The Complete Guide to Keeping an Eye on Your Vision Health

Your eyes and vision are an important aspect of your overall health. In order to maintain your vision and eye well-being, there are steps you can take that can help guard against  vision problems, vision loss, or eye diseases. From regular eye exams and diet, to wearing sunglasses and specific eye care practices, you are equipped to protect your eyes and enjoy healthy vision.  

 

Why is Eye Care Important?

Your eyes allow you to see the world around you, focus on objects, and take in those images that then go to the brain for processing. Your eyes perceive color, light, and depth perception. Your eye and vision performance also serve as indicators for medical conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure or other diseases. Additionally, as you age, your vision changes naturally and will degenerate. You can reduce the odds of blindness and vision loss while also staying on top of any developing eye diseases such as cataracts and glaucoma when you take good care of your eyes.

Incorporating Healthy Eye Care Habits

There are easy and simple habits you can incorporate into your daily life to keep an eye on your vision! To care for your eyes and help keep healthy vision:

1. Follow a healthy diet that includes omega-3 fatty acids like salmon and tuna
2. Eat dark, leafy green vegetables like kale, spinach, or collards that contain lutein, a component known as “the eye vitamin”
3. Consume plenty of Vitamin A  from foods like carrots, milk, eggs, squash or pumpkin, or by taking over the counter Vitamin A supplements
4. Schedule regular eye and vision exams. Do not wait until you have eye pain, strain or other problems to see an eye doctor for a check up
5. Do not smoke. If you do smoke, consider quitting in order to lower your risk for cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration
6. Know your family history of any eye related diseases or conditions and share that with your eye doctor 
7. Reduce your risk for eye or vision problems through exercise and being active. There is a correlation of obesity or being overweight that can influence eye problems 

Preventative Eye Health Care Tips

To ensure good vision and healthy eyes, follow these simple yet important steps. These are measures you can take to reduce the chances of  any flare ups of major eye issues prior to them occurring. 

1. Wear sunglasses - to block out or shield harmful rays from the sun you should wear sunglasses that offer good ultraviolet protection. You will need 100% UV protection; but don't be fooled, darker lenses don't automatically offer more protection. Look for 100% UVA/UVB protection

2. Take a break periodically from your cell phone, tablet, PC or laptop screen. Staring into a screen for extended periods of time can cause eye strain, dry eye, or blurry vision. Look away from your screen every 20 minutes to give your eyes time to rest and adjust. 

3. Use eye drops or natural tears to address eye dryness or tired eyes.

4. Use anti glare screen protectors over your computer monitor or special glasses that block out emissions from LED lights.

5. If you wear contact lenses, give your eyes a break from time to time from wearing them to prevent redness, dryness, or irritation.

6. Adjust your computer monitor to sit at a distance of 20 to 40 inches away to maintain eye moisture and prevent eye strain. Ensure the monitor is at our below eye level. 

7. Wear protective glasses or safety glasses while doing home improvement projects, playing sports, or on jobs where the risk of eye injury is a possibility. Many people suffer eye injury from day to day exposure to risky practices. 

The Importance of Eye Exams

To keep up with your eye health, you should have regular eye exams and check ups. In addition to assessing overall vision, eye exams can reveal serious conditions. The following are eye diseases that a regular eye check up with an optometrist or ophthalmologist can check for:

 

Refractive Errors

Conditions like Near Sightedness, Farsightedness, Presbyopia, or Astigmatism are common eye ailments that will prevent you from seeing clearly. Getting these conditions detected with regular eye exams, making them vitally important to eye care. 

 

Glaucoma

A disease that damages your eye’s optic nerve. When fluid builds up in the front part of your eye, the extra fluid increases the pressure in your eye, damaging the optic nerve.

 

Retinopathy

The leading cause of preventable blindness that is caused by damage to the blood vessels of the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye (retina). Retinopathy appears as blurred vision or fluctuating vision. Spots are seen on the eyes or “floaters.”

Cataracts

A cloudiness of the normally clear lens of the eye. For people with cataracts, their vision is like viewing through cloudy lenses or like looking through a foggy window. Colors will appear faded and your vision will be very poor at night. Lights appear too bright and you may see halos around lights.

 

Macular Degeneration

A condition that causes damage to the retina and leads to blurred vision typically seen in people over 60 due to aging. Muscular degeneration occurs in a spot at the center of the retina called the macula. Symptoms for this condition may not show up immediately. You may not notice or see colors as brightly or intensely. Sometimes straight lines can even appear warped or wiggle. As the symptoms worsen, you can have gradual or sudden loss of central vision.

Getting to a doctor on a regular schedule for an eye exam can in many cases address these issues if caught early on. Diagnosed vision problems will be easier to treat should you begin seeking eye health services. 

Maintain Healthy Eyes with Hubble

Now that you are clear on why you should take great care of your eyes and vision, finding an eye doctor for an eye exam is easier than you may think. The stress of finding a doctor shouldn't deter you from getting an eye exam and your up-to-date prescription. After all, we're talking about your eyes, and they deserve the very best! 

Hubble's find a doctor portal is here to help!

What to Expect from Our Find a Doctor Portal

Simply fill out the form with your full name, phone number, email address, and zip code—you'll promptly receive an email with a list of nearby Hubble participating optometrists who can fit you for Hubble contact lenses and more. 

Be sure to mention that you're interested in Hubble lenses when scheduling your eye exam.

At your scheduled exam, you'll have the opportunity to try out Hubble and get your contacts and glasses prescription.