Routine eye exams are important — regardless of your age or your physical health.

During a comprehensive eye exam, your eye doctor does much more than just determine your prescription for eyeglasses or contact lenses. He or she will also check your eyes for common eye diseases, assess how your eyes work together as a team and evaluate your eyes as an indicator of your overall health.

Who Should Get Their Eyes Examined?

Eye examinations are an important part of health maintenance for everyone. Adults should have their eyes tested to keep their prescriptions current and to check for early signs of eye disease. And eye exams for children play an important role in ensuring normal vision development and academic achievement of all kids.

Vision is closely linked to the learning process. Children who have trouble seeing or interpreting what they see will often have trouble with their schoolwork. Many times, children will not complain of vision problems simply because they don't know what "normal" vision looks like.

If your child performs poorly at school or exhibits a reading or learning disability, be sure to have his eyes examined by an eye doctor who specializes in children's vision to rule out an underlying visual cause.