Ten Tips for Protecting Your Eyes

October 16, 2017

Being human we tend to take our incredible physical abilities that our bodies afford us for granted. Too often we are worried about things like, “when is our next oil change” or “am I over the recommended mileage” than we are about maintaining our own unique body parts and systems.

For instance our eyes. Too often our eyesight is taken for granted. We fail to have our eyes examined, forget to protect them when mowing the lawn or participating in sports and leave them vulnerable to the harmful effects of the sun and so on.

At Beach Eye Medical Center, your vision is our passion. Ensuring our patients are physically able to appreciate the advantages of having excellent vision, either naturally or corrected by LASIK or vision correction. So with that here are ten great tips to help protect your eyes.

1. Be aware of and up to date on your family’s eye disease history. — Identify if you’re at greater risk for problems like diabetes or high blood pressure. Being over the age of 65 or of African-American descent over 40 can also put you at a higher risk for eye disease. This makes having regular eye exams with the doctors at Beach Eye Medical very important.
2. See your family doctor for regular physical exams. — Regularly having your blood pressure checked and ruling out the possibility of diabetes is extremely important since both of these diseases can lead to eye diseases like macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
3. Monitor changes in your vision — Difficulty seeing in low light, double vision, repeated flashes of light, red eyes, floaters, persistent eye discomfort. All of these symptoms need urgent attention paid to them.
4. Safeguard your eyes from the harmful effects of the sun — Protect your eyes from UV rays by wearing sunglasses. Why? Cataracts are often caused by UV rays from the sun as well as other eye problems.
5. Change your diet — Studies have shown that eating antioxidants like blueberries and broccoli can decrease the risk of developing cataracts and eating fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of developing macular degeneration.
6. Physically exercise more — Exercising regularly can reduce the chance of having age-related macular degeneration by up to 70 percent.
7. Don’t start or quit smoking — If you smoke you are much more prone to developing diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and uveitis and other eye problems like cataracts.
8. Have your eyes examined at the minimum of every two years — Various eye conditions do not show symptoms until your vision has been damaged already. Comprehensive eye exams however, including the dilation of your pupils, may uncover your chance of incurring diseases like diabetic retinopathy.
9. Wearing eye protection — Playing sports, doing yard work, working with tools, and so on require wearing protective eyewear. Professional sports athletes like Horace Grant of the Chicago Bulls wear protective eyewear while working so why shouldn’t you while you’re trimming your sidewalk.
10. Rest your eyes and don’t forget to blink! Staring at the computer screen or looking at something close for extended periods of time can contribute to eyestrain. To help alleviate eye fatigue, we recommend following the 20-20-20 rule. At 20 minutes intervals, shift your gaze. Look at something 20 feet away and count slowly to 20.

Is it time for your regular eye exam with Beach Eye Medical? Call us at 714-965-9696 to make your appointment