Once a year, every person that wears contacts or glasses should take the time to visit an eye optometrist for a vision exam. Far too often, people procrastinate and put it off until they are experiencing eye problems. Eye problems are usually a sign that a person's current prescription needs to be readjusted to better suit their current visual capabilities.

The very symptoms a person is experience when a new prescription is needed are likely the same ones that initially had them visiting an eye doctor to begin with. Symptoms such as squinting and frequent headaches are both linked to straining of the eyes due to poor eyesight. Other symptoms can be as severe as not being able to see things at a distance at all that were visible a short while before.

The changes experienced might not not be very noticeable at first, but as time passes they will progressively get worse and become more of a problem. Avoidance of an eye exam for several years can hurt a person's chances of regaining perfect vision with corrective lenses. It is a standard recommendation to be reexamined every twelve months regardless of age. Small children are only told to reexamine once a year even though their eyesight problems can change must faster than an adults.

As those symptoms resurface, an appointment should be made without delay. Those symptoms are usually a tell tale sign that it is time to get new glasses or contacts. A new prescription can't be obtained without visiting the eye doctor though. The continued use of an old prescription will not solve problems with symptoms and can often make them a lot worse over time.

When setting up an appointment over the phone, let the office know all of the symptoms you have been experiencing. Be sure you mention your belief that you need a new prescription as well. This is so the time designated for the appointment is sufficient enough to do both the exam and the ordering process as well.

There are many offices offering same day service since they make the corrective lenses on location. Offices who do not have this capability will need to send the order to an eye glass store somewhere else. This will usually delay the process of getting your new corrective lenses by about a week. When they are ready and you go to get them, they can be fitted at that time and checked for prescription accuracy.

During this waiting period, patients are sometimes advised to not use their old prescription at all. Other doctor's will suggest continuing use until the patient's new order has arrived. These suggestions will vary between doctors and a person's specific situation.

The typical signs of an outdated prescription could end up not being the prescription at all. A visit to the eye optometrist is the only way to determine if there could be another cause for headaches and other problems. If reexamination reveals there has been no change in vision, other possible reasons can then be explored. Usually, a patient will be referred out to another type of doctor for further investigation.