Regular eye exams are just a small investment to ensure you are always at your best. However, eye exams are also easy to take for granted, and besides, our vision is seldom blurry. With that in mind, here are some top reasons from an optometrist in St. Louis that will show the importance of eye care and why eye exams matter so much.

• Eye exams help ensure students stay ahead in school

This probably didn't matter so much before the age of screen time. Just the same, no parent will take it sitting down that their child is on the way to get thick-lensed glasses. An eye exam goes a long way to help your child see properly and help her or him succeed in school.

• Myopia is a growing concern

After a thorough checkup, your doctor will go over and explain possible treatment options that will best address your needs.

The children manifesting myopia, or nearsightedness is currently a wide-ranging concern. More kids are also following that path. Now is the best time to address this health issue, in order to minimize worse consequences over time, such as glaucoma or cataracts.

Scheduling for an annual eye exam is one way to regularly check your child's chances of myopia. When screened early, control measures for myopia help stave off the onslaught of the condition.

• Vision screenings cannot take the place of an eye exam

More often than not, parents assume there is no important issue with their child’s eyesight because a school vision screening said so. Adults may agree so too, simply because they finished well at a vision screening for a driving license.

But vision screenings can only go so far. They identify serious (but already apparent) vision problems. Screenings are most useful when identifying problems with specific visual tasks, like following a lesson on a chalkboard or identifying road signs on the road.

But if what is needed is something thorough and expertly done, the answer is a comprehensive eye exam by an optometrist or ophthalmologist.

• Glaucoma is a stealthy eye condition

Glaucoma is one of the more serious eye conditions that an eye exam aims to catch and remedy. However, it is no easy task, since there is no recognizable symptom in glaucoma in its early stages.

For now, the best way to monitor for glaucoma is watching out for for a warning flag such as high eye pressure and other risk factors. An eye exam is superior to a vision screening, as the latter may catch up rather too late on glaucoma.

• Annual eye exams can detect other serious health problems

Trite as it may seem, eye exams can be an effective window to our interior well-being. This is possible because, in a complete eye exam, an eye doctor assesses the condition of the blood vessels with the retina, which happens to be a good indicator of the state of blood vessels in most major areas of the body. Thus, hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia, to name a few health issues, affect the state of the retinal blood supply.

With this in mind, annual eye exams complement the health checkups of those living with diabetes or who might prove vulnerable to the disease. While still developing, diabetic eye disease presents no outward manifestations; but a comprehensive eye checkup does a lot to lead to eventual treatment that may stop total vision loss. So don't put it off — schedule an eye exam today.

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