Far too few people visit an optician regularly for a check-up, and yet you should go throughtout your life as naturally as you go to the dentist, only not as often: once every two or three years is fine unless you wear glasses or contact lenses, in which case it should be once every eighteen months. After the age of forty you should go every year, regardless of whether or not you wear glasses or contact lenses, because this is the age at which glaucoma is more likely to develop. An optician can spot not just cataracts or glaucoma, but sometypes of circulatory problems too. Approximately 4% of the over-forties develop glaucoma, and large numbers suffer severe sight restriction or blindness as a result. Yet glaucoma caught early can be treated very successfully simply by lowering the inter-ocular pressure and keeping it within normal range.