Thursday, August 27, 2009

Tips To Keep Your Eyes Working


How many times have you groped in the dark in frustration and felt a surge of panic when your household was suddenly plunged into darkness? Remember the sense of helplessness that prevailed?

Yes, let's face it. What most of us fear is the loss of our vision. In fact, surveys have shown that of the five senses, sight is what people fear losing the most!.

Yes most of us take our eyes for granted and fail to care for them properly.

Regardless of your age or physical health, having regular eye checks a specialist is important as most eye diseases do not exhibit symptoms in the early stages, Early treatment of detected eye diseases can help reduce your risk of permanent and irreversible vision loss.

Here are some tips to keep eyes working at their best.

1. Give Your Eyes A Break

When working in front of the computer for long hours, stop work and take a break after every hour. Get up from your seat and walk around the place or look at distant objects. These can help your eyes to have a better focus. Also have sufficient lighting to read or work to prevent eye strain.

2. Refresh Your Eyes

You may also give rest to your tired eyes by splashing cold water on them occasionally to bring back the sparkle.

3. Dry Eye Syndrome

Dry eye syndrome has many causes. One of the most common is the ageing process. Other factors include hot, dry or windy climates, high altitudes, air-conditioning and cigarette smoke. So before you reach for the artificial tears, check with your eye doctor to ascertain how significant your dry eyes are.

4. Avoid Rubbing Your Eyes

Do not rub your eyes whenever dirt gets into it as this may cause it to trap inside. Try blinking your eyes several times to start your tears flowing. This will help flush out the dirt.

5. Protect Your Eyes From The Sun

For those who spend most of the time outdoors during peak daytime, wear proper eye protection such as sunglasses to avoid excess ultraviolet (UV) exposure that may cause eye damage.

6. Choose The Right 'Shades'

Sunglasses are much more than "cool shades". They're protective barriers that cut down exposure to ultraviolet light. So be sure that the sunglasses you get are labelled as providing protection from ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B radiation.

7. Get The Right Type of Nutrition

Vitamin A is essential to healthy eyes and normal eyesight. One of the early symptoms of a deficiency of this nutrient is night blindness. Chronic, severe Vitamin A deficiency also causes a condition called xerophthalmia or drying of the eye.

Researchers believe antioxidants may help protect against macular degeneration, a serious eye disease associated with ageing.

Certain minerals are also thought to be beneficial to eye health. Zinc, for example, has also been shown to reduce the risk of macular degeneration.

8. Go For Annual Eye Check

An eye check by a professional eye doctor should be thorough and consist of the comprehensive six-point check:

i) Vision check

This helps determine several factors such as are you wearing glasses with the correct prescription; whether you have a reading problem and if you are suitable for laser correction or Lasik.

ii) Corneal check

Is your corneal healthy? Do you have dry eyes? Contact lens wearers should be very wary of corneal infections as these are caused by improper use and care of contact lenses.

iii) Glaucoma check

Glaucoma is ranked as one of the leading causes of vision impairment in the world. It happens when the pressure in the eye becomes too high and damages the optic nerves leading to vision loss. It can be prevented through early diagnosis and treatment.

iv) Cataract check

Cataract is ranked as one of the leading causes of blindness in the world. Early detection with surgery and multifocal lens will restore your vision.

v) Retina check

Retina diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration and retina hole usually come with age. Like glaucoma, these types of eye diseases can be treated if diagnosed early.

vi) Optic nerve check

Problems such as inflammation (optic neuritis), tumours and swelling can lead to symptoms such as blurred vision, loss of colour vision, floaters, headache, eye pain or discomfort, nausea and vision loss.


Author: Dr Aloysius Josept Low. Dr Low is chief consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Vista Vision Specialist, a leading provider of vision correction procedures.

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