Preventing Eye Emergencies: Tips for Maintaining Good Eye Health

Your eyes are crucial to your health, making it imperative to take care of them. Take the right steps to prevent any eye emergencies. Here are a few tips to help you do this.

Know Your Family History

Knowing the eye health history of your family is crucial. You may need to talk to family members. Ask them about their eye health to discover if they have any diseases or conditions that may be hereditary. Once you have this information, take the proper steps to mitigate the eye condition. You will also prevent any emergencies that may occur otherwise.

Wear Protective Eyewear

It is a good habit to wear protective goggles or glasses when doing activities where you may experience eye injuries. These activities include sports, gardening, construction, or carpentry. Protective eyewear consists of lenses with a polycarbonate material that is 10 times stronger than regular plastic. 

As such, they will not easily break or shatter during contact sports. They will also not give way when they encounter projectiles, effectively protecting your eyes.

Wear Sunglasses

Sunglasses can be part of protective eyewear. However, they’re not for protecting your eyes from physical particles but from harmful sun rays. Specifically, they protect against UVA and UVB radiation. 

When buying sunglasses, opt for those with at least 99% protection against these rays. Otherwise, these harmful rays can lead to the early onset of some age-related eye conditions—something that may catch you unaware and result in eyesight loss.

Quit Smoking

Smoking increases your risk of developing age-related eye conditions. It does this by increasing the presence of harmful free radicals in your body and your eyes. These radicals trigger reactions that lead to the damage of various organs in your eyes. They can affect your eye lens and optical nerve, leading to diseases like macular degeneration and blindness. 

Some of these eye diseases and conditions develop slowly; when you realize any damage, it may be too late to reverse it. Prevention is the most effective way to deal with such emergencies.

Eat Healthy Food

Eat the right foods and ensure they have different colors. Some say you should eat the rainbow. Your diet should have fruits, vegetables, cereals, meat, and carbohydrates. Among these should be dark leafy greens, carrots, beans, salmon, and potatoes. 

Foods like salmon and other fatty fish contain omega-3 fatty acids that lubricate and protect your eyes. Carrots and fruits are high in antioxidants that fight the damage from free radicals. These will ward off the early onset of age-related eye conditions.

Regular Eye Exams

Visit your doctor regularly for comprehensive eye exams. Diseases like glaucoma develop slowly and show no symptoms. When you discover something wrong with your eyes, it may be too late. Regular eye exams will help you diagnose any issues early enough to deal with them. They will help you prevent eye emergencies.

For more information on preventing eye emergencies, visit Hunter Family Vision at our Leawood or Prairie Village, Kansas, office. Call (913) 681-8555 or (913) 381-2323 to discuss any questions with our team of experts or to schedule an appointment today.