Love Your Eyes: Tips for Healthier Eyes

It might sound like an exaggeration, but taking care of your eyes is crucial to living a happy life. Don’t think so? We use our eyes nearly every waking moment to drive, work, read, watch tv, surf the web (maybe for a blog about eye health), and enjoy time with friends and family ­ It is especially important to take care of your eyes. Use these simple tips on a regular basis and you can look forward to healthier eyes and a clearer life.

Regular Eye Exams

Regular visits to the eye doctor are important to ensure eye health and eye exams help avoid problems that may become worse without treatment. Eye exams are short and safe, and should be scheduled with your eye doctor annually.

Avoid wearing contact lenses longer than 19  hours

Take care of your contacts! Most users know that contact lenses can become harmful ­ even cause permanent damage ­when left in the eye too long. It is especially important to remove, clean and change your contacts as your eye care provider has recommended.

Remove eye makeup

Makeup can cause redness and irritation in the eye when left on the skin overnight; especially eye makeup and eyeliner. Remove makeup every day to prevent irritation and maintain healthier eyes.

Don’t rely on Allergy drops

Eye drops are meant to temporarily reduce the irritation in the eye, but don’t rely on them too heavily. Because they are effective and create moisture in the eye, the eye can stop creating its own moisture and become more irritated. If you find you’re using your eye drops too often, contact your optometrist.

Wear Sunglasses

Always wear sunglasses when the sun is out ­ even in the winter. You may not be going to the beach, but the sun is still out, and you can bet it is bouncing off all that snow! Choose shades that are UVB and UVA protectant 99%­100% for the best protection. The younger you are when you start wearing sunglasses on a regular basis, the better it will be for your eyes when you are older.

Get Sleep

Sleep is the most important ingredient to almost any good habit. Get 7­8 hours of sleep a night. A good night’s sleep not only allows your eyes to rest, but excessive strain on your eyes can cause temporary blurriness.

Exercise Regularly

Just like sleep, regular exercise is very beneficial to any healthy lifestyle. Exercise can prevent glaucoma and macular degeneration, as well as keep you feeling better every day.

Keep Eyes Hydrated

This one is simple; drink plenty of water! Cucumbers on eyes prevent puffiness. Eye lubrication 

drops (not Visine) help, but remember that using eye drops too often can make them worse. If your eyes do get too dry, avoid rubbing them, as this can cause accidental trauma.

Limit Screen Time

Look straight at a computer screen or TV screen, not angled down or up. Also, keeping good posture is good for overall health. Use the 20­20­20 rule: after 20 minutes of screen time, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

Eat a Healthy Diet

A diet rich in Vitamin E, Zinc, Vitamin C, Lutein, Zeaxanthin, and Omega 3 fatty acids can help you see clearer and reduce eye complications later in life. In short, listen to your mother and eat your vegetables.

All in all, your eyes are an important part of everyday life, so take care of them now. Take time to take care of yourself and schedule an eye exam today. We would be glad to help. You can contact us online with any questions, or call Infinite Eye Care at 320­257­4990 to set up an appointment.

Dr. Tom's 2016 Eye Health Resolutions

2016 marks Dr. Tom Johnson’s 27th year in the eye care industry. His knowledge and willingness to help his patients with every eye care need is what makes him one of the top Family Optometrists in Central Minnesota. So with the start of a new year, here are some tips from Dr. Tom on how you can improve your eye health in 2016:

1. Regular Visits to Your Eye Doctor  

Reviewing your eye health on a regular basis makes discovering potential problems (such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, refraction based lazy eye, etc) easier. Treatment early on is better and more effective than discovering a problem later and trying to reverse more significant damage.

2. Eating Carrots Can Be a Good Thing

Old wives tale? Not really. Leafy green veggies and orange colored veggies like carrots or squash are rich in antioxidants, which can radically slow down the process of certain sight blinding diseases.

3. Rule of 20/20/20

If on a monitor or reading for long periods of time, follow the 20/20/20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at a space 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This gives the eye a chance to rest and lessens the chance or severity of future nearsighted advancements and general strains to the eye.

4. Contact Lens Health

Some folks don’t know that you CAN wear certain contact lenses overnight or for a certain amount of time. More importantly, some don’t know that the wearing of ANY contact lens overnight can lead to a vision debilitating infection, and can even create a scar that will lead to permanent vision loss. NOT FUN. Know your lenses.

5.  Dry Eye  

There are many conditions that can lead to dry, scratchy eyes, which can also cause reduced visual ability, even with your best glasses or contact lens prescription. There is merit to regular hot lid compress cleaning every day - it will increase the performance of your tears and lessening the dry eye symptoms. We can illustrate how to properly perform lid treatments, and when used with other meds or treatment options, they can drastically help dry eyes.

6. Glasses Cleaning  

What a puzzle. I’ve seen the most absurdly scratched glasses mostly from the people who feel they never see clearly and they need to “power scratch” their glasses. The more they scrub, the worse they see. At Infinite Eye Care, we train our patients how to properly clean daily in a way that scratches (while not impossible) are much less likely. I often stop by our in-office lab and illustrate it to my patients myself. I can describe it, but it’s so much easier to teach in person. Stop in and see a first-hand demonstration on how to properly clean your glasses.

For more information and assistance or to book an appointment visit infiniteeyecare.com or give us a call at 320.257.4990. We wish you a healthy and happy 2016!

Amplify Your Attire This Halloween With Phantom Lenses

Halloween is one of the only times a year when you can dress up however you want - the scarier you look, the better. Phantom contact lenses are one way that you can take your costume to the next level. They come in a wide variety of styles, colors, and patterns and can enhance any Halloween costume.

Image by ArunKamaraj via Flickr

The most popular options for these lenses are the cat eye styles in various colors, and the blizzard or “witch eye” styles. These were some of the first styles to come out and are now the most popular when looking to add some spook to your costume. Some of the newer styles are the Spinner, Vortex and Robotic which are likely to become hot sellers.

Phantom Contact Lenses can be sized to fit any eye and can be customized to fit nearly any prescription. They can be ordered with no prescription for those who do not need optical correction but want the added spooktacular effect.

Image by the_steve_cox via Flickr

Really any Halloween costume can be “spooked out” by adding some of these Phantom lenses, but some popular ideas and coordinating styles are:

• Witch --- Blizzard or Helter Skelter
• Vampire – Bloodlust, Red Dawn, or Demonic Red
• Zombie – Pandora, Night Orc, Red Orc, or Undead Yellow
• Cat – Tigers Eye, Purple Cat, Sun Cat, Blood Cat, or Snow Cat (depending on how scary or realistic you’d like to be)
• Rocker Chick – Pink Seduction, North Star, Flower Power, Hydra

You don’t have to have a costume that is scary to incorporate these lenses into your costume either! There are plenty of styles that will add that extra something to any costume and make it just right. Check out the line of Phantom Contact Lenses and get some inspiration for a fantastic 2015 Halloween!