Back to basics

How often should you get your eyes tested? What are the basic eye defects?

Whether we like it or not we’re all going to have to wear glasses by the time we reach old age.

It is recommended that you visit your optician at least once every two years.

An eye test costs just £20 but most of us still begrudge shelling out to see well into the future.    

Eye tests do more than just check our sight. Optometrists frequently detect the first signs of high blood pressure, diabetes and even brain tumours.

But for most of us an eye test will simply reveal whether we’re short sighted, long sighted or suffer from astigmatism.

Astigmatism definition: A visual defect in which the unequal curvature of one or more refractive surfaces of the eye, usually the cornea, prevents light rays from focusing clearly at one point on the retina, resulting in blurred vision.

Most of us are short sighted which means we focus close up but we struggle with distances.

Long sightedness means we can see things far away but not close up. And if you’ve got astigmatism you may think the letter G is a C or a Z is a 2.