Catching a potential eye disease is unavoidable, but you can take steps to reduce the risk of vision loss while improving the overall health of your eyes. There are more than 30 million North Americans who currently suffer from some type of mild to severe vision impairment.
However, for the majority of these conditions, the deterioration in their vision could of been avoided by taking a few preventive measures, beginning with getting routine eye exams.
Taking the proper care when it comes to eye vision is extremely important to preventing further damage, and possibly complete vision loss altogether. So taking steps such as wearing protective sunglasses, and getting an annual eye exam can alert as well as safeguard your eye health and vision.
Tips To Maintaining Better Vision
Know The Different Eye Care Specialists And Providers
When you do get your eyes checked, know that there are different areas of eye care specialists and providers. Optometrists, ophthalmologists, and opticians all play key but different roles, offering various services when it comes to eye care.
Each of these specialists offers different levels of expertise and training. So make sure that you see the proper provider specific for your eye condition, or the treatment that you need.
Ophthalmologists are usually the highest trained, so they can provide the entire spectrum of eye vision care, from prescribing contact lenses, to eye glasses, to delicate and complex eye surgery.
Get Early Intervention As Possible
Know all of the different eye diseases which are related to the aging process, which includes, glaucoma, cataracts, AMD, and diabetic retinopathy, which are all conditions and symptoms that usually increases as one ages.
The most serious of these eye conditions are: AMD (age-related macular degeneration), and glaucoma. They can be successfully corrected if diagnosed and treated early.
If these conditions go untreated, they can cause serious vision loss, leading to possible blindness. Regardless of age, the earlier the intervention will prevent any vision loss later in life.
Get Routine Baseline Exams
Adults who are not showing any signs, or are not displaying the risk factors when it comes to eye disease, should still be getting routine baseline eye screen exams, especially 40 years of age and beyond.
Forty years of age appears to be the point when the initial signs of potential eye disease appears, as well as any changes in vision occurs. Based on the results, an ophthalmologist will usually prescribe the necessary follow-up exams.
If you also have a family history of eye disease, have high blood pressure, or diabetes, then you should see a specialist to determine how frequent you should get your eyes examined.
Knowing Your Family’s Eye History
The majority of eye diseases will usually cluster within families, so it’s important that you know your family history when it comes to eye disease. Discussing it with your ophthalmologist should reduce your risk of any potential vision loss along with other eye conditions.
Follow Your Eye Care Providers Instructions For Contact Lens
Make sure that you follow your eye care provider’s exact instructions when it comes to the care and the maintenance of your contact lenses.
Avoid incidents such as:
• Accidentally sleeping in contacts which are not approved for overnight wear
• Using emergency measures such as tap water or saliva as a wetting or storing solution
• Wearing disposable contacts far beyond their recommended wear date
• Using expired solution
The result can be vision loss, infection, or severe pain.
Preventative Measures For Better Eye Care
Make Sure You Wear Sunglasses
Wearing sunglasses are not only cool to some, but they also block the majority of the unwanted ultraviolet (UV) rays which can develop cataracts, by protecting the eyes from direct sunlight, which can damage the retina.
Good quality sunglasses are also able to protect the eyelid skin as well as reducing the risk of wrinkles, this along with potential skin cancer around the eyes.
Eating The Right Foods
Something simple as a deficiency in a certain vitamin or mineral can impair your retinal function. There’s also the belief that eating carrots can improve one’s vision, which has some truth.
The majority and variety of vegetables, especially the dark leafy green ones, should also be an important part of your eye care health diet. Researchers have found that those who are on diets with higher doses of vitamin C and vitamin E, lutein, zinc, omega-3, eaxanthin, are all helpful in avoiding the early stages of AMD.
Wearing Proper Eye Protection
It’s estimated that there’s close to 3 million accidental eye injuries which occurs in North America from home repairs, sport activities, and other related incidents.
The majority of these injuries can be avoided by just wearing proper eye protection. For sports, the eye protection should meet the exact specified requirements of that particular activity, which are usually established and certified by the various sport’s authorities and governing bodies.
When it comes to eye protection around the home, standard issue ANSI-approved protective eye wear should be worn.
Avoiding Eye Fatigue
If your eyes become tired from continuously looking at a computer screen, or doing work which requires extreme focus, then it’s recommended that you follow the “20 20 20” rule.
This is looking up from your work at least once every 20 minutes, and then looking at an object which is approximately 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.
If the eye fatigue continues to persist, it can be a sign of a few conditions, such as, presbyopia, dry eye syndrome, or your eye glass lenses not being centered properly.
It’s recommended that you see your eye specialist if the eye fatigue persists, or becomes worse. Determine why you’re having this fatigue, and then get the proper treatment.