Eye Doctors in Chesapeake & Virginia Beach

See the full picture of your health with a Comprehensive Eye Exam

Written by our eye doctors in Chesapeake – 10/7/2021

Did you know a comprehensive eye exam doesn’t just determine if you need eyeglasses or contact lenses? In fact, our eye doctors in Chesapeake also carefully look at all aspects of your eye health, which can help provide a clearer picture of your overall health. Comprehensive eye exams go well beyond the goal of 20/20 vision.

Clear vision is just the beginning
Nearly all Americans believe their eye health is just as important as the health of their heart, but nearly half of those, ages 23-38, don’t think they need an eye exam if their vision is clear, according to American Optometric Associations’ (AOA) Eye-Q Survey 2020. Gontarek Eye Care suggests it’s time to turn belief into action: making a comprehensive eye exam a critical part of your overall health maintenance, equal to your annual physical with your primary care physician.

Through an eye exam, our eye doctors in Chesapeake can identify early warning signs and manifestations of more than 270 systemic and chronic diseases including diabetes, high blood pressure, autoimmune diseases and cancers. In fact, getting a comprehensive eye exam is the only way to visualize the blood vessels behind the eye for issues without an x-ray, CT scan or invasive surgery.

A comprehensive eye exam is not just a vision screening. Remember the eye test with the tiny letters you took at school or to renew your driver’s license in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach or Norfolk? That’s a vision screening.

A vision screening isn’t enough
If you’re wondering what the difference is between a vision screening test (the kind you received in school) and a comprehensive eye exam, a vision screening only indicates a potential need for further evaluation. Even the most sophisticated vision screening tools, administered by the most highly trained screeners in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach or Norfolk, miss one-third of children with eye or vision disorders, according to the AOA’s Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline: Comprehensive Pediatric Eye and Vision Examination.

Why is an eye exam important?
According to Eye-Q, one in five Americans say an eye health professional detected or diagnosed a non-eye related health issue. In that same survey, one-fourth of those Americans note that an eye doctor detected “floaters” in their eyes, which may signal a risk or onset of diabetes. And eye doctors can detect more than 270 serious health conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure, autoimmune diseases and cancers.

Early detection is key
Since many vision issues show no obvious signs or symptoms, the only way to truly get the “all-clear!” is by seeing an eye doctor for a check-up. Gontarek Eye Care will also go over your overall health and family history, eye or vision symptoms, medications, and potential work-related or environmental issues that may affect your vision. You will also partake in preliminary tests such as depth perception, color vision, eye muscle movements, peripheral or side vision, and how your pupils respond to light.

So how do you make an eye exam part of your yearly routine?

• Ask your employer if you can take sick time to take care of appointments like physicals and eye exams, and make the time to take care of your overall health.
• Put your annual HSA and FSA dollars to good use to see the full portrait of your health, covering a comprehensive eye exam with an eye doctor – even if you don’t have vision insurance.

There’s no app for that
You may have seen apps advertised in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Norfolk that can ‘replace going to the eye doctor.’ However, online vision tests attempt to replace one element of an eye examination, the refraction, to yield a prescription for glasses or contacts. It is not unlike taking a blood pressure reading at a kiosk and expecting a prescription – the reading does not provide sufficient information to determine a patient’s needed course of therapy.

The refraction performed by online vision tests is only one of many tests performed during an eye exam with our eye doctors in Chesapeake, and taken by itself, does not provide sufficient information regarding the treatment of a patient, including the prescription of glasses or contact lenses.

Are online vision tests accurate?
Online vision tests may give inaccurate or misleading information, and can give patients a false sense of security. In fact, patients may delay essential, sight-saving treatment. Comprehensive eye exams are one of the most important, preventive ways to preserve vision, and the only way to accurately assess eye health, diagnose an eye disorder or disease, and determine the need for corrective lenses.

If you have not yet had your 2021 comprehensive eye exam, it’s not too late! To schedule an appointment with Gontarek Eye Care please contact us at (757) 966-2206.