in this video I'm gonna be reviewing why you should get an eye exam some of which
could save your life let's take a look
hello and welcome this is dr. Allen here from the doctor eye health show, helping you
learn all about the eyes and vision and today was going to be going over some of
the benefits of having your eyes checked if you happen to be located in the
United States where I am practicing and you're having trouble finding an eye
care provider near you I have included some helpful links in the YouTube
description below so you can find an accurate provider in your area the first
and easy answer why anybody should being their eyes checked is for improved
visual clarity having a refraction completed that's the part where we're
asking better one better - having that done with professional expertise can
help you see clearer and distant objects helping you see things easier and
improving your quality of life having clearer vision helps people perform
better at their jobs in competitive sports and helps them learn better in
school and having an updated refractive correction such as glasses can help
reduce eye strain improve focus and even reduce headaches now there are many
other benefits to having an eye examination particularly when it comes
to your overall health and here are three major and possible life saving
reasons number one is diabetes systemic conditions such as diabetes and high
blood pressure can be identified through an eye examination and that's because
the eyes the only place where we can directly visualize the blood vessels in
action and if damage is occurring to the blood vessels in the back of the eye
then we know that's very likely that damage to the blood vessels elsewhere in
the body is likely to be occurring and your eye doctor plays a very critical
role in the diagnosis and management of conditions such as diabetic retinopathy
which can potentially lead to blinding conditions and that is why your eye
doctor plays such a major role in diabetic care as well as is playing a
major role in the coordination of health care in general
number two is glaucoma and other nerve and neurological conditions glaucoma is
a disease where the optic nerve which connects the eye to the brain slowly
dies over time eventually leading to blindness and unfortunately like so many
other eye diseases that are out there vision loss and the symptom
don't really occur until very late in the disease and that is why catching
diseases like glaucoma early is the best form of treatment and this holds true
for many other neurological conditions as well because we can view inside the
eye and directly see the optic nerve we get kind of a snapshot of what's
happening neurologically and that's exactly why I doctors can catch things
like brain tumors multiple sclerosis autoimmune disorders and other
neurological conditions and the third reason to get an eye exam is cancer
thankfully cancers of the eye are not that common but because there's such a
large volume of blood vessels and blood flow going to the eye they're a common
location for cancers to metastasize and spread to the back of the eye and this
is known to happen with some of the more common cancers such as breast and lung
cancer and tumors that can grow within our brain can affect the visual cortex
or press on the optic nerve which can lead to progressive vision loss of your
side vision and the eyes can even present with cancers of their very own
both on the front surface of the eye and the skin around the eyes due to things
like sunlight exposure but also just cancers growing on the back of the eye
itself as an example I had a colleague who shared a story with me about a
patient of his that had a routine eye exam and was having no visual complaints
but behold on retinal examination they found a suspicious lesion and on the
retinal scan over that lesion they did find not only a growing mass but fluid
leaking into the retina and thankfully these findings are infrequent but
potentially life-saving now as far as how often a person should be seen for an
eye examination a lot of the guidelines that are out on the Internet are
outdated I personally think in a perfect world everybody should be getting an eye
exam at least once a year however if you're not sure what your doctor
recommends reach out to your local eye care professional and ask them how often
they recommend you to be seen again if you're not sure how to find the closest
eye professional near you I have included some helpful links in the
YouTube description below hey if you know somebody who would benefit from
having an eye exam go ahead and hit that like button for me and share this video
with your friends and family because together hopefully we can help the world
keep seeing 20/20 keep an eye on it and we'll talk to you soon