Preventive screenings can be a way to help avoid potential health issues or help with treatment before the development worsens. Vision and hearing loss can too often be substantially misjudged and undertreated, and many people can go years without getting screened for it.
Vision
Vision is an important part of a person’s well-being. Vision loss can be detected early on in a child and does not have an age restriction. Continuous eye exams and taking care of your eyes can prevent children and adults from common eye problems and eye diseases as well as maintaining a healthy vision for a lifetime.
Why get vision testing?
In order to take better care of your eyes and obtain a healthy vision, screening must take place to detect any disease and/or to help enhance and correct blurred vision.
Who is vision testing for?
Vision testing may be performed on anyone, of any age range.
How frequently should I get an eye examination?
Vision screening should be conducted at least once every 1 to 2 years, depending on the age and the health of the patient.
Types of exams and how they are performed
Visual Acuity Test
This exam is the most common and widely used. It tests for myopia (near sightedness) as well as hyperopia (far sightedness). It detects details of the distances being measured. This test is measured using varies letters of different sizes; each eye is measured one at a time to detect the difference of each eye’s vision.
Refraction Assessment
This exam is also one of the most common and widely used eye tests. It measures the eyesight prescription to give the appropriate lenses to correct blurred vision. This test is measured using a computerized refractor and is mostly always used after the visual acuity test.
Visual Field Test
This test is performed to conduct an accurate measure of how much a person can see of his/her overall visual field. The visual field is the area on the sides that you are able to see without rotating your eyes. To perform this, the physician asks the patient to hold his head still and follow the pen while he moves it around.
Color Vision Test
Most people who have color blindness may be subliminal to it. It is important to be tested for color blindness because it may be a leading source to an optic nerve disease. To screen for this the doctor shows the patient charts which contain a series of colors and numbers in the center. If the patient is not deficient then he is able to distinguish the different numbers on each chart.
Results and Benefits
Depending on the exam that is being performed, different benefits and results may arise. Most of the benefits include, recognition of eye blinding diseases, glaucoma, color blindness and other eye diseases. Results from the eye exams can promote better health care, prevention of eye diseases and fixation of eyesight.
Risks
Risks that may be involved with the eye exams may include allergic reactions to the eye drops given.