How do I know I need an eye test and how often should I have one?
Specsavers Optometrist, Greeshma Patel answers a few of the most commonly asked questions she receives from her patients. It's easy to glaze over the importance of your eyesight, because when everything is working well you take it for granted. However, just because you don't have terrible eyesight doesn't mean you shouldn't be seeing an optometrist. They're crucial to make sure your eyes are in healthy condition and indicating if you need, or might need glasses. So, we enlisted Specsavers optometrist Greeshma Patel to answer the most common question she gets asked in day-to-day practice, to help you keep your eye health in great shape. Sign up to our bodyandsoul.com.au newsletter for more stories like this. 1. Optometrists recommend you book an eye test at least every two years. Eye tests not only play a huge part in making sure your eyes stay healthy but they important for indicating whether you need to start wearing glasses or need to change your prescription, but also for detecting some common medical conditions. 2. As a first point of call, ensuring you maintain a healthy diet and regular exercise will ensure overall health including your eyes. Early-stage research suggests that vitamins A, B9, C and E, all of which are antioxidants, may prevent age-related eye disorders. There is also some research indicating that antioxidant therapy could play an important role in optimising treatment for ocular inflammatory diseases. Some research has also evaluated the effect of vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, and beta-carotene on age related macular degeneration and shown that these nutrients can significantly reduce the risk of vision loss in people with advanced forms of the disease. In short, taking vitamin and mineral supplements dont offer absolute protection against the development of common eye diseases, so its important you attend your regular eye health appointment as often times your optometrist will be able to detect eye conditions while within the early, treatable stage. 3. Optometrists recommend parents take their child for a routine eye test before they begin school and at least every two years afterwards, unless otherwise directed by an optometrist. Testing your child before they go into full-time education means that if there are any underlying issues, they can be addressed early. Its important to remember to that the way children learn, and play, is drastically changing as technology becomes increasingly incorporated into everyday life. This means that staring at screens and being indoors for extended periods of time can increase the risk of myopia or becoming short-sighted. Remember to encourage your children to take regular breaks away from the screen to encourage healthy eye habits, like going outside. 4. Its important to remember that your eyesight can change for a lot of reasons  a lot of the time this is simply due to the natural aging process. In some cases, it could also be because of eye diseases, injury, or even other underlying medical conditions such as diabetes. Thats why it is so important that if you notice your eyesight suddenly changes, to speak to you optometrist. If it is something serious, the earlier you can get in to see us the better. Our technology can pick up these underlying health issues early so we can get on top of it and address the root cause. 5. The belief is often centred on the idea that wearing glasses might make your eyes lazy once you remove them, as once you grow accustomed to wearing glasses your eyes may feel uncomfortable if you take them off. This is because when you are wearing prescription glasses, the lenses in the frames are working to correct your vision, which means your eyes can relax and work naturally. Once you take glasses off, the eyes will be required to focus again without the help of vision correction, making you feel anything from blurry to dizzy or sore. Many people require prescription glasses to correct their vision due to long-sightedness (hyperopia), short-sightedness (myopia) or another eye condition. These glasses are designed specifically to correct then a condition. Put simply, wearing glasses will not make your eyes lazy. There is also a difference between your eyes in the morning versus the evening. You might find that your natural vision (without glasses) is better first thing in the morning than it is at the end of the day., Your eyes in the morning may sometimes seem better as they are more less fatigued or dry, which can mean you might focus easier. This is a normal occurrence and does not mean that the glasses are responsible for making your vision worse during the day. 6. This is one of the main concerns people have when it comes to lenses and I can understand why, it would be scary to lose a contact lens in your eye! Lucky though, due to the structure of the eye, it is impossible for a contact lens to move behind the eye. Its common for a lens to move slightly out of place but you will easily be able to move it back into position. Remember, if you can no longer feel your contact lens in your eye, it's much more likely that it has simply fallen out! 7. The reality is that living in Australia means that we can be exposed to dangerous levels of UV radiation when we are outside, even when its not bright and sunny. While our eyelids are designed to protect our eyes, the skin around our eyes is very thin and contains fragile tissues that can easily be damaged by UV light. UV damage to the eye and eyelid increases risk of serious conditions such as eyelid skin cancers, intraocular melanoma, conjunctival cancers, cataracts, macular degeneration and more. My top tips for protecting your eyes if you are spending all day out in the sun working would be: