The Best New Year's Resolutions You'll Make!
Everyone makes health-related resolutions for the new year -- exercise more, eat better -- but did you know it's just as important to take good care of your eyes? The Lens Men - The Centrepoint optometrist Kang Hean Young shares five important eye care resolutions for 2008.
December 27, 2007 —Practising excellent eye care is more than ensuring your prescription doesn't get higher -- it's reducing the risk of serious eye illnesses and infections, particularly if you're a contact lens wearer. The good news is, it's absolutely easy to take great care of your vision, if you follow these tips:
1. Eat healthy
A healthy diet may sound like a cliche, but the abundance of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables help prevent macular degeneration, a non-reversible disease that eventually leads to blindness.
2. Live healthy
Reducing the risk of eyesight degeneration and related conditions is a little-known benefit of regular exercise, and moderating alcohol intake also decreases the potential for developing cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Smoking is the most harmful habit of all, as it hastens the risk of these conditions.
3. Take good care of your contact lenses
By cleaning your lenses thoroughly before storing, even disposable lenses, you'll greatly reduce the chances of eye infections -- many wearers forget that rubbing is an essential part of the disinfection process. If you're short on time, you may want to consider switching to a daily disposable lens such as ProClear 1 Day; even so, please ensure your hands are cleaned with soap before handling your lenses. Just a small speck of dirt or foreign substance is enough to cause an infection or irritation.
4. Manage your contact lens wearing schedule
Most people over-wear their contacts, even if they are using lenses suited for long-term wear. They may experience daily comfort, but in the long term, constantly wearing contacts for more than eight hours a day reduces your eye's defence mechanism, particularly with coloured lenses. Make sure you limit yourself to no more than eight to 10 hours a day of contact lens wear, and switch out contacts with regular glasses whenever possible.
5. Get regular eye examinations
Just like going to the dentist, your eyes need to be checked every six months to maintain a clean bill of health. This also ensures that any disease is detected in the early stages for effective treatment. We'll be more than happy to screen your eyes regularly, and can provide the following eye care services as necessary
If you make these your 2008 eye care resolutions, all of us at The Lens Men and The Eye Site will be the happiest optometrists and opticians in Singapore! Here's to your good vision in the new year -- we hope it's a fantastic one!
By Kang Hean Young, The Lens Men - The Centrepoint
