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Eye Exercises for Better Vision
It’s no secret that our eyes are incredibly sensitive, so finding ways to reduce straining is always recommended. Many people find themselves at a computer screen for most of the day, followed by playing on their phone or watching TV in the evening. This can cause serious strain and discomfort over time, but luckily there are some eye exercises that temporarily soothe the eyes. Here are some eye exercises and tips for maintaining good eye health:
Palming
These simple exercises can be a great way to take a break from what you’re doing, and give your eyes some time to readjust. Start by finding a quiet place to perform these exercises without distractions. Palming is a technique that promotes relaxation in the eye muscles with the use of your own body heat. Begin by rubbing your hands together to generate warmth, then cup your palms up to your eyes without applying pressure. Take a few deep breaths and relax while keeping your eyes covered. Focus on the warmth and darkness created by your palms, and allow your mind to decompress. When you open your eyes, blink gently to rehydrate and refresh your eyes.
Figure 8
To build flexibility in the eyes, try a technique called “the figure 8”. Visualize a large, horizontal figure-eight or infinity sign in front of you. The imaginary figure-eight should be positioned at eye level and should be large enough to require your eyes to move in a smooth, continuous motion to trace its shape. Perform this exercise for about 30 seconds, focusing on your gaze. After you’ve completed the exercise in one direction, reverse the direction of the figure-eight and continue to follow it with your eyes for another 30 seconds to a minute. Once you finish, close your eyes and take a few seconds to blink.
Eye exercises can sound silly, but can help refresh the state of your eyes throughout the day. As we demand a lot from the use of our sight, taking a moment to rest our eyes might just be worth it. In any event you require eye surgical procedures, remember to follow aftercare instructions, including wearing eye protection. To learn more about protective eye-gear, contact us today or visit our website!
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Contact Lens Care and Maintenance
While some people choose to wear glasses, others might have the preference of wearing contacts. Contacts give people the ability to see as well as maintaining their everyday look. But in order to wear contacts regularly, you must perform proper care. Proper contact lens care and maintenance are essential for maintaining good eye health and ensuring the longevity of your contact lenses. Here are some important steps and tips to follow.
Sanitary Behavior
Your eyes are incredibly susceptible to germs and bacteria, and should be protected when inserting or removing contact lenses. A huge part of contact lens care is sanitation, so it is crucial to wash your hands before your routine. Always start by washing your hands with soap and water and drying them thoroughly with a lint-free towel before handling your contact lenses. Using lint-free towels will prevent tiny fibers of hairs from entering the eye, which could cause discomfort. After washing your hands, place one lens in the palm of your hand, add a few drops of the recommended solution, and gently rub the lens with your fingertip. Rinse the lens thoroughly with the same solution to remove any loosened debris and cleaning solution. When removing contacts, be sure to have a proper solution to disinfect before storing them. Never reuse the same solution.
Regular Exams
When someone decides to wear contact lenses, it is similar to the upkeep of wearing eye glasses. You must go in and have a regular eye exam to maintain your needed prescription. Schedule regular eye exams with your eye care professional to ensure your contact lenses fit properly and are still suitable for your eyes. This is because your eye prescription can change over time. Regular eye exams ensure that your contact lens prescription is up-to-date, providing you with the most accurate and comfortable vision correction. The frequency of eye exams for contact lens wearers may vary depending on your specific situation, but typically, it’s recommended to have an eye exam at least once a year.Wearing contacts can improve your sight, but it will require dedication and caution. In any event you require protective eye shields after a contact lens related injury, seek help from your ophthalmologist. Eye protection is a priority of ours to help patients protect their improved vision. To learn more about protective eye-gear, contact us today or visit our website!
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How Healthy Behaviors Impact Eye Health
Living a healthy lifestyle can benefit you in many ways, including lengthening your life span. Age can take a toll on the body, especially the eyes. While age is the most common cause of cataract formation, it turns out your lifestyle behaviors play a large part as well. Learn how healthy behaviors impact your eye’s health, as well as how bad behaviors damage it.
Diet
The saying, “you are what you eat”, takes on a whole new meaning when you enter your older years. This is why it’s important to monitor your food intake to keep your body healthy. As for your eyes, eating foods with certain nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, lutein, zinc, and vitamins C and E can help maintain eye health and vision. These foods can include leafy greens, carrots, eggs, nuts, and salmon. Eating a proper and nutrient packed diet can help control weight gain, preventing the development of diabetes. Diabetes is known to affect the quality of your vision, so eating clean can make all the difference for your eyes.
