(NAPSI)—It's wise to get annual eye exams to maintain eye health and catch warning signs early. Some 11 million Americans have macular degeneration and 3 million have glaucoma, but you don't have to be among them.
An eye exam usually involves three important tests:
• Visual acuity: using an eye chart to test your sight at various distances.
• Pupil dilation: widening the pupil with eyedrops to look for signs of disease.
• Tonometry: testing the fluid pressure inside the eye to detect glaucoma.
To help people get the exams they need, BrightFocus Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving brain and eye health through research and public education, offers resources in English and Spanish, including New Visual SnapShots, which graphically illustrate glaucoma and macular degeneration detection and treatment; brochures and fact sheets on healthy diet and living with vision disease; educational videos and audio; an Eye Doctor Directory; and Top Five Questions to ask your doctor about vision.
You can find them and more at www.brightfocus.org.