Diabetic Retinopathy

If you have diabetes, it is imperative to take care of your health. Some people who have diabetes may deal with diabetic retinopathy. This issue will affect your eyes when blood sugar levels cause damage to blood vessels in the retina, making it swell up and leak. If you ignore this condition for too long, it might result in complete blindness. You can prevent the scenario from getting worse by detecting it early, going for routine check-ups, and even managing your diabetic level.

Cataracts

You usually hear about this eye condition in elderly people. Maybe your grandma had it, or someone of that age range. Every eye has its natural lens, which gets clouded after a specific time, considered as cataract. This lens lies just behind the pupil. Most cataracts are primarily related to aging and might take place in both eyes. Surgery is one proven way to remove it. The procedure is mostly safe and will improve vision. Some symptoms are blurry, cloudy, or misty vision.

Dry Eyes

As understood from the name itself, it is one condition where the eyes fail to produce adequate tears. So, the eye’s surface remains dry and not adequately lubricated, giving rise to vision issues and eye irritation. There are so many reasons behind this condition, including aging, diseases, problems with the eye structure, and even not-suitable medicines. Some symptoms are redness or pain, blurry vision, itching, and more. If you can visit a medical professional, they can treat the situation with ease by prescribing eye drops.

Color Blindness

Also defined as CVD or color vision deficiency, color blindness is one deficiency where you fail to see colors. It will actually affect men more than women. The most common color blindness form is the red-green one, and this form of issue is primarily hereditary. So, for example, if a mother is dealing with color blindness, her son will too. Color blindness can be a result of aging, eye disease, or even retina damage. There are several different types of color blindness as well.

Glaucoma

Here is another eye condition that you have probably heard of, but only affecting those in their older years. Glaucoma happens to be an eye disease that damages the eye’s optic nerve, resulting in complete vision loss. It can affect both eyes at the same time! Glaucoma is mainly categorized into narrow-angle and open-angle. Treatment is comprised of essential eye drops. If the situation worsens, an ophthalmologist might suggest going for surgery and laser treatment.

Farsightedness

Also defined as hyperopia, farsightedness is pretty common among masses. Here, you get to see distant objects pretty well, but while coming nearer to them, your vision starts to blur. The level of farsightedness will also influence the focusing ability. Those patients who have severe farsightedness will always view objects clearly at a greater distance. Then you have others with mild foresight, who can easily see closer objects clearly. It is an issue detected at birth and is hereditary. The solution is pretty simple; farsightedness can be mitigated with contact lenses or eyeglasses. If the problem persists and nothing seems to work, surgical treatment is the last resort.

You will know you have farsightedness when nearby objects seem to be appearing blurry, and you have to squint your eyes to see well. Sometimes, patients might suffer from eye strain, which includes aching around the eyes or feeling a burning sensation. You might feel a headache or experience discomfort after conducting tasks like writing, working on a computer, reading, or even drawing. Consulting a doctor at this stage is pretty important.

Nearsightedness

Another prevalent vision problem is myopia or nearsightedness. With this condition, you get to see objects clearly, but only those that are nearer to your vision. However, as the object moves farther away, your vision starts to blur. This scenario takes place when your eye shape causes light rays to refract incorrectly. So, you get to focus on the images located in front of your retina instead of on the retina. There’s no proven point on how fast nearsightedness might develop. It can develop pretty slowly, and then you have times when it won’t take much time to worsen the situation. Sometimes, the case starts to dmeteriorate during adolescence. This form of eye disease runs in the family.

A basic check-up is enough to know if you are one such victim of myopia. Using eyeglasses or lenses, or even going for refractive surgery can solve the issue as well. Some symptoms include vision turning blurry while focusing on objects that are located far away, partially closing the lids or squinting to see clearly, and even causing headaches as a result of eyestrain. If you have myopia, chances are high you will find it difficult to see the road while driving at night.

Foods That Improve Eyesight

Multiple studies indicate that your eyes need selected nutrients to maintain proper working ability, which includes Vitamin C and E, beta carotene, and even other minerals like copper and zinc. If you have these in your regular diet plan, you can reduce the risk of eye problems by 25%. Furthermore, certain food combinations can work as a savior for your excellent eyesight, like zeaxanthin, omega-3 acids, lutein, and more. Other studies show that a diet that includes copper, lutein, omega-3 fatty acids, and zeaxanthin will improve your vision and let it stay crystal-clear for years to come. So, be sure to check out the best nutrient-based food items, perfect for healthy eyesight.

