Ask an ophthalmologist: how often should I have an eye test?

It’s a very good idea to have your eyes checked on a regular basis particularly as we all get older because the risks of eye conditions developing increase with age as we know. It’s well worth just having an annual or two yearly eye checks just to have a general look at your eyes and that can pick up any conditions early on.

What are the commonest conditions to have an eye test for?

Eye checks are particularly relevant for conditions such as glaucoma which has a prevalence of about 1% in the population over the age of 40 and about 5% which is one in 20 people over the age of 75.

The other condition which of course is quite common is cataracts, which consist of some clouding of your own natural lens. As a cause of poor vision, they are the most treatable and the most satisfactory to treat.

Cataract surgery is amongst one of the most successful interventions in medicine and it enjoys very high success rates. Within the UK, the average success rate is about 95-96%. That’s the pooled data from all levels of surgeons. If you’re performing cataract surgery regularly and have a developed expertise in it, you expect success rates 98-99% with only a very, very small risk of serious complications which are really sight-threatening complications we’re talking about which are less than about 1 in a 1,000.

The other thing that we are concerned about increasingly as the population ages, is age-related macular degeneration which of course nowadays, there are forms of which are eminently treatable.

Book an appointment with our specialist Mr Brian Little.