When it comes to taking care of our eye health we often think about vision health only in terms of correcting poor vision and seeing clearly. However, the problem with focusing exclusively on this aspect of vision health may cause us to have a false sense of security. This false sense of security leads us to believe that because our eyesight is clear then this must mean that our eyes are healthy. However, even though our vision may be clear we may not be aware that there may be underlying problems with our vision that we cannot see or we may have an eye problem that may not have any visible signs or symptoms. Therefore, it is important to get an eye exam that is comprehensive in nature so that trained optometrists can detect whether or not there are signs of problems with our eyes. This is due to the fact that some eye conditions actually do not exhibit any symptoms at all. In order to determine the overall health of the eyes eye care practitioners recommend a thorough eye exam called a baseline eye exam.

What is a baseline eye exam? A baseline eye exam is a type of eye exam that gives you a thorough detection of any signs of the early onset of eye diseases or conditions such as glaucoma. Such a test examines the eyes for warning signs of other general health problems and conditions such as Diabetes. This comprehensive test gives the patient an overall awareness of their eye health as the eyes are indicators of other health conditions in the body such as high blood pressure and even certain cancers as well. This particular comprehensive eye test is recommended by the American Academy of Ophthalmology for individuals who are aged 40. This type of test is recommended so that they can recognize changes in their vision as their visual system ages. Additionally, such a test encourages early detection so that vision conditions can be treated early before they become progressively worse.

This kind of comprehensive eye test can also determine the risks for certain eye diseases such as age related vision disorders such as glaucoma, macular degeneration and cataracts. This particular type of eye test is very essential as certain types of eye diseases such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, for example, do not carry any warning signs or symptoms. This type of eye test is also based on a person’s medical history and it can determine the risks for these types of diseases. After the initial screening is done it is recommended that a follow up test is conducted with an ophthalmologist. If a person’s eyes are showing signs of high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases it is recommended by the American Academy of Ophthalmology to get a follow up test. This can determine how many times per year your eye should be checked.

A baseline eye exam is a comprehensive eye exam that gives the patient an awareness of their overall eye health. Such an eye exam gives certain screenings to determine whether or not a patient is showing any signs of the early onset of eye diseases. This kind of eye exam also determines via a person’s medical history, whether or not the patient is at risk for diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure and Diabetes. Such an eye exam is highly recommended by the American Academy of ophthalmology to detect any underlying eye conditions that don’t carry warning symptoms such as glaucoma and other age related vision disorders as well. The AAO recommends that this eye exam be given to patients at age 40 to monitor changes in the vision health of patients that might be related to the process of aging.