Green, Leafy Vegetables and Carrots

Green leafy vegetables are known for their richer zeaxanthin and lutein content. They are even good sources of vitamin C, which is perfect for maintaining an eye condition. Some of the best leafy greens that you should try are kale, spinach, and collard greens. Carrots are pretty easy to get and full of beta carotene, and vitamin A. Carrots get their orange color from beta carotene. Vitamin A is perfect for maintaining the eye’s health, because of its rhodopsin, designed to help the retina absorb light properly. Not just your eyes, but your entire body needs vitamin A to function properly.

Fish, Legumes, and Nuts

Fish have a higher source of omega-3 acids. The oil, located in their body tissue and gut, will offer a higher level of Omega-3 components. Some fish, in particular, for you to try are salmon, tuna, mackerel, trout, anchovies, sardines, and herring. Fish oil is often proven to reverse the effect of dry eyes. So, your eyes will remain lubricated for a long time. Nuts have rich omega-3 fatty acids in them alongside a higher level of Vitamin E. It will protect eyes from any age-related damage. Some legumes and nuts, which are a must to add in your diet plan, are Brazil nuts, walnuts, cashews, lentils, and peanuts.

Water and Citrus Fruits

Just like for your entire body, fluid is also vital for your eyesight. If you can drink a good amount of water daily, you are practically preventing dehydration from taking place. It can always reduce any symptoms associated with dry eyes. Everyone knows that citrus fruits are pretty high in vitamin C, which is also a proven antioxidant. Even AOA will recommend adding citrus fruits in your diet plan, especially if eye damage runs in your family. Some of those fruits are your basic grapefruits, oranges, and lemons.

Seeds and Sweet Potatoes

You can’t ignore the importance of seeds when it comes to omega-3s and vitamin E. You don’t have to work much to keep these seeds handy, as most of those are available online and from grocery stores. Some seeds to try include flax, chia, and hemp seeds. Once you have gone through carrots, you can give sweet potatoes a try, which is pretty rich in beta-carotene. Not only that, but you can eat sweet potato for its hefty amount of antioxidant vitamin E.

Beef

Most people love meat, and now you have more reasons to have it on your plate daily! Beef has rich zinc content within, which is perfect for maintaining better eye health. Zinc can further help in delaying any form of age-based macular degeneration or sight loss. Your eye has its own share of zinc to it, mainly in the retina portion and vascular tissue surrounding it. Some other meats like pork loin and chicken breasts will have zinc as well, but not as much as beef.

Eggs

If you love eggs, then add them to your diet plan now. The egg is your perfect source of zeaxanthin and lutein, which you know by now, are great for your eyesight. They help in reducing any form of age-based sight loss. Not only that, but eggs have their share of vitamin E, C, and zinc, as well, which are other components to maintain healthy eyesight for a long time.

For your healthy eyes, there’s a daily nutrient intake, as mentioned by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. It helps in keeping eye disease at bay and even slows down its progression. You need 500mg of Vitamin C, Vitamin E of 400 international units, 2mg zeaxanthin, 10mg lutein, and 2mg of copper oxide and even 80mg of zinc oxide. You can quickly get these amounts covered if you follow a proper diet plan with the food items mentioned already. Create a diet chart and make sure to follow it whole-heartedly.

Tips for Maintaining Good Eyesight: Avoid Reading in Low Light at Night

Maintaining the excellent condition of your eyes lies in your hands. There are some simple steps to follow if you don’t want to get spectacles at a young age. Good eyesight is a feature to be proud of, and following some simple steps can help you achieve it. You can’t cancel reading just to maintain good vision. However, what you can do is ensure that there is enough light around while reading. Avoid reading at night, especially if there’s a power cut or the light is low. These situations will put more strain on your eyes, resulting in myopia or farsightedness issues in no time. Straining your eyes way too much will even lead to unwanted headaches.

