May marks Vision Health Month, and one Calgary-area optometrist is on a mission to remind Albertans that protecting their vision means looking beyond just how clearly you can see. Read More
Many serious eye conditions can develop with no symptoms until it’s too late, said Dr. Cristy Franco
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Many serious eye conditions can develop with no symptoms until it’s too late, said Dr. Cristy Franco
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May marks Vision Health Month, and one Calgary-area optometrist is on a mission to remind Albertans that protecting their vision means looking beyond just how clearly you can see.
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“Vision is often overlooked,” said Dr. Cristy Franco, lead optometrist of the neuro-rehabilitative and pediatric Vision Therapy Clinic at Airdrie Family Eye Doctors.
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“We don’t think about it.”
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Speaking at an event hosted by the Alberta Association of Optometrists at Major Tom on Tuesday, Franco emphasized that eye exams play a critical role in not only vision care, but overall health. Many serious eye conditions can develop with no symptoms until it’s too late, she said.
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Noon News Roundup
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Eye exams: a window into your health
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Routine eye exams are about much more than having perfect vision, Franco said.
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“You might be able to see 20/20, but something might be happening inside your eye that you don’t know,” she explained. “But if we can treat it and catch it early enough, then up to 80 per cent of those conditions are preventable and treatable.
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“One in seven Canadians will experience a serious eye health issue in their lifetime,” she said, yet many people delay or skip regular checkups.
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“A routine eye exam is about part of your regular eye health, but also a part of your regular overall health,” she added.
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Debunking common myths
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- Myth #1: “I see perfectly — I don’t need to see an optometrist.”
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According to Franco, perfect vision does not mean perfect eye health.
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“There’s a lot of things that are happening that have no signs or symptoms until it’s far too late. And at that point, we have a much harder time treating it,” she said.
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She warned that some conditions develop quietly with no warning signs, and emphasized the importance of early detection made possible through routine exams to prevent and treat conditions.
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“Getting in early preventative care, that’s the number one thing that we can do,” she said.
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- Myth #2: “I’d know if my child had vision problems.”
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Franco warned that many children might have vision issues that go undetected because they don’t know anything else.
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“A child has never seen in another way, this is how their vision has always been,” she said. “They don’t know what to compare it to.”
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She noted that one in four school-aged children suffers from a vision issue, which can have broader impacts on a child’s learning and development. Regular eye exams are key to catching these problems, she said.
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- Myth #3: “Vision loss is just part of getting older.”
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While a person’s vision changes with age, Franco said diminished vision health doesn’t have to be inevitable. With proper monitoring and timely treatment, many age-related conditions can be managed successfully.
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“Although your vision is changing, (optometrists) are here to keep your vision excellent for you,” she said. “Vision loss should not be a part of aging.”
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What can routine exams detect?
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Glaucoma
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Known as the “silent thief of sight,” glaucoma can cause vision loss by damaging the optic nerve.
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“You have no idea that there is anything going on with your vision until you have no peripheral vision left,” she said. And by the time it starts to impact your central vision, “it is far too late,” she added.
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Macular degeneration
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Patients with macular degeneration typically don’t see symptoms when they are young, even as the disease starts to develop. But a routine eye exam to check the back of your eye will catch it.
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“It might show up just as blurry vision. You might think, ‘I need a new pair of glasses,’” she said. “But what we need to be doing is something a lot more involved than that.”
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Diabetes
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Franco said diabetes can significantly impact eye health and show up in many different ways.
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“It might look like really great vision one day and then the next day . . . things are blurry,” she said. For somebody else, it can impact the back of their eye without causing any symptoms.
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“That’s really serious,” she said. “If it’s impacting the back of their eye, that can lead to scarring, that can lead to long-term issues that we can’t do anything about.”
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Screens
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With so many people glued to screens in daily life, eye strain and dry eye are on the rise.
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“When you’re on a device, you don’t blink as often. And if you’re not blinking as often, then you’re not refreshing that tear film,” Franco said.
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Calgary’s dry climate also doesn’t help, she said, noting environment plays a big role in exacerbating dry eye disease.
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“If you don’t take that dry eye seriously, it can lead to scarring and permanent changes in your vision,” she added. “If it progresses too far, we can’t do anything about it at that point.”
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When should you book an exam?
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Franco recommends new parents take their child for their first eye exam between the ages of six and nine months, then again between the ages of two and five. Once children are school, she recommends annual appointments to stay on top of any vision concerns.
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For adults, she recommends seeing an optometrist every one to two years. “But that really depends on what’s going on with your eyes — whether or not you wear contact lenses and what your optometrist is monitoring for,” she said.
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Once people reach 65, she emphasizes the importance of maintaining an annual exam to catch and treat issues.
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Routine eye exams are covered under Alberta Health Care for children under the age of 19, and for adults 65 and older. Emergency appointments or those deemed medically necessary are covered for Albertans of any age.
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Urgent eye issues? Skip the ER
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Franco said many people don’t realize they can go straight to their optometrist for urgent eye problems, including pink eye, sudden vision changes or something stuck in the eye.
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“You can actually go to your optometrist for those things,” she said. “Many optometrists actually hold spots in their schedule every single day for emergency appointments . . . Then you’re not having to wait hours in the emergency room.
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“If anything is going wrong, don’t wait,” she said. “Call your optometrist and get yourself seen.”
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