If you spend a lot of time at the computer or on your phone, you may forget to blink — and that can tire out your eyes. Try using the 20–20–20 rule throughout the day: every 20 minutes, look away from the screen and focus about 20 feet in front of you for 20 seconds.
Get plenty of physical activityRegular physical activity comes with a lot of great benefits. It can boost your mood, reduce stress, help you stay at a healthy weight — and protect you from serious eye diseases!
Sunglasses can protect your eyes from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays and help keep your vision sharp. When shopping for shades, look for a pair that blocks out at least 99% of both UVA and UVB radiation.
It’s true: carrots are good for your eyes! In fact, a diet rich in a variety of fruits and vegetables — especially dark leafy greens, like spinach or kale — can help keep your eyes healthy.
Being overweight or obese increases your risk of developing diabetes and other systemic conditions, which can lead to vision loss, such as diabetic eye disease or glaucoma. If you are having trouble maintaining a healthy weight, talk to your doctor.
Wear protective eyewear when playing sports or doing activities around the home. Protective eyewear includes safety glasses and goggles, safety shields, and eye guards specially designed to provide the correct protection for a certain activity. Most protective eyewear lenses are made of polycarbonate, which is 10 times stronger than other plastics. Many eye care providers sell protective eyewear, as do some sporting goods stores.
July Fourth is nearly here and everyone in Honolulu is looking forward to the fireworks.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, at least five fireworks-related deaths were reported in 2018. An estimated 9,100 injuries due to fireworks were treated in hospital emergency rooms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say. Of those, most injuries were from firecrackers, but sparklers and bottle rockets also were to blame. More than a third (36%) of the injuries were to children 15 years of age and under. Most of the injuries involved hands and fingers, the head (including face, eyes, and ears), legs and arms.
To help prevent eye injuries during fireworks season, we recommend the following tips to help protect and preserve eyesight during the Fourth of July holiday:
If an eye injury occurs, immediately seek medical attention from your local doctor of optometry or the nearest emergency room, You should refrain from rubbing their eyes or applying pressure. Don’t attempt to remove any objects that may be stuck in the eye, and avoid taking pain medications such as ibuprofen or aspirin that may thin the blood.”
With today’s medical advances, more and more people are living longer and celebrating good health: They are eating healthy foods, they are staying active, they are controlling their blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and they are not smoking.
Practice good eye health … Make vision a health priority by seeing your eye care professionalFeeling good and living life to its fullest also means taking good care of your eyes. Even if you enjoy relatively good vision now, visiting your eye care professional once a year is the best thing you can do to care for your eyes. Getting an eye exam is more important now than ever before, because as you get older, you are at higher risk of developing several age-related eye diseases and conditions, including—
In their early stages, these diseases often have no warning signs or symptoms. In fact, the only way to detect them before they become serious and cause vision loss is through a comprehensive dilated eye exam. Fortunately, if your eye care professional catches and treats these conditions early, he or she can protect your eyesight.
A comprehensive dilated eye exam is important to maintain and protect healthy vision. During this exam, drops are placed in the eyes to dilate or widen the pupils (the round opening in the center of the eye). The eye care professional uses a special magnifying lens to examine the retina (the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye) and optic nerve (the bundle of fibers that send signals from the retina to the brain) for signs of damage and other eye problems.
In addition to seeing your eye care professional routinely, you can do the following things to protect your vision:
The National Eye Institute (NEI) is part of the National Institutes of Health and the federal government’s lead agency for vision research that leads to sight-saving treatments, and it plays a key role in reducing visual impairment and blindness. For more information, visit the NEI Website at www.nei.nih.gov
Talk to your family members about their eye health history. It’s important to know if anyone has been diagnosed with a disease or condition since many are hereditary. This information will help to determine if you are at higher risk for developing an eye disease or condition.