Exercise
Staying physically active can help reduce the risks of many complications such as eye disease, glaucoma, and high blood pressure. Exercises such as walking, cycling, swimming, and aerobic options are great for keeping your vision strong and can delay the need for glasses. Keeping yourself active and accountable for your overall health is always recommended, but the health of your eyes will depend heavily on how you treat your body.
What to Avoid
Certain foods and dietary habits can have a negative impact on eye health. Diets high in sugar, especially refined sugars, can increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Diabetes can lead to diabetic retinopathy, a condition that affects the blood vessels in the retina and can result in vision loss. Processed foods often contain unhealthy fats, excessive salt, and low nutritional value. A diet rich in processed foods may contribute to conditions like obesity and high blood pressure, which can in turn affect eye health. Smoking can also negatively impact your eye’s health, damaging the blood vessels throughout the body, including those in the eyes. This can lead to reduced blood flow to the eyes, increasing the risk of various eye conditions and impairing the eyes’ ability to function optimally.
Your eye’s are incredibly vital in your everyday life, so treat them and your body with respect by eating well and staying active. In any case you require surgery due to these complications, make sure to use protective eye shields to ensure a smooth recovery. Eye protection is a priority of ours to help patients protect their improved vision. To learn more about protective eye-gear, contact us today or visit our website!
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Scratched Cornea: Treatment and Recovery
Any sort of injury to the eye can be a cause of concern, and should be tended to promptly. The human eye is very delicate, made up by thin tissue that can easily be damaged. Eye injuries can be quite painful, and in more serious cases, lead to sight-threatening complications. A scratched cornea is one of the more common injuries, and can happen in an instant.
The Cornea
The cornea of the eye is an avascular tissue that performs as a barrier to protect it from infection. This layer keeps out germs and particles, preventing contamination. As the eye’s outermost lens, it also controls light entry and filters out harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. It plays a major role in your vision, such as helping the eye to focus. The cornea manipulates and refracts light so you can see things up close or far away. Though the cornea is considered the outermost layer of the eye, the cornea itself consists of 5 layers. These layers are known as the epithelium, Bowman’s layer, stroma, Descemet’s membrane, and endothelium.
Treatment
A scratched cornea occurs when you’ve scratched your eye. This can happen by having it poked, contact with dirt or sand, exposure to chemicals, or overworn contact lenses. Closing your eyes won’t make the pain go away, and any entry of light will only make it worse. Treatment will require you to flush the eye out with saline solution to help remove any particles that got stuck in the eye. Avoid rubbing the eye to prevent the damage from worsening. A doctor might prescribe antibiotic eye drops to help prevent infection and to encourage proper healing. Wearing an eye patch or protective eye shield can help keep out light and will protect it from any further damage.A scratched cornea isn’t typically a serious injury, but should be aided to correctly for a speedy recovery. For prevention, be sure to wear protective eyewear and practice general hygiene when switching out contacts. Eye protection is a priority of ours to help patients protect their improved vision. To learn more about protective eye-gear, contact us today or visit our website!
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How Screen Time Impacts Our Eyes
In today’s world, we rely on technology and digital devices for work and entertainment. From working on a computer, playing video games, or watching television, screen time has become a huge part of our everyday lives. Though we know it’s important to take breaks on behalf of social interactions, could there be other reasons why we shouldn’t spend so much time in front of screens? How negatively screen time can impact our eyes may come as a surprise for many.
Blue Light
The technology we use everyday produces high energy visible light, known as blue light. Though the two measure at different wavelengths, visible blue light rays are almost as damaging as invisible UV rays. Long-term exposure to blue light is linked to retinal cell damage, and can increase the risk of eye disease. In less serious cases, blue light can strain and dry out your eyes leading to deteriorated vision. It is important to take frequent breaks from your screen throughout the day to allow your eyes proper rest. Cutting back on screen time can decrease your future risks, and can help your eyes feel less fatigued.
