When Do You Need To Visit Your Optician?

Introduction

Most of us are born with near perfect vision. As we start to grow, our eyes grow too. For various reasons sometimes our eyes develop visual defects which need correction. During the first seven years of life the eyes grow regularly and any defects are rectifiable. In this time frame, if there is any suspicion of visual problems, then a visit to the optician is justified.

The First Visit

If a child has visual problems then the first visit to the optician can be at a very young age. Then again, a person may not have any vision problems until adulthood. There are people who have 20/20 (perfect vision) throughout their life but such cases are few and far between. Mostly a person's vision deteriorates slowly without the persons realizing. But one fine day, suddenly they realize that they cannot see certain objects clearly. This is when the first visit to the optician is required. In the case of children it is the responsibility of the parent or guardian to observe the problem and take action accordingly.

Follow-up Visits

When you first visit your optician, it may just be for a standard eye test. Once the nature of your vision impairment has been confirmed, then the action for vision correction will be prescribed which would be either through spectacles or contact lenses. It will take some time, a day or two maybe, for the spectacles or contacts to be made ready. If you are going to wear contact lenses, once they are ready, you will have to visit the optician again who will conduct some tests while you wear your new contacts to ensure that your vision is suitably rectified.

Regular visits: The general consensus is that those who wear contact lenses (or spectacles) should visit their optician once a year. So once you have been fitted with your new contact lenses you should plan the next visit to your optician a year from the date of the last visit of the final fitting.

Exceptional circumstances: The above cases are applicable only if the visual correction required is within the normal expected limits. However, if you have a special medical condition where constant monitoring is required, then you may need to visit your optician monthly, weekly or even more than once a week depending on the doctor's recommendation.

Emergency Visits: These include cases where contact lenses get damaged or lost. Also, if you experience discomfort in the eyes, redness, blurred vision, headaches and so on, then it is advisable to make an emergency visit and not wait for your regular visit to the optician.

Increased Frequency of Visits in old-age:As you grow older, the changes in a person's vision can change more frequently. If this is the case, then it would be advisable to visit the optician more frequently.

Conclusion

While we can roughly estimate how regularly to visit the optician, the frequency of visits can vary from person to person, depending on the condition of his/her eyes.