Top tips for ensuring optimum eye health

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You use them every day, but how much do you know about looking after your eye’s health? Like carrying out regular exercise to ensure that your body remains in good condition, your eyes also need regular maintenance to stay in good shape. Read on to discover some top tips for ensuring optimum eye health.

Get an eye test on a regular basis

You visit the dentist every six months to get your teeth checked; ensuring you have regular eye check-ups is no less a priority. You might think that regular eye tests are only necessary for those who are long or short-sighted and wear glasses or contact lenses; however, even if you have 20-20 vision, you will benefit from a regular check-up.

A trained optician will assess any vision changes and help you find attractive glasses that fit with your prescription. Additionally, certain eye conditions, such as cataracts and glaucoma, develop at a slow rate and are relatively painless; with a regular eye test, your optician will be able to spot any conditions in their early stages and advise you on how best to treat them.

Don’t ignore symptoms

It can be tempting to dismiss blurred vision and floaters as merely symptoms of tiredness; however, they could be a sign of something else if such symptoms appear in a particular combination or for a sustained period. A flash of light and a sudden increase in eye floaters, for instance, could indicate a retinal detachment, in which case you should immediately seek medical assistance. Cloudy vision and seeing haloes around bright lights like street-lamps and car headlights could indicate a cataract which, if left untreated, can lead to vision impairment and make daily activities such as driving dangerous.

There are many benefits of cataract surgery, a procedure that involves replacing the cloudy optical lens with a synthetic lens to restore good vision.

Ensure that your working environment is eye health-conscious

Most people carry out a large proportion of their work on screens, whether that is a computer or laptop, a cell phone, or an iPad. Consider the huge use of such screens in leisure activities, and it’s no wonder that an increased number of people are experiencing screen-related eye strain. To help combat this, ensure that your working environment is optimized for eye health. Upgrade your display to an LCD screen, which is easier on the eye and have an anti-reflective surface, reducing eye strain. You might also like to invest in blue light glasses, which could potentially reduce eye strain by blocking out the artificial blue light emitted by screens.

However, perhaps the most effective method for ensuring eye health when working is to ensure that you take regular breaks from looking at a screen. Opticians recommend looking at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes – gazing out of the window should do the trick. Keep your eyes moist by drinking water and blinking regularly.