There was a survey done about 10 years ago that asked people what is more important: to have your oil changed every three months, or to have an annual eye examination. In a shock to my ego as an eye doctor, about two thirds of the people felt the oil change was more important. Wow! How could that be? Yet I can see where they were coming from, we all know our car engines will last longer with regular oil changes. This was a wake-up call that the eye care industry in general had not done a good job of explaining the importance of sight and how critical the examination is at helping preserve sight. In light of the fact that this is “Save Your Vision” month, I am going to offer an alternative view. This is not a knock on those of you in the auto industry, but simply a statement on behalf of those of us who care for your precious sight. Let me start with a few examples from some patients I saw just this last year.
First, a 20 year old college student who came in for his “annual eye exam”. He had no complaints; he simply needed more contacts and would be heading back to school a few weeks after his appointment. As part of his check up we did an Optomap wide angle screening image and detected a partial retinal detachment in his left eye. Upon further questioning, he had noted a dark area in his vision over the last few weeks. I referred him immediately for surgery and one of our trusted colleagues did a repair of his retina. If he had not come in for his routine eye exam we likely would not have been able to treat his retinal detachment before permanent sight loss occurred.
Second, a gentleman in his late forties with no complaints who was just coming in for a routine eye exam. During testing for glasses he described a shadowing in his vision he had not noticed before. Further testing in our office determined he had an area of reduced peripheral vision. Upon dilating his eyes everything looked normal, but I went ahead and referred him to a subspecialist to further evaluate his unusual symptoms. It was then determined that he had a brain tumor. After successful surgery he regained his vision, but more importantly his brain tumor was treated early enough to prevent life threatening complications. This is a great example of how an eye exam can even detect signs of other health issues too.
We often hear our patients say “I see fine, I don’t need to come in”. This seems logical until one fully understands how sight loss occurs. For example, in glaucoma, the third leading cause of sight loss in the United States, one has to lose 30-40% of the nerve tissue in the eye before we are able to detect vision loss on a peripheral vision test. With the cutting edge electrodiagnostic testing we have in our office we are able to detect the early stages of problems, up to eight years before sight loss occurs. This allows us to look into the near future of your vision and detect issues before there is any permanent loss of vision. So you can see why we prefer you come in before you lose vision, while we still have a chance to do something about it.
I was half joking when I said hold off on the oil change, but if you have to make a choice between the two, perhaps you might reconsider based on the information above. A car is replaceable, but are your eyes?
Thank you for trusting us to care for your most valuable asset, your eyes. We hope to see you soon!
-Dean Amundsen, O.D.