Did You Know That an Optician Can Often Detect Health Conditions Elsewhere?
When it comes to their health, many people go through life believing that if they generally feel okay, there's nothing to worry about. While this may certainly be true in many cases, it's often difficult to detect some serious illnesses in the early stages. And when it comes to these illnesses, early detection can often make a big difference in subsequent treatment. With this behaviour in mind, it's little wonder that many people fail to keep up with regular visits to their health care providers. But why should they keep those appointments with an optician from a general health perspective?
Visiting the Optician
A regular visit to an optician is a good idea from many different perspectives. This expert will take a close look at your eyesight and ensure that you do not need any treatment to help you focus on everyday tasks. In this case, they'll let you know if you need contact lenses or reading glasses as you get older or if you may be a good candidate for laser surgery.
Close-up Look
Yet, opticians will also have a very good look at the general condition of the eye. They'll be able to look at the blood vessels at the back of the eye and can often detect problems elsewhere.
Blood Vessel Condition
Did you know that the back of the eye is the only place in your entire body where a doctor can actually look at your blood vessels? As such, this represents an early warning window and can sometimes reveal the risk of diabetes.
Tell-Tale Signs
Someone who is suffering from diabetes or is likely to go on to develop the condition may exhibit particular problems with those blood vessels. If left untreated, the blood vessels in the retina could become damaged, and the patient could develop a condition known as diabetic retinopathy.
Going Undetected
Unfortunately, diabetes may have no noticeable symptoms during the early days, and many people may be unaware of this growing concern. Yet if they had scheduled a visit to their optician, the expert would have been able to examine the back of the eye and sounded alert. From there, they would have been able to go to their family doctor for further advice or tests as needed.
Making an Appointment
So, if it's been some time since you scheduled a visit to your optician, you owe it to your general health to catch up and get an eye exam.