Summit Vision Center

Dr. Langford February 2nd, 2007

Some people are embarrassed when they tell me it has been several years since their last eye exam. Well, it turns out that Canadian eye doctors did a study and found out that in certain people that may be okay. Before you put off your next exam, you need to read the information published by the Canadian Ophthalmological Society and sort yourself into the categories. First, you must determine what your risk factors are, and then they assign you an eye exam frequency according to your age.

But don’t assume that you have no risk. Read the Canadian document carefully:

Some people are at higher risk for eye problems. These include people with diabetes; people of African or Hispanic descent; those with a tendency toward high intraocular pressure; those with a family history of glaucoma, cataract, macular degeneration, or retinal detachment; those with a previous eye injury; people taking certain medications; and those with very poor eyesight. These people should see an eye doctor according to this schedule:
• Over age 40: at least every 3 years
• Over age 50: at least every 2 years
• Over age 60: at least once a year

(For the technical/scientific minded, read the original report published by the Canadian Ophthalmological Society.)

Another thing to keep in mind is that the Canadian government pays for health care. These doctors deny any government involvement in their research, but I think it’s possible that their Canadian culture could lead to a bias of wanting to prove that yearly or biyearly eyecare is unnecessary; therefore, it would cost the government less (and possibly reduce taxes) if we prove that less frequent eyecare is acceptable according to the averages.

You may also not wish to be a statistic, so you can always use the “See clearly, Check Yearly” philosophy. If you have not had an eye exam in the last two years, then come in for an exam, and we’ll go over your risk factors and also review what the American Optometry Association recommends. Aside from risk factors, if you are a contact lens wearer, you need to be re-evaluated on a yearly basis because medical devices placed on your eye need to be monitored.

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