Eat a Balanced Diet

Make sure to create a diet plan that includes foods rich in Vitamin A and C as preferable antioxidants. Fish, leafy vegetables, and even some great vegetables should be on your plate. Some fatty fish like salmon have a high dose of omega-3 fatty acids, which are great for macula, known for maintaining central vision. Drinking too much alcohol, inadequate antioxidants, and even saturated fat are some reasons to create free-radical reactions, which end up harming macula. Even a diet plan with higher amounts of fat can cause some depositions, which can constrict proper blood flow in arteries. Your eyes need a particular set of nutrition to function correctly. Ocuvite eye vitamins are readily available and designed to maintain that perfect balance for maintaining the healthy condition of the eyes.

Exercise and Proper Sleep

Exercise is pretty common among masses as people are more into a picture-perfect physique these days. Always remember that exercise can also help in improving blood circulation within your body, which will furthermore help in improving oxygen levels to eyes. It can also help in removing unwanted toxins from it. If you ever fail to complete a good night’s sleep, you can feel that burning sensation in your eyes the next morning. But, you can surely feel the difference when you get a good night’s sleep. Good rest always supports your vision and will help you be in a happy mood.

Always Wash Your Hands

When the matter involves your eyes, maintaining clean hands is always necessary, mainly if you are wearing contact lenses. Before you plan to remove or put on your glasses or just touch your eyes, wash your hands with mild soap first and then dry them using a lint-free towel. Some hand-based bacteria or germs can easily cause unwanted eye infections like pink eye. While touching your eyes, anything that’s present on your fingers will go straight into your eyes. That’s how people catch colds too, as cold viruses are easier to hit your eyes.

Avoid Blue Light

You might not realize it often, but you are using digital tools for long hours, not just at work but at home as well. These devices are exposing your sensitive eyes to harmful blue light, known for its wavelengths emitting from the devices and nearer to the blue section of the spectrum. Zeaxanthin and lutein are some of the popular eye nutrients, which are concentrated in the macula and will be perfect help to filter blue light. But, you can’t produce these nutrients within your body. So, you need a proper supplement or diet focusing on these nutrients.

You have no other way but to use your computer for a long time. So, there are some safety tips that you might want to follow to use a computer without harming your eyes. Remember to keep the screen within 20 to 24 inches of your eyes and keep the top of it a little below eye level. Adjust the computer lights to minimum glare and always blink at an average rate. Try taking a break after every 20 minutes of staring at the computer screen always. If your eyes start to irritate, which is pretty standard, make sure to lubricate your eyes using dry drops.

Wear Eye Protection

If your job forces you to use airborne or hazardous materials, then you might want to wear protective glasses or safety glasses right away. Some sports like lacrosse, racquetball, and even ice hockey can often lead to dreadful eye injuries. For that reason, wearing eye protection is a bright call to make. There are some helmets available with protective masks or some separate sports goggles with polycarbonate lenses for you to try. These devices are perfect for shielding your eyes from any future damage.

Sunglasses Are a Must

The UV rays might feel nice on your body during winter months, but those rays are pretty harmful to your eyes. So, wearing the right pair of sunglasses will offer your eyes much-needed protection. Exposing your eyes to too many UV rays will boost your chance of getting cataracts at an early stage of life. It might often lead to macular degeneration as well. So, it is up to you to choose any pair that blocks around 99% to 100% of the unwanted UVA and UVB rays. Then you have wraparound lenses, which help to protect eyes from the side. You can try wearing polarized lenses too, which help in reducing glare while driving.

Visit the Eye Doctor Regularly

Age is a factor when it comes to a thorough eye check-up from time to time. Everyone needs that, especially children and older generations. The primary purpose is to try to protect your sight for as long as you can and give it your best shot. Proper eye exams under trained ophthalmologists will also help detect diseases like glaucoma, which otherwise comes with no such symptoms. It is imperative to spot these issues in their early stages, as that makes it easier to treat. Based on the eye’s present health condition, there are two types of doctors you might have to visit.

Ophthalmologists and Optometrists

The first one is ophthalmologists, who are medical doctors with specialized training and certifications in eye care. They are known to offer comprehensive eye treatment and care, treat multiple eye diseases, and can even perform eye surgeries if the situation arises. Another one is optometrists, with around four years of specialized training after graduating from an eye college. They are not just going to offer you general eye care but will end up treating some of the more common eye diseases as well. However, in terms of surgery, they are not the right physician for you.

