The Importance of Eye Health

When I was a junior in high school I went to the eye doctor and he said I would probably need glasses within the next two years...what???  I had 20/20 vision my whole life!  How could I need glasses already?  I expected to be like my dad and just need reading glasses when I hit 50.  So I thought he was probably wrong and I would just wait it out. 

Well...he was right.  I waited until my sophomore year in college and finally got reading glasses.  Then as time went on, I could tell my vision had gotten much worse, but I kept putting it off.  I didn't want to have to mess with contacts every day.  How annoying!  It reminded me of this clip from Brian Regan (who is hilarious if you haven't seen his stuff).

Well with my husband getting insurance with his new job, I finally got contacts at the beginning of the month and you know what?  It's not so bad!  In fact, it's nice to be able to see all the time!  Well most of the time... I have astigmatism so when my contacts shift it can get out of focus until it shifts back.  Anyway, it's better than wearing glasses with a 18 month old who finds them fascinating.

Alan and I both have glasses and now contacts.  It's important we update our prescriptions so we can see our beautiful kids!

Eye exams are important for everyone in your family at all ages!
A classic family story is when my younger sister Hayley failed the eye exam at school.  So we went to the eye doctor and we found out that one of her eyes couldn't even see the GIANT E at the top of the test!  They had to go one higher and she could finally read it!  My parents were baffled!  How was she even seeing at all and why didn't she say anything?

So your kids may not always tell you they can't see.

Annual eye exams, such as the VSP Vision Care WellVision Exam®, are important to your overall health. They allow VSP eye doctors to detect early signs of health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, among others. In fact a close family member of mine needs to go twice a year to get an eye exam since she just found out she has diabetes and it can affect your vision.

Remember, as school has just started, it's important to have your children's annual eye exam so they can be ready to learn.  Some common signs of vision problems are squinting, head tilting, avoiding “close work,” trouble focusing, continuous rubbing of their eyes, headaches, etc. in case your child hasn't said anything about it.

And if you're like me and don't have a school aged child, your younger children should have a comprehensive eye exam as young as 6 months, then at 3 years old, before kindergarten, then every year after that.  So get those eyes checked!

Visit SeeMuchMore for more information about VSP and vision care benefits. I was selected for this post by the Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.