Visiting your local optical center in Chicago for routine checkups with an eye doctor is important for protecting your vision and practicing good eye care. However, this is particularly true for individuals over age 40. At this stage in your life, you have a greater risk of developing glaucoma.

Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes damage to the optic nerve. Because many people do not experience any glaucoma symptoms until the damage is significant, it’s important to schedule routine checkups with an ophthalmologist. To diagnose this condition, he will perform a comprehensive eye exam to check your peripheral vision, measure your eye pressure, measure your cornea’s thickness, examine your eye’s drainage angle, and measure or image your optic nerve.

If your optic nerve has already suffered damage due to glaucoma, then this cannot be reversed. However, your ophthalmologist may recommend laser surgery, medication, or glaucoma surgery to help slow the progression of the disease and preserve your remaining eyesight.

Regular visits to your ophthalmologist in Chicago can help you protect your vision and eye health. However, no one wants to see an eye doctor because of an injury. To help keep your eyes protected from harm this season, read on for some helpful summertime eye safety tips.

Wear Goggles

Summer equals swim season, and many people spend hours at a time in the pool while exercising, playing, or relaxing. However, chlorine can affect the health of your eyes, so you can benefit from protecting them from the chemicals in pool water. To avoid blurry vision and gritty-feeling eyes, wear goggles while you swim and rinse your eyes with fresh water afterward.

Carry Eyedrops

Hot and arid environments can affect your tear film and leave your eyes feeling dry and gritty. Because of this, if you’ll be spending time in a dry or windy location this summer, then you should take precautions against dry eye. You can do this by carrying artificial tears and wearing wraparound sunglasses.

Prioritize Safety

Many eye injuries happen around the home, so you shouldn’t overlook the importance of eye safety as you work through that summertime to-do list. Whether you’re beginning a new DIY project or trimming trees, you can practice good eye care by wearing proper protective eyewear.

Wear Sunglasses

Did you know that your eyes are vulnerable to damage from the sun, just like your skin? Sometimes called “sunburn of the eye,” photokeratitis is a painful condition that can be caused by sunlight that bounces off highly reflective surfaces, such as sand and water. To help avoid the redness, pain, and blurry vision associated with photokeratitis, ophthalmologists recommend that you wear sunglasses with 100% UV protection and a wide-brimmed hat, if possible.

Quit Smoking

Quitting smoking can be a great addition to your list of summer health goals. Smoking is a risk factor for many health conditions, including some that affect the eyes, such as macular degeneration and cataracts. Reduce your risk of eye disease and other health issues by quitting smoking this season.

Your eyesight is precious, but if you’re like many people, you probably take it for granted. You should know that thousands of American workers suffer from vision loss and blindness every year because of preventable eye injuries sustained in the workplace. As an employee, you have the right to work in a reasonably safe and healthy environment. Consider scheduling a visit to an optical center near Chicago. You can ask an ophthalmologist about the potential eye injury risks at your workplace. You’ll also get some easy-to-follow eye care safety tips to protect your vision.

Identify the Risks of Eye Injuries

A couple of the main causes of eye injuries are airborne particles and chemical exposure. Eye penetration can be caused by objects falling off scaffolds, sparks from welding equipment, and blown sawdust. Other objects may swing into a worker’s eye, such as chains, ropes, and tree limbs. Similarly, chemical eye burns can cause permanent damage, especially if the caustic chemical penetrates to the deeper layers of the eye. Chemical eye injuries can be caused by a variety of substances, including potassium, lye, magnesium, ammonia, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, plaster, and cement.

Reduce Hazards in the Workplace

Identifying the potential causes of eye injuries at your jobsite is the first step toward protecting yourself and other employees. Next, talk to your employer about the safety precautions recommended by your ophthalmologist. Your employer may need to add machine guards, safety screens, and caution flags. High-risk jobsites should have an emergency eyewash station that is fully stocked with sterile eyewash solution. Employers have a responsibility to train each worker to follow safety precautions and to know how to respond when an eye injury does occur.

Wear Protective Eyewear

Protective eyewear can prevent most of all eye injuries that occur in the workplace, but only if it’s worn consistently. Every employee should have access to the appropriate eyewear for a task. These include goggles, face shields, welding helmets, and safety glasses with side shields. All personal protective equipment in the workplace must be OSHA-compliant.

Glaucoma develops when the optic nerve sustains damage. Usually, glaucoma is the result of excessively high levels of intraocular pressure, or eye pressure. It develops slowly, which is why most people diagnosed with glaucoma are older adults. Although glaucoma is a major culprit of blindness in the U.S., there isn’t a cut-and-dry way to prevent it. However, you can talk to an ophthalmologist located in the Chicago area about your risk factors. By knowing your risk factors, your ophthalmologist can help you learn ways of protecting your eyes.

