How often to have an eye exam, by age
The short answer: it depends on your age and whether there is anything to watch. The useful answer is a little longer.
Children and teenagers
The first exam makes sense before school starts, because a vision problem nobody catches gets mistaken for inattention or trouble learning. After that, once a year while they are still growing: a child's prescription changes quickly.
Adults up to 40
If you see well and do not wear glasses, every two years is usually enough. If you wear glasses or contacts, once a year, because the prescription shifts and an old prescription tires your eyes without your noticing.
After 40
Once a year. This is the age when focusing up close starts to get harder, and it is also when it makes sense to start checking the health of the eye, not just how much you can see.
After 65
From here the annual exam does a second job besides the prescription: watching for changes in the lens and the macula, which become more likely with age. It is also worth checking that your prescription and your lighting suit what you actually do each day — reading, cooking, driving at night. Keeping your visual independence depends on that as much as on eyesight itself.
When not to wait for your next due date
Some situations are not worth postponing:
- You have diabetes. In that case the annual exam is not optional.
- Someone in your immediate family has glaucoma or another eye condition.
- Something changed: blurry vision, flashes, floating spots, headaches when reading.
- You are having trouble seeing at night or while driving.
One thing worth knowing
Seeing well and having healthy eyes are not the same thing. Several eye conditions progress without discomfort and without taking away vision until damage is already done. That is why an exam checks both, and why it is worth having even if your vision feels perfect.
If it has been more than a year since your last exam, or you cannot remember when it was, that is your answer.