Commonly Asked Questions
Doctor Johnson I have had vision screenings at work and my kids have had them at school- If I pass my vision screening do I need an eye exam?
We have patients that fail their driver’s license screening and have to come in to get their license. We have kids who fail their vision screening at school and sometimes need visual help and sometimes do not. We have adults that fail health fair or work related vision screenings like pilots. Bottom line a screening is just a preliminary way to see if there are any problems. You definitely need to have your eyes examined even if you had a vision screening to test your eye health for glaucoma, macular degeneration and cataracts.
Doctor Johnson I am still seeing fine with my contacts and my glasses, I was told that I only need to get my eyes examined when I can’t see?
The thing you need to know is the fact that the way you think you see, gives no assurance that your eyes are healthy. One person every 11 minutes loses their vision to glaucoma. Macular degeneration is increasing 5 fold over the next 10-15years and is currently the main cause of blindness in persons over 55 years of age. Most of the glaucoma cases I treat and the macular degeneration cases I see are detected in an eye exam without any symptoms from the patient. These conditions left untreated cause people to lose their vision. Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness world wide but can be treated.
Dr. Johnson if my vision prescription keeps getting worse- my biggest fear is that I will lose my vision, Is this true?
No, most of the time when prescription changes take place this have nothing to do with someone losing their vision. Vision changes take place for a variety of reasons some of which are health related to conditions like diabetes. We detect diabetes in many patients who have not been diagnosed with the disease. I see the signs of it in their eye health exam or their noticeable sudden prescription changes. Annual eye health exams or more frequent if required, are the insurance to preserving your vision. To keep your prescription from getting worse we do certain tests and prescribe a variety of lenses to minimize further prescription changes.
Dr. Johnson I have never worn glasses or contacts and I feel like I see great and possibly better than people I know who wear prescription lenses. Do I wait until I can’t see to get my eyes examined?
Many people tell me socially, Warren I don’t have the need for your services because I see great! That comment is usually best dealt with socially, “That’s great.” What I really want to tell them without soliciting services is that you are running a great risk to losing your vision. My practice is about preserving the vision that you are so currently proud of. Unless I check the health of your eyes yearly, I cannot help you preserve the vision that allows you to see without any glasses or contacts. If subtle changes to your vision are taking place I will tell you so we can see if any treatment is necessary. The most important thing for me to follow is whether or not you are losing vision from any sight threatening problems that you cannot detect by the way you think you are seeing.
Dr. Johnson my husband hasn’t had an eye exam in years and tells me that the drug store glasses work fine, Is that OK or does he need to have his eyes tested?
This is the biggest hurdle for an eye doctor and you as a concerned spouse. The stats show that one person every 11 minutes loses their vision to glaucoma. Currently macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in the over 55 age population. The small area that corrective lenses focus on is the macular area. It is about one hundredth the size of a pinhead. If you look at your eyes in the mirror you can see how much larger your eye is than that. This means that sight threatening problems can be taking place in other areas of your eye that you cannot detect. Self prescribed reading glasses put you at risk for losing your vision because you could not detect any visual problems. Even if the drug store readers work for you, you must see an eye doctor yearly to make sure that this is appropriate. I will tell my patients that certain power readers are OK but getting good optical quality lenses is the key. That is not something you can detect when picking up readers at the store.