Your eye sight is important. There are many preventative measures that you can do to take care of your eyes. Eye maintenance isn’t something most people think of on a day to day basis. The key to keeping your eyes in good health is to keep a careful watch on them with your optometrist so you can track any changes.

If you are concerned with the health of your eyes, you need to see an eye doctor. If you’re new to the area or not satisfied with your current eye doctor, you may have questions about finding an optometrist that’s right for you.

• Find an experienced optometrist.
• Find an eye doctor with an office near your home or work place.

Begin your search for an experienced optometrist online. There are numerous databases and online review sites that will  yield plenty of results for an eye doctor in your area. When looking for an eye doctor, make sure they are licensed in your state and board certified. Their website should look professional and offer a complete explanation of the services offered.

Sunglasses shield you from the sun and protect the area around the eye. The right sunglasses not only do this, but they also protect the eyes themselves. Your eyes are more vulnerable than you think. UV rays are especially harmful to the retina, which is why you should never look directly at the sun.

If you are new to wearing contact lenses, you may be unsure how to care for the lenses or how to protect your eyes. The eyes are extremely sensitive. You are putting a foreign object into the eye on a daily basis, so you want to stay abreast of all information that will keep your eyes healthy while wearing contacts.

• Never share contacts.
• Remove contacts when showering.
• Follow doctor’s instructions for contacts.

Remember to never share contacts with anyone. For prescription contact lenses, this is not usually a problem. Special effects and vanity contact lenses are often shared among friends for costumes or other special events. This is extremely unsanitary and can pass germs and eye diseases easily.

Remove your contacts when showering. The heat of the shower can create bacteria between the eye and the contact lens. It’s the same when you are in any hot, steamy area such as a hot tub. You should remove contacts in both instances to prevent infection in the eyes. If you want to continue wearing your contacts in the shower, make sure you are taking a lukewarm shower or make it a quick shower so you aren’t standing around in a steamy area for a prolonged period of time.

Follow your doctor’s instructions for contacts. Remove your contacts each evening and cleanse and store properly in a cool, dry place. Change your contacts out as recommended or opt for daily use contacts that are disposable. Sanitary contact use is your best defense against eye infections.

Glaucoma is one of the most common eye issues people deal with. Glaucoma can affect anyone, but most often affects people age 65 and older. One of the first signs of glaucoma is slight blurry vision, for both people who have good eye sight and those who use glasses or contact lenses.

Starting at age 40, you should have annual eye exams from a professional. Glaucoma is one of the things they will test for and here’s what you can expect when going into an eye exam.

Testing for Glaucoma

Testing for glaucoma is most often done with the NCT or non-contact tonometry test. This is when a puff of air is administered to the eye. You may remember this from Friends when Rachel visited the eye doctor. The puff is quick and clean, which means there’s no reason to worry about the tickling sensation that sometimes accompanies an NCT.

Depending on how resistant to the air puff your eyes are determines your probability of obtaining glaucoma. The NCT calculates your IOP or intraocular pressure. Those with high eye pressure have a higher risk of getting glaucoma.

Applanation Tonometer

The applanation tonometer method is less common, but still widely used when an optometrist is testing for glaucoma. For this method, yellow dye is placed in the eye which creates a heavy feeling on the eye. This is not a dilating tool. The yellow dye shows up prominently when the optometrist places a blue light over the eye and applies slight pressure to the eye’s surface.