I get yearly checks ups since I my eye insurance covers the trip and 1 pair of glasses per year. I always go to an ophthalmologist instead of an optometrist. I feel if you have a good one the eye exam is more in depth.
Cataracts ran in the family, and I used to sweat about getting them. Well, I did. The first of last year, I had multi-focal lens put in both eyes. No complications other than one eye needs to be "tweaked" a bit with a yag laser next week. I went from wearing coke bottle glasses, (tri focal) to wearing none, nada, zip, nil. If I am doing fine work like PCB work or clock restoration, I need either readers or the work light with the magnifier, but reading and stuff, no problem. There was a two week lag between having both done, and during that time, I was amazed at how bright colors were with the new lens. When I looked at a white sheet or shirt with the eye that hadn't been done, it looked yellow or very dingy compared to the fixed one. It's wonderful to get up in the morning and being able to see everything without having to figure out where I left my glasses. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. My wife has real shitty eye sight and wears mono vision contacts, and says she would welcome cataracts so she could get her eyes fixed, too.

Oh yeah, I always love seeing a chick with her headlights on high beam.