Posts Tagged ‘Eye Health’

February’s Five Tips for Eye Health!

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Are your New Year resolutions a distant memory? Have they been hastily swept under the carpet along with the dusty Xmas decs and curling Christmas cards? Well never fear, here are our top five tips for eye health, and they might even inspire you to resurrect some general health goals for spring too……

1. Rather than promising to visit the gym three times a week, just promise to visit your optician – once every two years for most people. This ensures your sight is as good as possible, and is up to the driving standard. It also checks eye health, and can spot signs of some general health issues too.

2. Give up smoking – if you haven’t already! It’s bad for your sight as well as everything else, and has been implicated in the development of several eye diseases, including cataracts and Macular Degeneration.

3. Take moderate exercise – it doesn’t have to be circuit training or wearing the dog out on weekly half marathons – just some fresh air on brisk walks, swimming or gentle stretches like Pilates or Yoga will get the blood flowing, bringing fresh oxygen to the eyes.

4. Eat a variety of fresh fruit and vet, in a mixture of colours, so munch on all peppers, tomatoes, broccoli and kale, carrots, and blueberries, and all as fresh as possible. The vitamins and minerals safeguard the eye from disease such as Macular degeneration – and it’s all good for your waistline!

5. Wear up to date specs and contact lenses – this prevents eye strain, makes you safe on the roads, and can reduce headaches and fatigue. And there’s no excuse – get online to the IGC for economical specs if you think you can’t afford to update your prescription!

So there you go – easy-peasy, and you can feel virtuous about having a healthy 2012 without breaking into too much of a sweat!

Varifocal Glasses

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Beating the January Blues!

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

During the dark days after Christmas the weather and the light conditions can play havoc with eye health and our sight. You might be embracing New Year new regimes or hibernating by the fire, but whatever your state of mind in 2011 having trouble free eyes will definitely help you!

With flu and the winter vomiting bug laying many of us low over Christmas, Conjunctivitis got a grip of quite a few patients as immune systems were hit by the dreaded lurgy. This is an irritating nuisance to any sufferer, and a nightmare if you wear contact lenses. Take lenses out at the first sign of irritation, and visit your Pharmacist or GP for drops. You’ll need antibiotics if you have an infection, so keep the course going as advised and don’t attempt to wear your lenses again until you are sure your eyes are clear.

Dry eyes are very uncomfortable, and can flare up due to cold winds and central heating affecting your tear layer. In the healthy eye tears sterilise and lubricate the eye, and give a smooth surface to help you see. If the tears do not function properly then the sensation of uncomfortable, gritty, sore dry eyes can make life a misery. Visit your GP or Optician for a check up, and they can prescribe lid massage or artificial tears to help restore the tear system.

Low light can make close work a real struggle if you’re on the verge of needing reading glasses. If you’ve been prescribed glasses, then make sure you wear them! If you were borderline last time or due for a check up then visit your Optician and get used to having reading specs to hand for small print and detailed work such as threading a needle. Ignoring the problem will lead to headaches and eye strain. A good quality reading lamp will make all the difference too, and is particularly important for elderly patients.

The other bothersome light problem is low sun, which can wreak havoc on the roads for drivers. Remember that sunglasses are not just for summer! Have them to hand for those rare bright days, but take clear specs too for driving home at night. Photochromic lenses love the cold, so will go super dark if it’s chilly and sunny.

With a bit of thought you’ll skip happily through winter and happily leap into spring and before you know it you’ll have summer problems to contend with!!

Varifocal Glasses

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Keep Clean and Beautiful!

Friday, November 5th, 2010

When we talk about eye health we are of course mostly concerned with the inner workings of the eye, and our visual system. Regular eye tests, eating a varied and multi-coloured diet, and giving up smoking can all have a positive effect on your sight and lessening your chances of serious eye disease. But what about the all important, delicate area that surrounds the eye itself? Let’s take a moment to check that we’re doing all we can to keep this healthy too.

The first and most obvious topic for discussion is cleanliness, which contributes hugely to eye health. The eye lids and lashes require lots of glandular secretions to keep them moist and working at their optimum. So this area needs to be kept clean to avoid blockages of the glands, which can lead to styes and other forms of infection. Always remove make up at night, however tired you are, using a gentle eye-make up remover lotion. Note the use by dates on cosmetics and discard them if you get an eye infection. Keep make up brushes clean by washing regularly in mild shampoo. Treat the delicate lid area very gently, using your ring finger to apply moisturisers, and don’t drag the skin. This is a health and beauty tip which will help to stave off the dreading wrinkles for as long as possible!

