Eye see you: Tips to protect your vision

Key Takeaways:

• Refractive errors – nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism – are the most common eye conditions in younger people.
• Older adults tend to experience issues like glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.
• Knowing your family history of eye problems and wearing appropriate protection are easy ways to preserve your vision.

Vision is a key factor in quality of life, daily activities, and independence, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vision loss has been linked to loneliness, social isolation, and feelings of worry, anxiety and fear.

The good news is that key factors in some vision loss – like trauma – can be easily prevented.

In this blog, we’re going to talk about how to maintain your vision and what changes occur naturally with age.

What’s the difference between an optometrist and an ophthalmologist?

An optometrist and an ophthalmologist both will see patients for eye problems. An optometrist goes to optometry school, and they’re specialists in refractions. They often work with low-vision patients. They’re often the doctors who prescribe contact lenses and glasses.

An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor who goes to medical school and then does a minimum of four years of post-graduate medical and surgical training for eye surgeries and more advanced eye healthcare treatment.

What can I expect during an eye exam?

The exam is going to vary from patient to patient, but usually, an eye exam is going to involve an assessment of your visual acuity. 

They’re going to test each eye individually to see how well you’re able to see a distance, to assess your pupils, and to measure your intraocular pressure.

They will also look at your extraocular movements – the way your eyes move together – and they’re going to check your peripheral vision. 

A refraction may be performed where they will see if a pair of prescription glasses will improve your vision. 

Often, they will perform a dilated eye exam, where drops are placed in the eye, so the back of the eye, including the optic nerve and the retina, can be assessed to look for systemic diseases and structural abnormalities.

What are the most common eye problems in young people?

The most common eye conditions for younger patients are refractive errors – nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism. 

Around mid-40s, people start developing presbyopia, which is the loss of the ability to focus to see up close, so difficulty with near vision is often reasonable to see in a patient in that age range. 

There are some rare conditions, like idiopathic intracranial hypertension – increased pressure inside the central nervous system – or optic neuritis – inflammation of the optic nerve) – that tend to affect younger patients. 

What are the most common eye problems in older adults?

For older patients, cataracts are the most common eye problem I see patients for. There’s also glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and following patients young and old for diabetes and assessing retina health.

When should I seek immediate medical attention for my eyes?

With any trauma to the eye, you’re going to want to be seen immediately. 

Flashes of light, new floaters in your vision, and a curtain or veil in your vision are reasons to be seen right away, as are sudden acute changes in the vision, like vision loss or loss of part of your visual field or double vision.

What can I do to prevent vision loss?

Make sure you know if you have any family history of problems that would warrant you to be seen by an eye doctor at a younger age. 

Make sure you’re protecting your eyes when you’re doing yard work or housework.

Make sure you have a healthy diet, you’re protecting your eyes from UV light, and you’re keeping your regularly scheduled eye exams to be assessed for any preventable causes of vision loss.

Are there certain groups of people like whether it’s genders, ethnicities, or those with chronic conditions who are more prone to developing eye conditions?

The risk for glaucoma is higher in Black and Hispanic populations, and certain forms of glaucoma are more common in Asian populations.

Age-related macular degeneration affects women, especially elderly Caucasian females, more than any other group. 

And we know trauma happens most commonly to young adult men.

Patients with chronic conditions, like high blood pressure and particularly diabetes, are at high risk for damage to the retinal blood vessels and should have regularly scheduled appointments with an eye doctor to assess the health of their retinal vasculature.

Can the blue light from screens cause permanent eye damage?

There’s been no evidence-based, randomized controlled trial that’s shown blue light itself is damaging to the eye, including the cornea, the lens of the retina. 

We do know that blue light affects our sleep-wake cycle, so avoiding screens two-to-three hours before bedtime is good just for sleep hygiene but not to protect your eyes.

We get most of our blue light from the sun, not from screens. We should be worried about ultraviolet light (UV) not blue light.

Speaking of UV light, what should I look for when buying a pair of sunglasses?

Looking cool is important, but making sure the sunglasses says they have 100 percent UV protection is more important. 

You want your sunglasses to protect up to 400 nanometers, which it will often say on the tag. That’s going to give you all the UV protection you need.

After that, it depends on what you like: polarized or darker, lighter. It’s not as important as protecting from UV light. It’s more just preference at that point.

Is there any truth to the myths about eating carrots or not reading in the dark to keep your eyes healthy?

In regard to carrots, we do know that vitamin A is important for our health in general, but for our eye health, once you get past a healthy level of vitamin A, there’s no benefit from eating additional carrots that could give you super eyesight.

When it comes to reading in the dark, it’s just not fun. It doesn’t hurt your eyes. It’s just hard to do, so use proper lighting.

What’s the most important thing people should know about their eye health?

Protect your eyes. There are so many accidents that happen that could be prevented if the person was just wearing the proper eye protective equipment. 

When you’re grinding metal, doing yard work, or working with chemicals that have a splash risk, you want a polycarbonate, shatter-resistant lens, and you want it to hug tight to your face. 

If we were all wearing our protective eye equipment during certain activities, there would be a lot less trauma, a lot fewer chemical exposures, and a lot of vision-threatening situations that could be avoided.

A regional leader in eye care, research, and education

For more than two decades, the WVU Eye Institute has continued to build upon its solid foundation of excellence in patient care, clinical research, and education, driven by outstanding leadership and a team of the region’s most skilled and dedicated physicians.

Our nationally recognized doctors specialize in diabetic eye disease, retinal detachments, macular diseases, and much more.

Come see us. Don’t be scared. We’re happy to see you.

For more information, visit WVUMedicine.org/Eye.