Visit Your Eye Doctor Regularly for Exams

When glaucoma is allowed to progress untreated, the vision loss is irreversible. Visit an optical center regularly to get your eyes checked. Your eye doctor will let you know how often you should schedule an exam, based on your individual risk factors. In general, glaucoma tests are recommended every 2 to 4 years before age 40. After age 40, you should be tested for glaucoma more frequently. Early detection of this vision problem allows for early treatment, which can slow the progression of vision loss.

Wear Protective Eyewear

Some people develop glaucoma not because of high intraocular pressure, but because of severe eye injuries that damage the optic nerve. These include injuries from caustic chemicals and flying projectiles. Ophthalmologists strongly recommend wearing protective eyewear whenever you’re doing a high-risk activity. These include using power equipment like chainsaws, mowing the lawn, doing carpentry work, and playing sports. Eye injuries can also occur from activities that aren’t generally seen as dangerous, such as using chemical cleaners in the kitchen.

Lead an Active Lifestyle

It’s thought that exercising regularly may help lower the pressure in the eyes . Researchers do not think that exercise has a lasting protective effect. In other words, exercise may only help if you continue to do it throughout your lifetime. Experts recommend moderate exercise at least 3 times per week. If you do yoga, try to avoid poses that invert your body. Headstands may increase your intraocular pressure.

Cataracts usually develop very slowly. These cloudy areas of the eye’s lens cause blurry vision, double vision, and sensitivity to light. When your symptoms start to interfere with your daily life, it’s time to visit a cataract surgeon near Chicago. During your cataract procedure, the cloudy lens will be removed and replaced with an intraocular lens (IOL). This lens is a flexible, synthetic lens that functions just like a natural, healthy lens would. It receives light and focuses it on the retina at the back of the eye. This allows your brain to receive images via the optic nerve.

Your cataract surgeon can walk you through the types of IOLs available to you. He or she might suggest an aspheric IOL, which mimics the natural variations in the curve of the eye’s lens. This could help you enjoy sharper vision. On the other hand, your ophthalmologist may recommend a toric IOL if you have nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism. This lets you see things clearly, without the blurriness that astigmatism causes.

Some people can’t even touch their eyeballs, so the prospect of cataract surgery near Chicago might seem a little scary at first. Do a little research about the process , and talk to your cataract surgeon so that you know what to expect. This can help you prepare, which can then make you more comfortable. You should know why cataract surgery is important, how to get yourself ready, and what you’ll experience when you meet with your eye doctor. Here’s a closer look at what patients should know about cataract surgery.

Reasons You Should Deal with Cataracts

Just like on a camera or a microscope, the lens of your eye helps you focus an image so that you can see it clearly. When you develop cataracts, however, the lens clouds up and becomes blurry. This can be distracting and takes away from your ability to appreciate a beautiful sight, so it may significantly impact your quality of life. There are steps you can take to gain your vision back, and your eye doctor may recommend cataract surgery. This procedure can restore clarity and color to your vision so you can enjoy life’s scenery the way you always have.

How to Prepare for Surgery

Before you get started with cataract surgery, your eye doctor will explain how intraocular lenses—or IOLs—work and what to expect when you go in for treatment. He or she will need to take measurements in order to create the right IOL, and you will need to tell your eye doctor about any medications that you’re currently taking. In some cases, you might have to refrain from taking these medications for a certain period of time.

What the Procedure Is Like

You might need to refrain from eating prior to cataract surgery. After numbing your eye, your doctor will carefully cut near the cornea to access the lens. The goal is to break down the cataract and replace the lens with an IOL. Your incisions should heal on their own, so you most likely won’t need stitches. After about a half hour in the recovery area, you can leave.

Summer is the season for dazzling displays of fireworks, and the Fourth of July tends to be the pinnacle. If you want to be safe and keep your eye doctor in Chicago happy while you enjoy the view, be sure to practice proper eye care . Look at this video clip for tips on keeping your eyes safe around fireworks.

There’s a lot to love about the summertime, from days at the beach to ice cream cones in the backyard. For many families, it’s tradition to go out and see a fireworks show on the Fourth of July. Fireworks can be beautiful, but they’re equally bright. If the light gets to be too much, consider putting on a pair of sunglasses. You can also try to distance yourself from the spectacle to avoid such intense exposure. Whether you prefer sparklers, bottle rockets, or firecrackers, practice proper eye care.

There are people in the world who face extreme obstacles daily, and many of us can’t even imagine the struggles they go through. Helen Keller is an excellent example of someone who combatted serious handicaps in both deafness and blindness, and there is much to learn from her story. While a cataract surgeon or eye doctor in Chicago will have intimate knowledge of blindness, most people have a great deal to learn. Keep reading as we put the spotlight on Helen Keller Deaf-Blind Awareness Week 2017.

No matter how well our intentions may be, we can only focus our efforts on solving a problem after we’ve become aware of it. Most people over a certain age understand what deafness and blindness are, but there is much more to learn about these conditions. When you go about your daily life, you might not think about what your normal routine would be like without one or more of your senses. The purpose of Helen Keller Deaf-Blind Awareness Week is to take a week out of each year to discuss the presence of deaf-blindness in families within our communities so we can all widen our perspectives.