overall health.
Your eyes age right along with the rest of your body. As you get older, your risk of conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) increases.
You may also develop presbyopia, the age-related change that makes focusing on close objects more difficult. In fact, presbyopia is so common in older adults that the term itself means old eye in Greek. These changes often start once you hit your forties.
Regular exams allow us to establish a baseline for your eye health and monitor changes from year to year. If something begins to change, we’re in a better position to spot it early.
Think about how much you rely on your eyes during an average day: driving to work, reading a recipe on your phone, using a computer, cooking dinner, recognizing faces, or enjoying a favorite hobby.
Protecting your vision isn’t simply about seeing 20/20, although that is a nice perk; rather, Dr. Lacsina and Dr. Pinkhasova are on a mission to help you maintain your independence, safety, and quality of life.
Your yearly visit also gives you a chance to bring up smaller concerns you've been putting off, such as dry or irritated eyes, headaches while using screens, trouble seeing at night, floaters, or uncomfortable contact lenses.
You don’t have to wait until your vision changes to take care of your eyes. At Bainbridge Eye Care, we’re here to help protect your vision through every stage of life, starting with your yearly wellness eye exam.
Call our office or book an appointment online today to schedule your yearly wellness eye exam.
You can also reach us at 718-306-9127.
