Comprehensive Annual Eye Exams Are an Important Part of Your Family's Preventative Health Care
Getting a comprehensive eye exam every year is important to check the entire health of your eyes, even if you do not wear glasses or contacts. Unlike the rest of our body, the eyes rarely hurt when something is wrong. Eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration and conditions caused by diabetes and high blood pressure usually present with no visual symptoms in the early stages. At Lifetime Eyecare, we can keep a record of the changes in your eyes (unlike traditional retina exams) with our new Optomap, which takes ultra-widefield superior quality images of the retina.
See video below:
Pediatric Exams
For children, a regular eye exam can help determine if the eyes are developing properly. If there is a problem that goes untreated it can?lead to learning disorders and vision loss. By doing an initial exam various eye muscle, eye health problems, or early needs for vision correction can be detected. It is important to check even our little ones' eyes to make sure there is nothing that will impede them from seeing the world clearly!
We are proud to participate in the InfantSee Program, the American Optometric Association doctors offer an initial screening eye examination for infants age birth - 12 months for FREE!
Ask today about an InfantSEE exam with Dr. Smith or Dr. Gdowski.
Cataracts
A
cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye. Most cataracts are
related to aging but can be caused by things like smoking, diabetes, UV exposure or family history. By age 80, more than half of all Americans either have
a cataract or have had cataract surgery.
The most common
symptoms of cataracts are: cloudy or blurry vision, colors seem faded,
headlights, lamps, or sunlight may appear with a halo around them, poor
night vision, double vision or multiple images in one eye, and frequent
prescription changes in your eyeglasses or contact lenses.
Glaucoma
Glaucoma
is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world and is essentially the damage to the eye’s optic nerve caused by high intra-ocular pressures. With early detection and treatment, you can often protect
your eyes against serious vision loss.
Vision lost from the
disease cannot be restored. Early treatment can delay progression of the
disease. Initial glaucoma treatment is typically an eye drop at night.
There are not typically warning signs for glaucoma, which is why it is
so important to get checked annually!
Macular Degeneration
Age-related
macular degeneration (AMD) is a deterioration or breakdown of your
central vision. With macular degeneration, you may have symptoms such as
blurriness, dark areas or distortion and perhaps permanent loss.
There
are two types of AMD: wet and dry. Wet macular degeneration means
bleeding, which is typically treated with an injection into the eye.
Unfortunately, at this time there is no single proven treatment for the
dry form of macular degeneration. However, vitamins and minerals have
been known to help some individuals.