How to Enhance and
Protect Your Sight.
To ensure the best possible vision for you and your family, there are two important aspects of healthy sight you should understand.
Vision Care
Given that 50 percent of all vision loss can be prevented with an eye exam, visiting your eyecare professional regularly is the simplest step you can take to care for your vision. A regular, comprehensive eye exam can help correct eye sight and identify issues that could lead to impaired vision later in life.
Find an Eyecare Industry ProfessionalVision Wear
Vision wear has advanced significantly in recent years, and can now address unique visual needs and long-term eye health concerns like never before. Beyond correcting vision to 20/20 in an exam room setting, the right eyewear can also enhance sight and provide important eye protection under real-world conditions.
Build a Pair of EyeglassesEyecare Professional Visits
Eyecare professional visits should include:
- A thorough patient history will explore your lifestyle needs, such as what you do for a living and what hobbies you enjoy. It should also review your overall medical history, including current conditions you are facing, medications you are taking, surgeries you’ve had, etc.
- Through a comprehensive eye exam, your doctor can detect the onset of eye diseases, such as glaucoma, cataract, macular degeneration and retinal detachment, which can be best treated when caught early. You doctor may also be able to detect certain system-wide diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and even eye tumors. The vision “test” or refraction is used determine your prescription.
- Your eye exam and patient history will guide your doctor’s recommendations for vision correction and enhancement.
UV Radiation
UV radiation poses a serious threat to vision. Intense short-term exposure can lead to “sunburn” of the eye (called photokeratitis), while cumulative, long-term exposure has been linked to age-related eye diseases, such as cataract and macular degeneration. Children’s eyes are particularly susceptible to UV. People of all ages should choose eyewear that blocks 100 percent of UVA and UVB rays (look for eyewear that carries the Seal of Acceptance for UV Blockers/Absorbers from the World Council of Optometry or the American Optometric Association).
Excessive visible light can negatively impact sight, causing squinting and eye fatigue, and diminished vision. Most commonly called “glare,” too much light decreases the contrast between darks and lights, so it is hard to distinguish one object from another. Tinted eyeglass lenses or sunlenses filter out excessive light, while photochromic lenses automatically darken in proportion to the intensity of sunlight to provide the right level of tint to enhance sight.
Eye injury can needlessly steal vision. Your occupation or hobbies may place you at special risk. Impact-resistant lenses and safety frames can help safeguard the eye from trauma.
Eyecare and Overall Wellness
Early Detection
Even if you aren’t experiencing trouble with your vision, comprehensive eye exams can uncover problems before symptoms occur. They can even assist in early detection of other serious health problems – such as diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), neurological disorders and brain tumors.
The use of drops to dilate the pupils during an exam allows inspection of the back of the eye to detect disease, either ocular (of the eye itself) or systemic (of the body as a whole). Early diagnosis of ocular and systemic diseases can improve outcome, and can often delay or prevent future complications.
With regular eye exams, your eyecare professional can detect problems early, prescribe proper treatment and provide the best possible eyewear solutions to enhance your sight.
Medications
Several medications routinely prescribed – including those for hypertension and allergies – may make the eyes more prone to UV damage or cause sensitivity to light and glare. Be sure to talk to your eyecare professional about the medications you may be taking for diabetes and other medical conditions.
Groups At Higher Risk
Depending on your age, gender and ethnicity, you may be at higher risk for certain eye- and overall-health issues.
Find out if your eyes are at risk.How We Support
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Transitions and the swirl are registered trademarks and Healthy sight in every light and customized eyeglass prescription are trademarks of Transitions Optical, Inc.