How to Cut Back
It can be difficult to cut back on electronic use if your job requires you to use it, but there are always ways to limit your screen time throughout the day. When people take a mental break from work, they usually jump right onto their smartphones. Since your eyes feel tired from staring at a computer screen, looking at a phone screen will not be beneficial. Limit your screen time by laying your head down or closing your eyes for 30 seconds. Stand up for 5 minutes every hour to allow yourself to stretch, move around, and give your eyes the chance to readjust. For young children, it is ideal to restrain screen time for the first year of life. A child’s eyes are still developing, and screen time during their first few months can cause future vision problems such as nearsightedness. Provide them with interactive toys without the distraction and harmful effects of blue light.
Screen time can be damaging to your eyes, and should be limited everyday. Find ways to protect your eyes to ensure a long life of clear eye-sight. Eye protection is a priority of ours to help patients protect their improved vision. To learn more about protective eye-gear, contact us today!
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Proper Eye Care
Your eyes are an important part of your health and daily life, so keeping them healthy should be a high priority. While you’re in your younger years, pay mind to the state of your vision and overall health of your eyes to discover problems early on. There are several factors that contribute to vision complications, so following specific guidelines can lower future risks. Here are a few different ways to properly care for your eyes to limit gradual damage.
Frequent Eye Exams
Even if you believe your vision is in perfect condition, getting a dilated eye exam is the only true way to be certain. During this exam, your physician will test the quality of your vision and check for diseases such as glaucoma, diabetic eye disease, or any other abnormalities. During this exam, your doctor will place drops into your eye to dilate them. This will widen your pupil, allowing more light entry to be examined to determine the health of the eye.
Wear Protective EyeWear
The human eye is incredibly sensitive to sunlight, so make sure to wear sunglasses when performing activities outside. This will give your eyes a protective barrier between themselves and harsh ultra violet rays when exposed. Also wear protective eye shields or goggles when protecting your eyes post-operation. Protective eyewear is intended to keep your eyes from getting damaged, so making a habit of wearing it will prevent issues later down the road.
Rest Your Eyes
Whether it’s for entertainment or work purposes, screen time should be limited to preserve the health of your eye. Staring at a screen all day will eventually tire them due to lack of blinking and emission of blue light. Giving your eyes time to rest throughout the day will help reduce eyestrain.To keep your eyes healthy and your vision strong, you must establish proper eye care in all stages of life. Sight is a gift we simply cannot waste or take for granted. Eye protection is a priority of ours to help patients protect their improved vision. To learn more about protective eye-gear, contact us today!
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Signs & Symptoms of Eye Cancer
When you first hear the word, “melanoma”, it isn’t likely that your first thought is ocular melanoma. Unfortunately, like other parts of the body, cancer can also occur in the eye. Just like any disease, eye cancer can vary person-to-person. It can be difficult to tell if you have eye cancer based on symptoms, given that many people don’t experience or notice signs early on. If you believe you or someone you know has ocular melanoma, consider these signs to look out for and who might be at a higher risk.
Symptoms
Eye melanoma typically forms in the part of the eye that is not visible when looking at your reflection. This makes it incredibly difficult to detect any physical signs. However, in some cases symptoms and signs show up as dark spots on your iris, suddenly seeing floaters, a change in shape of your pupil, or loss of vision. It is possible for eye melanoma to spread to other distant parts of your body, such as your liver, lungs, or bones. If you suspect you have ocular melanoma, it is crucial to seek attention from your ophthalmologist.
Risks
There are specific risk factors for melanoma, including eye color. Those who have light color eyes are more prone to developing melanoma due to having less pigment. For the same reason, race also plays a role with caucasian people being more susceptible to eye cancer than those of darker pigmentation. Genetics can also be responsible due to carrying the disease, and then passing it to another generation. Finally, exposure to harmful UV rays from either sunlight or tanning beds should be avoided to lower risks.
Eye melanoma is not easily detected, but it is preventable. Be cautious when it comes to your eyes and keep them healthy by utilizing proper eye coverage. Wear sunglasses when outside, eyeshields after surgeries, and goggles when working in shops.
Eye protection is a priority of ours to help patients protect their improved vision. To learn more about protective eye-gear, contact us today!
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Patient Radiation Protection: Eye Shields
As most know, your eyes are extremely sensitive and vulnerable to light. This is why most people need sunglasses in order to drive or go outside. Although the sun cannot follow you indoors, other forms of radiation can. If you have ever been a patient receiving specialized scans, you might recall being asked to wear protective glasses or eye shields.
