Eye Exam

A standard eye exam is vital for everyone from infants through seniors. However, too often, people avoid getting an annual exam. Reasons vary from fear of the eye doctor to expense or not wanting glasses. Here's your guide to talking yourself out of those false notions.

First, you have no reason to fear an eye exam. The process happens painlessly. While you may feel some discomfort, you should not experience pain. In fact, an exam could help to correct pain if you have frequent headaches or dry eyes from straining to see clearly.

Secondly, don't worry too much about the expense, especially if you visit us at Lauf and Meents. We accept insurance from multiple providers. Phone us to see if your insurance covers an eye exam.

Lastly, you don't necessarily have to wear glasses if you have an eye exam. You may not need vision correction or you could opt for contacts to see well without impacting your appearance. Even if you do need glasses, the variety of lenses and frames today come in a wide range of styles to match your look.

If you have diabetes, you likely will need more frequent eye exams. In fact, you will need to schedule a diabetic eye exam, which looks at your eye health beyond your visual acuity.

Diabetes can cause damage to all the blood vessels in your body, which explains many of the side effects of this condition. Your eyes have critical blood supplies that serve the retinas, allowing you to see. If these blood vessels experience problems, you could develop diabetic retinopathy, a condition that can impact your ability to see.

Scheduling a diabetic eye exam ensures that you have frequent monitoring of your eye health. In fact, the sooner your optometrist identifies that you have eye problems, the less likely you will be to lose vision. While regulating your blood sugar levels as much as possible can prevent the progression of diabetic retinopathy, your optometrist may alert you to when you need to schedule surgery from an ophthalmologist if your problem worsens.

Even with mild cases, you may experience changes in vision that require stronger prescription lenses. Talk to your eye doctor about how often you should have a diabetic eye exam, and call us to set up a visit if you want Lauf and Meents to be your optometrist of choice for diabetic eye care and vision care for the whole family.