Not All Sunglasses Are The Same

Who doesn’t love the outdoors on a gorgeous sun-filled day? If you spend a great deal of time outside, you’re likely at a higher risk for eye damage caused by UV rays. The good news is with the right eye protection, you can reduce your exposure to solar radiation so that it’s not an issue.

Most people are aware that getting too much sun is bad for your skin, but what they usually don’t know the same principle applies to their eyes. If your eyes are exposed to excessive amounts of UV radiation over a short period of time, you’re likely to experience a condition called photokeratitis, which in essence is an eye sunburn. Symptoms can include redness, a gritty sensation, extreme sensitivity to light, and excessive tearing. Photokeratitis is usually temporary and rarely causes permanent damage.

Serious conditions, such as cataracts or retina damage, are often caused by long-term exposure to UV radiation.

To protect your eyes, you need sunglasses, and not just any pair will do. The American Optometric Association recommends finding sunglasses that:

• Block 99 to 100 percent of both UV-A and UV-B radiation
• Screen out 75 to 90 percent of visible light
• Are perfectly matched in color and free of distortion and imperfection
• Have lenses that are gray for proper color recognition

Additionally, try wearing a wide-brimmed hat as well as wraparound shades for optimal protection from the sun. You’ll be doing your eyes a favor for years to come!

Are You Playing it Safe?

Spring is finally here, and more people are getting outdoors to participate in sports and recreation. With that, it only seems appropriate that the month of April is Sports Eye Safety month.

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, tens of thousands of sports and recreation-related eye injuries occur every year. This ranges from scratches on the surface of the eye to blinding injuries. Because your regular eyewear doesn’t offer protection from such incidents, you need protective eyewear that’s appropriate for your level of activity. By doing this, you can prevent up to 90 percent of serious eye injuries.

According to www.geteyesmart.org, the following will help protect your and your family’s vision during sports and outdoor recreation activities.

1. Youth that play sports should wear eye protection such as polycarbonate lenses or masks that meet the requirements of the American Society of Testing Materials, even if the league doesn’t require it.
   
   
2. People who wear contacts or glasses should also wear protective eyewear because contacts offer no protection and glasses are not sufficient protection (lenses may shatter when hit by a projectile).
   
   
3. To preserve the vision they have left, all functionally one-eyed athletes – those with one normal eye and the other eye with less than 20/40 vision, even when corrected with glasses or contacts, should wear appropriate eye protection for all sports.
   
   
4. Functionally one-eyed athletes and those who have had an eye injury or surgery should not participate in boxing or full-contact martial arts because of the high risk of additional serious injury that could lead to blindness.
   
   
5. For sports in which a facemask or helmet with an eye protector or shield must be worn, such as football and lacrosse, it is strongly recommended that functionally one-eyed athletes also wear sports goggles that conform to the requirements of ASTM F803.
   
   
6. Sports eye protection should be replaced when damaged or yellowed with age, as they may have become weakened and are no longer protective.

Presbyopia is a Part of Getting Older

As we age, our bodies change due to natural wear and tear. Our skin starts to wrinkle and sag, muscles begin to shrink and lose mass, and hair becomes grayer. Your visual acuity also begins to decline, and this typically happens after you reach the age of 40. This common condition is called presbyopia, which means “old eyes” in Latin.   

Because it’s an age-related change and not a disease, presbyopia can’t be prevented. However, living a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise and a well-balanced diet can help slow the process.

What causes presbyopia? The lenses of our eyes lose their flexibility, causing them to become weaker over time. This makes it difficult to focus on close objects. While the condition may seem to occur suddenly, it actually takes a few years for your lenses to become weak.   

Common symptoms. If you hold reading materials at arm’s length, you might have presbyopia. Additional signs include blurred vision when you’re reading at a normal distance as well as eye strain with headaches when you work on things up close.

Simple solutions. To help you see clearly and comfortably, an optometrist can prescribe reading glasses, bifocals, trifocals, or contact lenses to compensate for presbyopia. You may only need to use glasses to complete up close work, such as reading, but you might also find it beneficial to use vision correction at all times.

As with any changing condition, presbyopia requires periodic monitoring. An annual visit to our office will ensure that you’re equipped with the best corrective vision solution for your needs.

If you think you might have presbyopia or you’re due for another age-related vision check, don’t hesitate to contact us today!

The Skinny on Eye Color Genes

You may have learned in biology class that your eye color is determined by the genes you inherited. (Genes are essentially “sets of recipes” that are provided in our DNA.) Along with that, you were probably taught about dominant and recessive genes. For eyes, the dominant gene for the color brown always won over the recessive gene for blue eyes. Unfortunately, that information isn’t right. In the past decade, scientists have discovered the influence of genes on eye color is a little more complicated.

A number of different factors define a person’s eye color, the most important of which is eight different color-related genes. The genes control how much melanin, or color pigment, exists in the iris of your eyes. For instance, a gene called OCA2 controls almost 75 percent of the blue-brown color spectrum. Other genes can overrule OCA2, but that rarely happens. This can explain why green eyes are a rarity throughout the world.

