What you should know
Take care of your vision throughout your life.
Many people take unnecessary risks with their eyes during work,gardening, sports or when doing repairs. Wear eye protection whenpossible.
Your doctor should check your eyes during your annual physical.Optometrists can prescribe glasses or contacts. They can check eyesfor problems and refer patients to eye specialists. People withchronic health problems often need an eye specialist.
Ophthalmologists are doctors who specialize in eye care andtreatment. They can perform delicate eye surgery. They can also usespecial medications to treat problems, and can prescribe contacts,glasses or special devices to improve vision.
Certain people may be at greater risk for eye problems. Visionproblems tend to increase with age. People with a family history ofproblems, like glaucoma, could be at risk. People with diabetesshould have their eyes examined routinely.
A cataract occurs when the eye's lens becomes clouded. Olderpeople are more likely to have cataracts. Vision can often beimproved with special lenses or cataract surgery.
The eye problems of children are sometimes overlooked. Some ofthese include crossed eyes (strabismus), lazy eyes (amblyopia),drooping eyelids (ptosis), or other vision problems(nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism). Eye problems cancause problems in school.
Excess sun and UV light can hurt your eyes. Cataracts, skingrowths around the eye and eye cancer might be tied to excess sunexposure.
What you should do
Protect your eyes at work and at home to prevent eye injuries.Encourage others to do the same. Wear goggles.
Wear a hat and sunglasses to protect your eyes. You might needmore protection in the summer, at the beach, near water or snow, orif you are taking medicine that makes you sensitive to the sun.
When working in your yard or making repairs, remove objects,including wood, rocks or sticks, that can fly into your eye.
Teach children safe habits to prevent eye injuries.
If you have an eye injury or infection, get help quickly from ahealth care provider.
Don't ignore sudden changes in your eyes. See an eye doctor.Changes can include sudden blurring, flashes or spots in yourvision, pain, or severe dryness, itching or burning.
Pay special attention to dry eyes, small scrapes, scratches orcuts to your cornea (abrasion). You can often help your condition byapplying lubricating eye drops or ointment to your eye. The drops orointment create a soothing layer between the eyelid and theabrasion. Your eye care professional can help you avoid furtherproblems.
Be careful with contacts and contact solutions. Dirty contactcases, hands and solutions can cause infections.
Travelers who wear contacts should avoid transferring lenssolution from a big bottle into a small bottle.
Children should have their eyes screened at ages 3 and 5 by aneye care professional or physician.
Allergies can be a big problem in the Mid-South. Try not to rubyour itchy eyes. Rubbing can make irritation worse and increase yourrisk of infection. Prescription medications or allergy shots mayhelp.
Eye surgery can be a solution for a number of problems. Look fora board-certified ophthalmologist.
For more information, go to Healthymemphis.org/links forinformation on:
Frequency of certain eye diseases in the U.S.
Information about various procedures for eyes
Taking care of your sight at home and at work.
Family Health...Take Charge! is provided by the Healthy MemphisCommon Table: healthymemphis.org. This article supports the care andadvice of your doctor. Talk to your care provider about any healthcondition or before you start new treatments.
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Talk to the Expert
We're having an online conversation this week on our HealthyMemphis blog about eye health. Dr. Mary Ellen Hoehn, a boardcertified ophthalmologist, specializing in pediatric eye care andstrabismus at UT Medical Group, Inc. and assistant professor at theUniversity of Tennessee Health Science Center, will answer yourquestions.
Log on to blogs.commercialappeal.com/health, find the entrymarked 'Eye Health' click on 'Comment' and add your question orcomment. She will check the blog periodically and respond.
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