Eye Exams

A proper eye exam comprises multiple steps. First, the doctor will ask you about your family and personal medical history. Later, their treatment comes with vision tests. These tests are here to prove if you are suffering from nearsightedness, farsightedness, or even astigmatism, which is a curved corner for blurring vision. The test can also determine if you are a victim of presbyopia, which is an age-based change in vision. Later, the doctor will test to see how well both your eyes are working as a whole.

For testing out glaucoma, doctors might ask for optic nerve tests and eye pressure options. Then, they will perform the microscopic and external exam of eyes, before diluting it and after dilation. They will perform some other tests as well, as their primary function is to get to the core of the problems before treating it with the perfect solution.

Good Eyesight Helps Children Succeed at School

There are so many reasons to fix an annual date for an eye check-up. Even if your vision isn’t blurry, still visiting an ophthalmologist for a standard or regular check-up is a must and for good reasons. Let’s talk about some reasons why you need to get your eyes checked from time to time. You might not know this, but around 80% of children are expected to have the proper vision to learn correctly in school. With such an increasing amount of screen time, kids are facing eye issues at a pretty tender age. So, an annual eye check-up is what you need to ensure that your little one is facing no problems and seeing everything comfortably and clearly. Proper eyesight will help kids succeed in sports and other related activities as well.

More About Myopia with Children

It is shocking to see how fast the number is growing of children dealing with myopia or nearsightedness. The unfortunate victim of myopia at a young age will experience this situation getting worse over time. So, they are at higher risk of potential eye-threatening conditions later in life, including retinal detachment, glaucoma, and even cataracts. So, scheduling an annual eye check-up for your kid is a smart way to detect the problem at its initial stage and get proper results. If the condition gets detected at an early stage, the controlling measures will be more straightforward.

Detecting Serious Eye Conditions

A routine eye exam will not just help you to know if you have problems with your eyes, but also an issue with your body. These tests are enough to prove if you are suffering from higher blood pressure or cholesterol, cancer, and even diabetes. While performing any comprehensive eye care exam, the ophthalmologist will observe and try to evaluate the condition and health of the retina’s blood vessels. This is one good predictor of the blood vessels’ health throughout the entire body. Some issues like hypertension, diabetes, and even hypercholesterolemia are easily visible by checking out the change in retinal blood vessels and blood supply. Such annual eye exams are mainly important for those who have diabetes or might be within the risk circle of developing it because of obesity or family history.

Facts About Eye Issues Related to Health

Over 30 million Americans have diabetes, and around 84 million have pre-diabetes. They are always at higher risk of developing diabetic eye issues, which is the primary reason behind adult blindness. Unfortunately, diabetic eye disease doesn’t have any early symptoms to watch out for. It is only up to the comprehensive eye exam, which helps in detecting disease signs to start treatment as soon as possible. Earlier detection and solution can prevent vision loss very well. Furthermore, research is not lagging in developing a proper eye test, which is perfect for identifying the risks of Alzheimer’s disease. A comprehensive eye test is likely to hit the market very soon.

Vision Screenings Aren’t Enough

Only because your kid passed the school vision test that doesn’t mean he or she has good vision. Even when it comes to the Department of Motor Vehicles, adults have to go through vision screening as well. If they pass such tests, they tend to believe that they have more exceptional eyesight. These assumptions are pretty much incorrect. Vision screenings are perfect for those with severe eye conditions.

Screenings can always identify apparent issues when any person is given a specified task to perform, like seeing a chalkboard clearly or recognizing road signs. But, it is only a proper and comprehensive eye test administered by an ophthalmologist that will prove if your vision is comfortable and precise. Such extensive tests will finally state if you are suffering from any potential eye disease, like eye cancer and glaucoma. These diseases don’t have any initial symptoms. So, a thorough check once a year will help you to know your current standing in terms of vision.

Take Care of Your Eyes

Among the five senses, vision is probably the most important one to cover. So, if anything happens to your eyes, you will be at a serious loss. However, you can prevent such a situation from taking place if you know how to maintain your eyesight. Running down through the points will help you get a glimpse of the food items you should have and the proper tests to perform annually, just to keep a check on your present eye condition.

Sources:

Optical Masters – The Different Vision Types: What Do You Have?

Mayo Clinic – Farsightedness

Medical News Today – Top 10 Foods for Healthy Eyes

WebMD – How to Keep Your Eyes Healthy

All about Vision – Importance of Eye Exams and Regular Care