If you wear vision correction, you know that prescriptions can change over time. If you don't see your eye doctor on a regular basis, you might wait until your corrective lenses are damaged, or you're having difficulty seeing clearly through them to get help. However, there are earlier signs that you're in need of a new vision prescription. If you are experiencing any of these three symptoms, it may be time for a new pair of glasses or contacts:

Headaches

Headaches can be caused by many things, but damaged glasses or a prescription that's no longer right for you are a common cause.

These headaches are caused due to eye strain. When you can't see clearly, your eyes struggle to make up for the deficit. This isn't an easy process and can cause headaches. Also, if you squint when you're trying to see things clearly, the constant contraction of facial muscles can also cause vision-related headaches.

Tearing Eyes

Tearing eyes are a common side effect of a corrective vision prescription that's out of date. Like headaches, this symptom is mostly due to straining to see.

As you squint and widen your eyes to try and see more clearly, your eyes may become dry and itchy. As a result, your body will try and produce additional tears to lubricate your eyes back to normal. However, this can backfire, ultimately resulting in eyes that seem to be leaking tears on a regular basis.

If your teary eyes are due to a poor vision prescription, chances are you'll experience this problem after you've been awake for a while and repeatedly squinting your eyes. It's less likely to occur if you've just woken up.

Blurry Vision at Night

Lastly, if your vision only seems to be blurry at night, that may be another sign of a poor prescription.

While some people have vision that's worse at night normally, people with inadequate vision correction may experience blurry vision exclusively at night. This is because for most people, by the time night falls, their eyes have already been working for hours with inadequate vision correction. Eye strain builds over the day, and vision can be very poor by nighttime, especially with reduced light to see by.

The easiest way to prevent these problems from happening to you is to maintain a regular eye exam schedule with your eye doctor. If you haven't been in for a while, set up an appointment today and ask your eye doctor how often they want to see you for eye exams from this point forward.