Eye Exams
Preserving Your Vision Against Eye Disease
Knowing the signs and symptoms of some common eye diseases could help you preserve your vision. The best treatment for eye diseases is prevention, which is why it is vital to have your eyes checked regularly.
Family history, lifestyles, and existing medical conditions can contribute to your risk factors. Your optometrist will assess the health of your eyes at your routine eye exam and ask questions that could help with early diagnosis.
Common Eye Diseases
More than 4.2 million Americans over the age of 40 are considered legally blind or live with low vision, and age-related eye diseases are the leading cause.
Learn more about the signs and symptoms of common eye diseases and how we can work together to protect your vision.
Cataracts are the leading cause of vision loss in the United States, and although they can occur at any age, they are more common in older adults.
Your eye has a crystalline lens that allows light to pass through to your retina. When this lens becomes cloudy, it’s a sign that a cataract is forming. It can happen in one or both eyes at the same time.
Your optometrist may be able to adjust your prescription to help you see through the cataract. However, you may eventually require surgery to replace the clouded lens with an artificial clear one.
Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can damage the optic nerve, and the most common type is open-angle glaucoma. This type of glaucoma presents itself as patchy blind spots in your outermost (peripheral) vision.
Usually, you will not notice signs and symptoms of glaucoma until it is impacting your sight. Treatments are available to prevent its progression, but the vision loss caused by glaucoma is irreversible.
Acute angle-closure glaucoma is considered a medical emergency. If you experience the following symptoms, please speak to your optometrist right away or go to your local emergency clinic.
- Severe headache
- Eye pain
- Nausea & vomiting
- Blurred vision
- Halos around lights
- Eye redness
Your macula is responsible for clear central vision. Macular degeneration affects this vision, causing it to appear blurry, dark, or distorted.
Macular degeneration comes in 2 forms:
Dry:
- Typically progresses slowly
- Early stages don’t present symptoms
- Progression can sometimes be slowed
Wet:
- More severe
- Typically causes faster vision loss
- Treatments sometimes available
Common Eye Diseases
If you’re concerned about your risk of eye disease or living with an eye disease, you can talk to your optometrist at any time about how to manage symptoms, find treatments, or prevent further vision loss.
In many cases, vision loss cannot be reversed, but the progression of many diseases can be slowed.
Our optometrists will assess your eyes at every eye exam to check for early signs and symptoms of eye disease. The sooner an eye disease is diagnosed, the more likely we can help prevent further damage.
Ensure your eyes are healthy and that you have clear vision by booking your comprehensive eye exam.
Children’s Eye Exams
Children constantly use their vision to learn new things, from recognizing family to learning numbers and letters. So it may not surprise you that it is essential to ensure their eyes are developing properly.
Our pediatric optometrists in Columbus, OH are experts in children’s eye care. We will assess their vision, eye health, and ask you about any family history that could lead to issues in the future. These exams are more thorough than those performed in schools or by your family doctor.
Ensure your child has the visual resources they need for their development by bringing them in for regular eye exams.
Developing Years
The eyes your child is born with aren’t fully developed. Although they can see, their eyesight becomes clearer and clearer until about age 2. Even after this, their eyes continue to grow and experience growth spurts throughout their lives until they reach their 20s.
During this time, your child will learn how to recognize faces and objects, reach for things, and eventually learn vital lessons like walking and playing. From there, they will use their eyes to comprehend the world around them and to learn in school.
There are many vision-related learning skills your child develops early on that sets them up for success in the future:
- Focusing (on objects near and far)
- Tracking (watching objects move)
- Muscle teaming (how their eyes work together)
- Depth perception (how far away an object is)
- Color perception (distinguishing between colors)
- Peripheral awareness (what’s going on in the sides of their vision)
- Near visual acuity (how well they see close up)
- Distance acuity (how well they see far away)
Regularly Scheduled Eye Exams
There are a few key moments in your child’s life when they should receive an eye exam. During these appointments, we will check your child’s sight and visual skills to ensure they are on the road to healthy and successful vision.
Glaucoma is typically caused by increased fluid pressure within the eye, damaging the optic nerve. If left untreated, this disease can cause severe vision loss or blindness. Unfortunately, it’s common for patients not to notice any symptoms of glaucoma before damage has been done.
During your eye exam, we will test for glaucoma and provide glaucoma management solutions if needed.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 50. AMD is caused by damage or thinning of the macula (the central part of the retina). This disease affects the central vision of your eye, making it hard to focus clearly on objects.
There are two different types of AMD, dry and wet. Dry AMD is more common, but rarely shows symptoms. Although wet AMD is less common, it’s more serious.
If identified early, AMD can be managed with lifestyle changes, such as increased vitamins and exercise. AMD can also be controlled with sunglasses, reducing UV exposure.
Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide. They occur when the lens of the eye becomes clouded. For proper treatment, the clouded lens must be removed from the eye, reducing the patient’s blurry vision. Cataracts can occur at any age, even at birth.
In its early stages, cataracts can be managed with glasses or contact lenses.