Our tears, combined with the blinking action, keep the surface of the eye ball lubricated and sterilised. If you’re in a dry atmosphere, blink as often as possible to keep the eye clean and comfortable. At the very first sign of an eye infection, take contact lenses out, and consult your pharmacist or GP for advice. If the lid area is sore, red, hot, or uncomfortable, then you may have a condition called Blepharitis, an inflammation of the lid margins, or a stye. These need treatment, so talk to your optician or GP.

So a little extra time and care, and good hygiene regimes can help you to avoid these problems, and stay more beautiful – always worthwhile!

Glasses Online

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Double Check

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

As we all know, seeing the optician is about more than whether you need correction for your sight – it’s also an opportunity to have your eye health and some general health issues checked out. The full eye examination is a blend of discussion with patients, using equipment and the optician’s knowledge and expertise. A common query from patients is that they worry if anything has been missed, or if their responses to the optician’s questions were the right ones. So here’s a comforting thought – the examination is a series of double and triple checks and we have several ways of diagnosing any problems.

When it comes to your prescription, and the confusing question of – which is better, number 1 or number 2? – Patients often worry that gave the wrong answer, and they won’t be able to see with their glasses! The first thing you should know is that every time the optician asks you the 1 or 2 question they are re-checking and refining results over and over again. They also use the information of your age, previous prescriptions and general eye health to make sure your results look logical. Some opticians also use Retinoscopy, a hand held instrument reads your prescription and gives them a valuable starting point and double check.

The puff of air test reads the internal pressure of the eye, as high pressure can be a sign of Glaucoma. But we don’t just rely on that reading – the optician also examines the area around the Optic nerve head to check for signs of Glaucoma too. Again your age and comparison to previous results gives extra reassurance.

By questioning you on your general health and that of your family, discussing your lifestyle and looking at your eye health history, opticians build up a picture of potential problems. Your standard of vision also gives clues. Ophthalmoscopy is the use of another hand held instrument that checks eye health, giving opticians the opportunity to look right inside the eye and check for signs of Retinal problems, Glaucoma, and Cataract. Retinal Imaging Cameras give a different view and allow us to store results so we can refer back to them.

A mix of experience, knowledge, training and different techniques give us masses of information about your eyes and health, so don’t worry that we’ll miss anything or that your response might not have been the right one. Your optician sees everything – and double checks it.

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Keep it in the Family

Friday, May 14th, 2010

Within families it’s interesting to see what lovely traits get passed on from generation to generation. Knobbly knees? An obsession with train spotting? Freckles? We can look back at family photos and spot the likenesses, which can be a bonding moment and at the very least, quite interesting. But what if knowing about your family history could save your sight?

Like any other physical trait, eye conditions can be inherited. There are two important things to do here. Firstly, know your family history, and ask questions about any eye health issues. Patients come in and vaguely say that Great Grandma had funny specs, but it doesn’t help us in monitoring your eye health. Secondly, make sure you tell your optician what you find out! Pass on any information, and check if you need more regular eye tests. For instance, if you’re over forty and a close relative has Glaucoma, then you should have a test every year, which is free under the NHS.

Some eye problems are down to anatomy, so this could be an inherited trait just like eye or hair colour. Long or short sightedness, lazy eye, Glaucoma are just some of the problems that Mum or Dad may have kindly passed onto you! Age Related Macular Degeneration is more likely to occur if you have every light coloured eyes, so wear good quality sunglasses, have regular Retinal Imaging to check for early signs, and take an eye health supplement.

While your Optician is always on the look out for early signs of eye disease, knowing your family history gives you an extra advantage in knowing about early symptoms and preventative measures. Take your children for regular sight tests and pass on medical history. Don’t forget to tell your siblings if any problems arise – they’ll appreciate the advance warning too.

So even though you don’t want to keep health problems in the family, keeping the information there might just save someone’s sight.

