Why You Need a New Eyeglass Prescription Every Year

If you wear eyeglasses, you may have had an experience where you visit a doctor from year to year and receive the same prescription. If you keep getting the same bill of health, you might reasonably wonder why the doctor needs to keep writing out the same results. We’ll look at why you really do need this service once a year, so you don’t ‘forget’ to make your yearly appointment.

Your Vision Changes

Your vision can change subtly over time, and any discrepancies from year to year are good for your eye doctor to know about. Usually, your eyes are liable to get worse from year to year, but there are times when your vision can actually improve if you’ve been taking care of your eyes over the year (e.g., better diet, rinsing out contact lenses, etc.).

So even if you don’t need a new prescription, you might get some insight into how these subtle differences can affect you in the future. And if you do happen to need a new prescription, even if you’re only adjusting it slightly, having the right glasses or contact lenses can do wonders for your eyes. When you use your eyes every day for that many hours, any eye strain or magnification can eventually start to cause problems.

Disease and Disorder Prevention

Around the world, many visual impairments can be largely avoided with yearly eye exams. Yet, there are millions who won’t discover serious problems until they need more serious treatments (e.g., surgery, etc.). This is compounded with the number of hours we spend staring at screens, causing eye strain that will only worsen with time. Seeing your eye doctor gives them a way to assess everything from your cornea to your optic nerves to the resilience of your eye. When you consider many disorders start with no symptoms, this is more necessary than you might think.

Eye health is strongly linked with your overall health. Different bodily conditions may cause vision problems, which can easily be the first thing you (or your doctor) notices. If nothing else, going to the eye doctor every year can give you a little peace of mind about how your eyes are progressing over time.