Your eye examination includes: checking the front of the eyes making sure that the cornea is healthy without tear malfunction, the internal natural lens of the eye is clear without cloudiness or cataract, the optic nerve is not damaged due to glaucoma or other factors, and the central vision of the eye is not impaired from retinal changes or macular degeneration.
Your eyes are an important part of your health. There are many things you can do to keep them healthy and make sure you are seeing your best. Follow these simple steps for maintaining healthy eyes well into your golden years.
Have a comprehensive dilated eye exam. You might think your vision is fine or that your eyes are healthy, but visiting your eye care professional for a comprehensive dilated eye exam is the only way to really be sure. When it comes to common vision problems, some people don’t realize they could see better with glasses or contact lenses. In addition, many common eye diseases such as glaucoma, diabetic eye disease, and age-related macular degeneration often have no warning signs. A dilated eye exam is the only way to detect these diseases in their early stages.
During a comprehensive dilated eye exam, your eye care professional places drops in your eyes to dilate, or widen, the pupil to allow more light to enter the eye the same way an open door lets more light into a dark room. This dilation enables your eye care professional to get a good look at the back of the eyes and examine them for any signs of damage or disease. Your eye care professional is the only one who can determine if your eyes are healthy and if you are seeing your best.
Blurry vision is not the only reason to have an eye exam. Your child could have difficulty using both eyes together, a critical reading skill, and you might not know. Back to school means it’s time to get a comprehensive eye exam. Also, much of a child’s learning is visual. How well can your child see? If you don’t know, it’s time for a comprehensive eye exam.
The eyes are the only place in the body where we can actually see your blood vessels. For that reason, many health issues effecting other parts of the body can be observed in the eyes and sometimes before that disease is known to you. Medication side effects can affect your vision too.
Lumify is an #eyedrop that helps with reducing redness and making the eyes 👀 appear whiter and brighter ✨ We carry them in our office so stop by and snag a bottle before it’s gone! #alamoanaeye
CONTACTS! 👀 Seriously! Curry has a condition called #keratoconus in which the cornea, normally a circle, progressively thins and takes on a cone shape. When the cornea has a cone shape, it is unable distribute the light entering the eye equally and leads to blurred or distorted vision. Schedule an annual eye exam with our 👀 doctors and you too can become a shooting legend like Steph Curry (sorry, no guarantees 😜)
Make an appointment with our doctors to see if these are right for you! 👀#alamoanaeye
Our eyes are the window to our health. The goal as we “get on in years” is to be able to stay active and vibrant. Adopting a healthy lifestyle of eating properly, exercising and yearly health evaluations including yearly eye examination help with this goal.
Smoking damages nearly every organ in your body, including your eyes. We urges all our patients not to use tobacco or e-cigarettes, as smoking can cause harm to eye health.
Quitting smoking isn’t easy. It takes time. And a plan. You don’t have to stop smoking in one day. Start with day one. Let the Great American Smokeout event on November 15 be your day to start your journey toward a smoke-free life. You’ll be joining thousands of smokers across the country in taking an important step toward a healthier life and reducing your cancer risk. Plus, the American Cancer Society can help you access the resources and support you need to quit.
For more information download this fact sheet on Smoking, Vaping, and Your Eyes
More than 30 million Americans have diabetes and another 84 million have prediabetes and are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In addition, diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults. As prevalent as the condition is, 79 percent of Americans don’t know diabetic eye diseases have no visible symptoms and more than half do not know comprehensive eye examinations can detect diabetes, according to the most recent American Eye-Q® Survey conducted by the American Optometric Association (AOA).
During November’s Diabetes Awareness Month, the AOA, the leading authority in eye and vision healthcare, is committed to educating the public about the relationship between diabetes and eye health, as the annual Eye-Q survey shows that after learning about the topic many participants said they would be prompted to take steps to ensure their eye health. The AOA advocates for regular, dilated eye exams for those with diabetes, or at risk for diabetes, because the alternatives, like online vision apps, only check for refractive errors like nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism and cannot detect diabetes.