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Recipes to Safeguard your Sight

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

Good nutrition is as essential for eye health as well as for general health. The leading cause of impaired sight in our society is Age Related Macular Degeneration, a disease that leads to loss of central vision. The macular is an area of the retina, the light sensitive layer of cells that lines our eyeballs. This is where we get our detailed vision from, and when the macula degenerates this impacts daily life by making it hard to see faces and anything in our central vision, and glasses won’t restore your sight. Eating the right foods now will help to give the retina essential nutrients to protect it.

Green Smoothie

  • Bag of Salad Spinach
  • 4 Carrots
  • 1 Green Pepper
  • A large handful of Kale
  • 3 Apples
  • A handful of fresh parsley

Choose vegetables which are as fresh as possible. Wash thoroughly and peel the apples. Chop everything into even chunks and then blend or juice into a smoothie. You can store this in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Variations – Add chopped ginger or add different herbs to your taste.

Our Green Smoothie is perfect for eye health

Our Green Smoothie is perfect for eye health

Blueberry Fruit Salad

Use fruits which are in season, in a mixture of colours – raspberries, blackberries, and the largest portion of blueberries. Keep all fruit as fresh as possible.

Traffic Light Salad

  • Bag of salad leaves – including a high proportion of spinach
  • Tomatoes
  • Carrots
  • 1 red  & 1 green pepper
  • 1 red onion, peeled
  • Handful of chopped parsley
Traffic Light Salad - Good for eyes and looks good too

Traffic Light Salad - Good for eyes and looks good to

Dressing

  • 125ml good Olive Oil
  • 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
  • 1 Clove of garlic, chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon of chopped herbs – basil or chives
  • ½ teaspoon of sugar

Mix together all the dressing ingredients, cover, and leave in the fridge for at least an hour before you need it. Prepare the salad just before serving.

Finely slice the peppers, tomatoes, and onions. Use a potato peeler to shred the carrot into thin strips. Lay the salad leaves on a large platter and scatter the green peppers over them. Then lay the red salad ingredients over the top, interspersed with carrot strips. Finish with a scattering of herbs. Stir the dressing well and drizzle over.

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Eyes Wide Open

Sunday, July 19th, 2009

With our passion for all things related to glasses, lenses, sight, and eye health, we like to think we have a pretty encyclopaedic knowledge of our little world. Eye myths are an interesting one to take a look at……

Eyes – the gateway to our inner selves, mystical organs that can mesmerise, hypnotise, overflow with emotional tears or freeze an opponent with a glacial stare. Eyes convey so much of what we feel, that it’s no wonder they are celebrated, feared, and analysed.

The evil eye is a concept that appears in many forms in several different cultures.
Can a magical eye curse it’s victims with a gaze? Or if you allow your covetous stare to linger too long on a person, or your neighbours livestock, can you then cause them harm? The evil eye is often thought to cause harm by drying out, desiccating or withering it’s victim –  but you’re ok if you’re a fish, as they’re thought to be immune!

The third or inner eye is an interesting concept that appears in some spiritual traditions. It is the doorway that leads to the inner being and states of higher consciousness (and you thought a pint or two was the way to manage that!) and it’s often associated with clairvoyance and out of body experiences. Do we all have it? Could we develop the capacity to use it?  Seers are those who use this extra sense.

So if you suffer from the green eyed monster, or next time you flash those baby blues, think a little more about the mythical, magical beauty of eyes, and of course the very least you can do is choose a really stunning piece of eye wear to frame those windows to your soul…….

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Eye Health For Computer Users

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

In the years since we exchanged our slide rules for calculators, more and more of us use computers for longer periods each day. This raises questions about eye health and the VDU screen, so if you are worried about the hours you spend slaving over your keyboard, read on…..

Problems can arise because of the amount of time we spend in front of our computers. To counteract this you need to do a spot of eye exercise and remember to blink often, which moistens the surface of the eye, and try to get into the habit of looking away from the screen at regular intervals. This alters your focus and helps to prevent eye strain and fatigue.

You may need prescription glasses for the computer, and if so, an anti-reflection coating will help to reduce the effects of glare. You should also make sure that the glasses you are wearing are at the correct focal length. Tell your optician how far away the screen is when you work.

Have regular eye tests with a qualified optician and make sure your prescription glasses are up to date. If you spend most of your working day on a computer your employer will pay for the test, and the cost of the spectacle lenses. Buy glasses online and you can afford a few pairs, so you’re never straining to see the screen without them.

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