What defines human eye color is the amount of light that reflects off the iris, which is a muscular structure that controls how much light enters the eye. So, a person with a high level of melanin pigment in their iris will have brown eyes. Those with a moderate level of iris melanin will have green or hazel eyes, while someone with a low amount will have blue eyes.

There’s a wide range of eye color among people, and many of them don’t fall neatly into the categories of brown, hazel, blue, and green eyes. That is the result of the many ways in which the eight eye color genes can affect one another. Individuals with eye colors other than brown have a European descent, and those who have brown eyes are typically from African and Asian populations. Interestingly, a group of researchers found in 2008 that the gene associated with blue eyes only appeared in the last 6,000 to 10,000 years in Europeans.

Traumatic Brain Injuries & Vision

It’s not uncommon for someone who experiences a traumatic brain injury (TBI) to develop visual problems. A TBI can be caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. TBIs can range in severity from mild to severe—in fact, the CDC says that most TBIs that occur in the United States are mild and more commonly known as concussions.

Each year, TBIs contribute to a substantial number of disability cases. A short- or long-term loss in vision quality is just one of the many symptoms an individual may experience. A TBI can also impact attention and memory, coordination and balance, hearing, perception, and touch. Personality changes, aggressive behavior, poor impulse control, and mood disorders, such as depression and anxiety, can also appear after a TBI.  

In addition to cognitive, physical, or other sensory impairments, here are some common visual problems that can result from a brain injury:

• Blurred vision
• Sensitivity to light and glare
• Reading difficulties
• Headaches associated with visual tasks
• Frequent bumping into objects, especially with one side of your body
• Double vision
• Aching eyes
• Reduction or loss of visual field
• Difficulty with eye movements
• Unable to maintain eye contact
• Dizziness/vertigo
• Dry eyes
• Visual hallucinations

Treatments such as vision rehabilitation, corrective lenses, or light therapy can be used to successfully reduce or eliminate vision impairments caused by TBIs. Brain injury or not, if you experience any of the symptoms listed above, give us a call. We can quickly pinpoint any issues with a comprehensive eye exam.  

Prepping for Your Next Eye Appointment

Whether you’re visiting our office for the first time or you’ve been a patient for years, you can do a little homework to be better prepared for your next appointment. To identify some items you should discuss during your next visit, consider the following:

What daily activities impact your eyes? For instance, do you spend lots of time in front of a computer screen or do you find yourself mostly outdoors? Those who frequently use digital devices might experience eye strain while those who work outside are more susceptible to eye sunburns or cancer caused by UV light. If you tell us about the conditions that impact your vision, such as the examples listed here, we can better address your personal eye health.

Have you noticed a change in your eye sight? Even if you answered “no,” your vision can gradually decline without your knowledge. As you age, the sharpness of your visual acuity declines. By the time you reach 40 years old, it’s common to experience a loss of near focusing abilities. (This is called presbyopia.) The best way to keep on top of your vision is to schedule a checkup every year or two.

Will you need more than one pair of glasses? If you need to wear glasses in a variety of settings, it’s best to get more than one pair to fit your different needs. It wouldn’t make sense to wear the same pair while driving at night, working on a construction site, or hitting the bike trails. We will help you choose eyewear with features, such as glare protection, impact-rated lenses, or sports eyewear, to match your lifestyle activities.

Why St. Patrick’s Day is an Eye Healthy Holiday

When you think of St. Patrick’s Day, you may think of leprechauns, corned beef and cabbage, and a pint of Guinness. But did you know that St. Patrick’s Day is also an opportune time to incorporate some eye healthy foods into your diet?

Why? Greens!!!! Leafy greens provide some of the most essential nutrients your eyes need—and what better day to consume these greens than the most Irish of holidays? So, without further ado, here are some of my top recommendations for eye healthy superfoods that will get your family in the St. Patrick’s Day spirit.

• Cabbage. You can enjoy one of the most popular dishes of the holiday, corned beef and cabbage, and reap the benefits to your eye health as well. Cabbage comes in a variety of colors (of the most common is green) and it’s rich in Vitamin A, which is essential to your retinal health.
• Kale, broccoli, or spinach. These green veggies are packed with lutein and zeaxanthin, two nutrients that protect the retina against oxidative damage and decrease the risk for macular degeneration.
• Green tea. I’m not saying you can’t enjoy a good old-fashioned green beer too, but green tea is a wonderful drink with numerous health benefits, including the protection it provides against diseases like cataracts.

 

There are other ways to incorporate eye health into your diet. Salmon, for example, is a food rich in DHA, which helps prevent macular degeneration. Consider a recipe like this Irish-roasted salmon to appease the masses.

http://www.food.com/recipe/irish-roasted-salmon-169936

Do you have an eye-healthy Irish recipe you love? Share it in the comments below!