eyes • safety • contact lenses • Health & Wellness • 3 min read • Jun 2, 2015 12:00:00 AM • Written by: Kat Smith
Eye health is something that many people take for granted—especially those who have perfect or near-perfect vision and don’t require corrective lenses. Your eyes are built to withstand many of the elements, but they still require some special care to prevent degenerative diseases and structural damage that can permanently impact your vision. If you have not thought about your eye health recently, consider these frequently neglected aspects of ocular health.
Contact lens care
Putting contact lenses in creates a number of opportunities for bacteria to get into your eyes, where they will enjoy a moist, warm environment to reproduce and cause irritation. Proper contact lens care—which includes regularly cleaning your lenses, using clean hands to put in your lenses, and disposing of your lenses as recommended—will help to minimize the presence harmful bacteria. If you frequently experience dry eyes, redness, or other types of discomfort with contacts, however, glasses may be a safer alternative for everyday use.
Regular eye exams
If you do not have problems with your vision, it might be easy to forget that your eyes still need clinical care. Annual eye exams do more than assess your vision. With a dilated eye exam, your optometrist can identify signs of conditions like cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration, which are all best treated early on. Plus, you may not immediately notice when you do have gradual changes in your vision that could make corrective lenses a necessity.
Eye safety on the job
While most jobs involving physical risks have a number of safety measures in place, employees may become relaxed about these guidelines over time. Still, eye protection is not an area to neglect, since injuries to the eye caused by sharp objects, chemical exposure, or combustible materials can happen fast and cause extensive damage with the potential for permanent vision loss.
Sun protection
Protective eyewear is not just for the workplace. Anytime you’re outdoors, it’s a smart choice to wear sunglasses that offer protection from both UVA and UVB rays. The level of protection should be clearly marked on your lenses, and complete ultraviolet protection is generally offered in shades of all price ranges.
When you are unable to visit an eye care specialist in person, you can find care for conditions like dry eye or pink eye from the comfort of home with MeMD. With our online medical consultation services, a board certified physician can be available to see you on your schedule.
