How to Make Your Family Aware About Eye Care  

 By Aaron Barriga

Teaching your family and children about eye care is just as important as making them aware of body care. Eye care includes awareness about how your overall health habits affect eyes and vision and how to keep the eyes safe from any infection. Incorporate the following recommendations into your lifestyle to maintain a pair of healthy eyes.

1. Nurture a healthy diet and stay hydrated: Include plenty of whole foods, including grains, dark leafy greens, and citrus fruits, in everyday meals. Nutrients like lutein, zinc, beta-carotene are essential for safeguarding your eyesight. They help keep away age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or slow its progression if you already have it. Consult an eye doctor whether you would benefit from taking any supplement formulated to protect eye health. Furthermore, proper hydration plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy eyes. Make sure your family drinks plenty of water and stays hydrated.
2. Get regular exercise: Regular exercise may help suppress or control diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. These ailments can lead to some eye or vision problems. So if you take out time to exercise regularly, you can lower your risk of getting these eye and vision-related problems.
3. Safeguard your eyes from the sun: Just like how ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun can burn your skin, they can harm your eyes too. Excessive UV sun exposure potential eye health issues include cornea burns, macular degeneration, and cataracts. Remember that certain things reflect UV rays, including sand, concrete, water, and snow. You can also rely on appropriate eye gear, broad hats, and umbrellas to shield your eyes from harmful UV rays.
4. Wear proper protective eyewear: Protect your eyes when engaging in sports, using chemicals, power tools, or while gardening. Consult your eye doctor about the finest protection for your hobbies to avoid serious eye injuries. Also, never look directly at the sun.
5. Avoid Smoking: Smoking increases the risk of eye diseases, including cataracts, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), dry eyes, uveitis, and diabetic retinopathy. Smoking contributes to blood vessel damage, leading to plaque build-up and weak arteries, increasing the retina’s risk.
6. Be cautious with eye makeup: Liquid and creamy eye makeup may breed bacteria. If you get an eye infection, make sure to discard the eye makeup and consult an eye doctor immediately. Avoid sharing makeup with others and using store samples. If you have allergies, always choose hypoallergenic products and be careful when using new products. It is important to deep cleanse and dry your skin before and after using makeup.
7. Practice cleaning habits before touching your eyes: Conjunctivitis is mainly caused by germs and bacteria carried to your eyes due to dirty or unclean hands. Ensure to wash your hands with soap and warm water regularly to help keep bacteria away and prevent eye contamination. Before touching contact lenses, make sure to wash your hands with mild soap and dry them using a lint-free towel.
8. Get enough rest: Your eyes need just as much rest as your body needs every day. A good night 8-hour sleep is crucial to keep your eyes re-energized and healthy.
9. Reduce screen time: Excess screen time and blue light from screens can make your eyes fatigued and lead to eyestrain. Make sure to follow the 20-20-20 rule when recording time. This rule means that for every 20 minutes you look at the device screen, you must look away at something 20 feet far for at least 20 seconds. Screen filters are available to minimize glare.
10. Stay aware of changes to your vision: If you observe any changes in your vision or notice any discomfort in the eye, always get it checked out. Tell your family member if your eyes hurt or vision is blurry or not normal. Children don’t always complain of near-sightedness or far-sightedness because they don’t know when their vision is not normal. Signs of excessive linking, rubbing, unusual head tilt, or excessively close viewing distance are worth a visit to the eye doctor.
11. Regular eye check-ups: To maintain good eyesight and healthy eyes, visit your eye doctor regularly for a basic check-up. Even if you or anyone in your family do not wear eyeglasses should periodically check their eyes and vision. Eye check-ups can detect presbyopia, farsightedness presbyopia, glaucoma, and astigmatism vision. The eye doctor can examine your retina, macula and also assess your sight during the exam.

Children whose eyes are rapidly developing, and people at higher risk for developing eye problems, such as people with diabetes and older people, need to undergo eye exams even more frequently, at the minimum, yearly.

Author Bio:

Aaron Barriga is the online marketing manager for Insight Vision Center. With a knack for understanding medical procedures and an interest in eye and vision health, Aaron loves to share what he knows and what he learns in his research papers for Studyclerk. He blogs to inform readers about the latest eye care technology and other topics related to eye care, especially LASIK. Aaron loves collecting coasters from the different bars and restaurants he visits during his travels.

*Photos courtesy of Aaron Barriga