Protecting Your Eyesight

Protecting Your Eyesight in Tallahassee

The professional eye doctors at Big Bend Family Eye Care knowing that protecting your eyesight is so very important. Poor vision or the lack thereof creates difficulty in life. Sometimes, protecting your eyesight can be so very easy, but we get either complacent or lazy and think that we’ll be able to see perfectly forever. Our optometrists have narrowed down the best ways to help you safeguard your precious gift of sight:

1. Know Your Risk for Eye Problems: Do you or any of your family suffer from diabetes or have a history of high blood pressure? Are you obese or a smoker? These traits increase your risk for sight-threatening eye diseases.

2. Monitor Your Vision: Trouble signs to look for include hazy vision, reduced color vision, and glare or difficulty seeing clearly when driving at night. These symptoms could indicate the beginning of cataracts.

3. Exercise Frequently: Studies suggest that regular exercise such as walking can reduce the risk of macular degeneration by up to 70 percent.

4. Protect Your Eyes from UV: Wear sunglasses outdoors to shield your eyes from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. This may help reduce your risk of cataracts and other eye damage.

5. Eat a Healthy and Balanced Diet: A diet rich in colorful fruits and vegetables can lower your risk of age-related eye diseases like macular degeneration. Also, consider supplementing your diet with eye vitamins to make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need to keep your eyes healthy.

6. Don’t Smoke: Smokers are at greater risk of developing age-related macular degeneration and cataracts.

7. Wearing Safety Eyewear: When playing sports or working with tools around the house, most sight-threatening eye injuries can be prevented with the proper eyewear.

8. Have Routine Eye Exams: Along with a healthy lifestyle, having a comprehensive eye exam annually is the best way to keep your eyes healthy for a lifetime of good vision.