Routine eye exams are just as important as regular full-body health checkups for identifying potential problems. Regular eye care will improve one’s quality of vision and prevent complications from affecting their daily routine. Maintaining certain habits and lifestyles are responsible for one’s quality of sight, and one shouldn’t make any compromises in getting regular checkups. Here’s a brief overview explaining why eye care is necessary and how one can go about it.

Regular eye assessment
Regular eye checkups are necessary to determine if any problems could develop later. Even if no symptoms or discomforts affect the daily routine, it pays to be responsible and vigilant from the get-go to prevent sudden flareups.

Screening for vision loss
Several factors have an effect on one’s daily vision. Regular screening allows opticians to assess if the patient needs to wear glasses or contacts. Early screening can ensure these problems don’t turn into major eye complications caused by delay.

Preventing diseases
Old age raises the risk of eye diseases and sigh-related disorders that may require surgical treatment. Problems like age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, and even floaters (clusters of cells impacting vision) deeply impact vision and compromise clarity for distant and focal objects. Regular eye exams and preventive care can lower the risk of such complications. Prompt diagnosis also enables doctors to formulate an effective treatment plan.

Eye care for daily wellbeing
Daily activities like reading, driving, or using the computer may be compromised without proper vision. A regular checkup can address these issues and provide individual solutions without having to resort to drastic measures. Poor vision will eventually affect one’s quality of life and can come in the way of activities that many love to do for pleasure. Preventive vision care is the best way to preserve eyesight for the longest time possible without using eye aids and devices.

Symptoms like dry eyes, a burning sensation, crust formation, blurry vision, flashes of light, increased sensitivity, redness, watery eyes, lumps, double vision, and even blind spots could indicate a developing eye problem. These could be caused due to underlying medical conditions, exposure to toxins, and advancing age. Immediate medical attention is advisable as soon as the first symptoms develop.

Eye care strategies
Apart from regular eye care checkups, here are a few simple foods and home remedies to manage common eye problems.

• Include more eye-friendly foods
  Omega-3-rich fatty fish like tuna, salmon, mackerel, sardines, anchovies, herring, and trout are excellent for boosting eye health. Assorted nuts, legumes, seeds, and citrus-rich foods provide the essential vitamins and nutrients. Additionally, cruciferous vegetables, leafy greens, carrots, eggs, and even sweet potatoes are loaded with antioxidants and beta carotenes necessary for eye health.
• Home remedies for simple infections
  Saltwater is rich in antimicrobial properties that can help prevent an eye infection from spreading. Use it as instructed by the doctor. Placing cool tea bags over the eyes can be soothing. A warm compress is suitable for treating and addressing eye infections. Also, sharing makeup products to prevent eye infections like conjunctivitis from spreading due to makeup.

Eye care services and cost
Note that the individual cost of eye care services will vary depending on the type of doctor. Opticians, optometrists, and ophthalmologists treat different vision problems, so the cost will vary depending on the type of treatment and severity of symptoms. On average, these specialists may charge around $200 for basic vision tests. Repeat exams are cheaper as they won’t include the costs of prescriptions and devices post-checkup. Also, note that these tests will be more expensive without insurance or copay programs than the national average estimates.