A recent study showed that dilated eye exams were a low-cost method of increasing quality of life for seniors. The study revealed that, in patients with no previously diagnosed eye problems, a dilated eye exam increased the quality of life of the individual 7 x more than just a simple check of the vision chart at the primary care doctor’s office.
In fact, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recently withdrew their support for simple vision chart screenings with a primary care doctor as a meaningful way to increase a person’s quality of life.
Why? A simple vision chart test may not accurately reflect a person’s ability to see clearly and effectively in all situations. But, even more importantly, it fails to assess many ocular conditions which threaten a person’s quality of life. Just a few of these conditions are glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. A dilated eye examination with an eye care provider could identify many other eye conditions and even signs of systemic diseases that may have gone unnoticed during regular physicals with the primary care physician.
I cannot stress enough how important the annual comprehensive eye exam is to a person’s vision, long-term ocular health, their overall health, and (as this study shows) quality of life.
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Best wishes,
Dr. Beach.
Norfolk Zoo and hitting the head on the ground or as severe as being run over by a tourist while crossing Atlantic Ave in Virginia Beach.
They may be more noticeable when looking at bright lights or white backgrounds. These floaters are actually shadows cast on your retina by strands within a portion of your eye called the vitreous. The vitreous is a gel-like sphere that helps the eye maintain its shape, but over time the gel material starts to dissolve. As a result particles will be cast throughout the vitreous, and it’s these particles that cast the shadows onto the retina. While annoying, this is a normal aging process within the eye. However, caution should be used if simple floaters present more pronounced or if accompanied by other symptoms, such as flashes of light.
Over time, the same process that causes floaters also causes the vitreous to sink in on itself. Once the weight of the sinking vitreous becomes too great, it will detach from the retina. This is called a Posterior Vitreous Detachment and will cause more pronounced, darker and much more noticeable spots or floaters in the central part of your vision. The tugging force on the retina created by the detaching vitreous may even cause a person to experience flashes of light in their vision.
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