Protect Your Eyes
Eyewear plays a crucial role in correcting your vision and protecting your eyes. Whether you wear glasses to correct myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, or presbyopia, it is essential to follow certain recommendations to maintain good eye health and protect your eyes from external aggressions.
1. Protection Against Ultra-Violet Rays
UV rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation invisible to the naked eye and emitted by the sun. They are necessary in small regular doses for the synthesis of vitamin D. However, at high doses, these rays become harmful to human health. UV rays cause tanning and can lead to sunburn, premature skin aging (wrinkles), skin cancers (melanoma), and can even advance the formation of cataracts.
To protect ourselves, we use sunscreen, hats, caps, umbrellas, etc., and for our eyes, we should wear UV protection glasses such as:
- Photochromic / Transition lenses glasses
- Sunglasses with UV protection (tinted, mirrored, or polarized)
- Prescription glasses with a solar clip-on
2. Protection Against Blue Light
Blue light is part of the visible light spectrum, with wavelengths between approximately 380 and 500 nanometers. It is present in natural sunlight as well as in artificial lights emitted by phone, tablet, computer, TV screens, and other electronic devices.
Use glasses with lenses specifically designed to filter blue light, especially if you spend long hours in front of screens. Blue light protection lenses help reduce eye strain and visual discomfort associated with prolonged screen use. Additionally, this protection provides a noticeable improvement in sleep quality for most users.
Tips for Screen Use
- Ensure your workspace is well-lit and position your screens at a comfortable distance and angle to avoid annoying reflections and eye strain.
- Take regular breaks. We suggest reducing digital eye strain by using the 20/20/20 RULE: every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet (about 6 meters) away for at least 20 seconds.
- Keep your eyes hydrated by blinking frequently and, if necessary, use moisturizing eye drops to prevent dryness. (Don't forget that when we stare at a screen, we blink less often than usual.)
3. Good Health
Here are other general recommendations to maintain good eye health:
- Adopt a good balanced diet; consume foods rich in antioxidants, vitamins C and E, such as green vegetables, fruits, nuts, and fatty fish.
- Drink enough water to maintain good hydration, which is also essential for eye health.
- Avoid smoking and limit alcohol consumption, as these habits can increase the risk of eye problems and others.
- Be attentive to symptoms such as blurred vision, eye pain, frequent headaches, and consult a healthcare professional if you experience them.
- For those concerned, monitor the conditions of your chronic disease such as hypertension, diabetes, and others, which can affect your eye health.
4. Complete Eye Exam
Whether you wear vision correction (glasses or contact lenses) or not, a consultation with an optometrist is important to ensure that your eyes are healthy and that your glasses prescription is up to date.
A. Vision Exam
Good vision is essential in your daily life. Your optometrist will test your vision by performing a refraction exam to find the best new prescription. They will also check color vision, depth perception (3D), and eye movement.
B. Eye Health Exam and More
This part of the exam ensures that your eyes are healthy. The optometrist conducts a thorough eye examination and can detect eye diseases or disorders, such as lazy eye (in children), cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy… In most cases, the optometrist refers their patient to an ophthalmologist who takes over. Early detection of these eye diseases can prevent or minimize damage.
Eye exams are also important as they can be indicators of your overall health. The optometrist can detect several systemic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, certain inflammatory diseases, and some cancers. As they say, "prevention is better than cure!"
Children's Eye Exam
It is important to have your children's vision and eye health examined. Better vision prepares your children to succeed on several levels, such as in their motor development, learning, and other skills. Here, caution is needed as young children generally do not complain about their vision. They think they see like others. Therefore, an eye exam would be very valuable at a frequency of once a year throughout their development, up to 18 years old.
