"Simple Steps to Keep our Eyes Healthy.." 'Judith Whitehead' (Inspiration Monday)

"Guest-blogger Judith Whitehead lives in Amherst N.Y. and has worked in the ophthalmology field of medicine for over 30 years..." She talks about you guessed it, Eye health!


Simple Steps to Keep our Eyes Healthy

 

 

Starting at a young age, probably preschool age, all children should have a baseline eye exam.  Amblyopia, or lazy eye, is something children are born with.  Children don’t complain of not being able to see and this problem will most likely go undetected until later years when it is then too late to treat.  If this problem is detected at a young age there are treatments that can be done to “turn on” that lazy eye and train the brain to use that eye. Usually patching, dilating  eye drops or glasses, or all three treatments can force the lazy eye to be used and develop before it is too late.  This condition is usually hereditary as well,so parents can be on the lookout  for symptoms of vision loss.

 

It is helpful to know your own family history because conditions such as glaucoma, lazy eye, macular degeneration and others can be carried on in family lines.  Any eye condition that is detected in early life gives the Eye Doctor a better chance to treat and monitor it before it is too late.  Eye diseases such as glaucoma can slowly take a persons eye sight until it is too late to treat.  Glaucoma can only be treated and halted but not reversed. 

 

It is important to eat a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables to maintain good eye health; green leafy vegetables  can help with the retina, especially with the macula in promoting good vision. Believe it or not there is some truth that carrots with their beta carotene do promote good eye health.

 

If you think you have an eye problem weather it is a vision problem or eye pain, it is best to address it sooner than later as the problem can only worsen and make it harder to treat in the future.  Do Not experiment with other peoples eye drops; you don’t know what they were used for and you can make matters worse as I have seen first hand.  Simple over the counter tear formulas are the only safe thing to use without a prescription.

 

To maintain good eye health, one needs to only follow a few simple rules…Don't sleep in your contact lenses, it increases the chance of an eye infection 50%, don’t wear someone   else’s eye-glasses,  and don’t put off regular eye exams.  Every adult should have an exam every 2-3 years if your eyes are healthy. 

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