Isn’t It Eyeronic? 5 Things You Are Doing to “Help” Your Eyes That Might Be Making Them Worse

1. Not Wearing Your Glasses

I hear it all the time from my patients. “I don’t wear my glasses because I don’t want my eyes to become dependent on them.” Honestly, the benefits of wearing your glasses almost always outweigh any potential cons, ESPECIALLY in people over the age of 40. When you turn 40, your near focusing system naturally starts to decline due to a condition called presbyopia. This is why people start to need reading glasses. Choosing not to wear your glasses will not help strengthen your focusing system, but instead will result in issues like eyestrain, headaches, and blurry vision. Please wear your glasses, folks!

2. Looking at the Sun

I can’t believe I even have to say this. DO NOT STARE AT THE SUN. Doing so can result in a visually damaging condition called solar retinopathy. Solar retinopathy is essentially a burn on your retina that causes central vision loss. Beyond this, long term ocular UV exposure can be linked to an increased risk of cancers in and around the eye, a worsening of cataracts, and is a risk factor for macular degeneration. Wear your sunglasses to protect your eyes whenever you go outside.

3. Using Eye Whitening Drops Like Visine

Drops like Visine and Clear Eyes have an ingredient in them that constricts the blood vessels of the eye to make the eye look white. However, the long-term effects of overusing these drops make it not worth the temporary benefits. If people get in the habit of over-using whitening drops and then try to stop, they often get rebound redness of the eyes; the eyes look much redder than when they started. The other issue with eye whitening drops is they don’t actually solve the issue of WHY the eyes were red in the first place. If you have an infection or something else going on, the drops could mask it by making the eyes white, even though damage could still be occurring due to the underlying cause.

4. Wearing Lash Extensions

The fact of the matter is, any sort of eye makeup could potentially cause ocular irritation due to the chemicals and preservatives used to make them. Even though lash extensions mean you no longer have to wear mascara, they come with their own variety of eye issues. The extensions can be damaging to the natural lash and can cause allergic reactions due to the glue adhesive. As well, it is important to keep the lashes clean, as bacteria buildup can be very common and can result in eye irritation or increased risk of infection.

5. Wearing Over the Counter “Cheaters”

Over-the-counter reading glasses do not have many prescription options and tend to range in strength from a +1.00 to a +3.00. It is very rare that I have a patient who is the perfect candidate for over-the-counter readers: either their two eyes are not exactly the same (one is stronger or weaker than the other), or they have an astigmatism which cannot be corrected using the over-the-counter options. Having reading glasses that are not perfectly tailored to your prescription can cause eye strain or difficulty with reading.

#Optometry #Health #Glasses #Eyes #Education