Radiation Scans
Common scans that consist of radioactive exposure can include X-rays, CT, and MRI’s. These scans are used to detect diseases, broken bones, teeth, or cancerous cells. While these scans can help find preventable progression of diseases and can retrieve quicker diagnosis, these radioactive rays can be incredibly damaging to the human eye. The scans produce ionizing radiation, which can cause serious tissue damage, and can even increase the risk of developing cancer. The rays destroy cells within the body, and can impact sensitive areas such as the eyes, much quicker.
Why Eye Shields Help
The use of eye protection can lower these risks, and can shield your eyes from the harmful rays. Eyeshield Technology’s products are manufactured to suit all patient’s needs. Our glasses and shields are made with optical radiation protection materials, rappelling any harmful light reflection. They are made to fit comfortably, are inexpensive, and are sanitary for single use. Our disposable shields reduce up to 40% of harmful beams, protecting all patients from radioactive damage.
Your eyes are a vital part of your body and your everyday life. They can determine your quality of life, which means you should do everything in your power to keep them in good condition. The same standards should apply to your patients, so providing them with the proper protection will gain their trust and retain their business. Eye protection is a priority of ours to help patients protect their improved vision. To learn more about what protective patient eye-gear, contact us today!
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Cataract Surgery: Procedure & Recovery
Though we all may dread aging, it is completely inevitable. We may start to notice the decline of our immune systems as well as the strength of our bones, but everyone goes through it eventually. Another unfortunate loss is the quality of our sight, resulting in stronger prescription glasses or the development of cataracts. Cataracts are relatively common amongst older age groups and can make it very difficult to see clearly. The good news is, there is a solution in the form of a surgery. To become better prepared, take the time to research cataract surgery, learn about the procedure and the required recovery period.
What is a Cataract?
A cataract is a cloudy film that grows over the lens of the eye. As we age, the protein and fibers that make up the eye will gradually deteriorate. Risks of cataracts can be higher due to genetics or health oriented problems, but aging is the number one reason. To know if you have a cataract, your symptoms would be blurry or cloudy vision, poor vision at night, faded coloration, and can experience uneven distribution of light.
Surgery
If cataracts begin to affect your quality of life, you might consider surgery to remove them. The surgery consists of numbing the eyes, making a small incision of the cornea, and breaking up the cataract for removal. The surgeon will then insert your new lens, following with the application of a protective eyeshield.
Recovery
When it comes to the recovery period, you can expect some soreness or minimal discomfort. This can be fixed with the use of over the counter prescriptions. Your doctor will encourage you to refrain from driving, wearing makeup, swimming, or most physical activities for a few days. Aftercare will likely include daily drops, and wearing your eyeshield during the day and especially while sleeping. You will need to protect the surgical area to avoid damage or injury. Obey the length of time your surgeon recommends wearing your protective eye shields, as well as the suggestive eye shield type. Eye protection is a priority of ours to help patients protect their improved vision. With any surgery, you must prepare to stay committed to the recovery process. To learn more about what you might need post-op, contact us today!
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What Questions To Ask Before Ocular Surgery
The ability to see is a privilege, and very few people have perfect vision. Even if you once had great eyesight, you may notice that it begins to decline as you age. This happens to everyone at some point in life, so you may want to expect an eye surgery later down the line. Though the experience can be rather daunting, it is crucial to stay informed about the procedure as well as the recovery process it may require. To put you at ease, here are a few questions you should ask prior to your operation.
How Long Is Recovery?
A common question to ask before committing to a procedure regards the length of recovery post-operation. You will need to be prepared to carry out all aftercare instructions for best results. This will also give you an estimate of just how long you will need to take off from work, what activities you can perform, and how long you will need to wear protective eye shields.
What Are The Side Effects?
It is best to know what to expect after surgery before the operation is performed. Ask your surgeon about possible side effects and how to ease any soreness or discomfort. This will give you an idea of any symptoms you can consider normal or abnormal, just in case you require a check up if experiencing unusual side effects.
How Soon Do I Need Surgery?
It may be a surprise to some that the human eye’s visual quality can fluctuate up until age 25. You may also experience vision change after pregnancy or as you enter your 40’s. This is why procedures such as LASIK encourage patients to wait until their mid twenties before having the treatment performed, allowing the eyes to fully mature as your body changes. Asking your surgeon these questions will help you become more comfortable and prepared for your procedure. It is important to stay informed about the state of your vision in order to know when it is time to schedule a surgery. To learn more about what you might need post-op, contact us today!