Our eyes have more reasons to strain these days. With smart phones, laptops, television shows, and our general dependence on things with glowing screens, our eyes are becoming more and more tired.
Straining our eyes by constantly looking at screens isn’t the only thing we are doing to harm our eyes. Here is a look at a few instances we may be guilty of when it comes to our sight.
1.) Sleeping with Contact Lenses In
Our eyes need to breathe. Much like the rest of our body, our cornea needs oxygen to fend off bacterial growth or fight off infection. Leaving contacts in, even those that are FDA approved for overnight wear, can be dangerous and cause you to develop a corneal ulcer. In fact, those who sleep in contacts are 10-15 times more likely to develop the ulcer.
Also, don’t clean your contacts and their case with tap water. Make sure you use sterile drops for them both to reduce the chance of infection.
2.) Rubbing or Touching Your Eyes
Your eyes are mucous membranes. That means they are susceptible to collecting dirt and germs which and offer a great place for bacteria to grow.
If your eye itches it is best to rub the outside of your eyelid. But, not too hard as you could break blood vessels.
3.) Relying on Redness Eye Drops
Visine, Clear Eyes, and Roto, just to name a few, are not meant to be used regularly. While they do temporarily remove the redness from your eyes they are full of chemicals and preservatives that can make the problem worse in the long run.
These eye drops work by shrinking the blood vessels in your eyes to make them appear less red. If consistent redness is a problem, then it is a good time to get to your eye doctor to get to the root of the problem.
4.) Not Getting Annual Eye Exams
The importance of getting a regular eye exam can’t be stressed enough. In fact, eye doctors are usually the first to detect signs of chronic systemic conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes.
Just because your vision may be 20-20 doesn’t necessarily mean all is well. There are no pain receptors in the eye, so if you have broken blood vessels, or worse, a tumor you wouldn’t know until it’s too late.
5.) Not Wearing Sunglasses During All Seasons
When you think of sunglasses you think of the beach and sunny days. But, they are equally as important during the winter months if it snows where you live. The sun reflecting off the white of the snow is just as bad the sun beating down.
Make sure to choose sunglasses that block out UVA and UVB rays. This protection helps prevent corneal burns, spots in the whites of the eyes, and skin cancer in the eyelids.
There are a number of other things we can do to keep our eye health the best it can. It is important to follow through with annual exams as catching any eye problem early paves an easier path to treatment.
