When Should We Get Our Eyes Checked?

Many eye providers have slightly different opinions on when people should obtain eye exams. In general, I think everyone should have a full, dilated exam once every few years. The aspect of this that I want to focus on in this post is that anyone who has ever had any medical eye issues should have an annual eye exam. By medical eye issues, I mean an issue that is more than a need for glasses. For example, I have plenty of patients who have had objects get into their eyes. Those patients who have seen an eye doctor for removal of those objects should have an eye exam every year. Another group who should have eye exams annually are my laser vision correction patients. These patients are the real toughies to get in for annual eye exams because they can see better than they have for most of their lives. However, there are a couple of reasons that they should be seen. First, if a patient has a flap, there are long term flap-related issues that we can monitor for. Also, patients who start out significantly near-sighted have a higher than normal rate of retinal detachment, and we can monitor for risks for retinal detachments and try to fix them before the detachment occurs. In my opinion, anyone who has seen an eye doctor for anything other than glasses really should have an eye exam every year.