by Here are some other interesting tidbits I learned about our eyes and eye care from my doctor visit this week that you might find helpful. I am not an eye doctor so none of this should be taken as a mandate or scientific fact:
1. Restasis
is a great new eye drop medication that will help your body make more
natural tears from the inside to add more moisture to you eyes regular
re-wetting drops cannot provide.
2. As we age our eyes get drier. That is a fact. It will not change.
Prepare for it.
3. In six months or so Johnson & Johnson will be improving their
fantastic “1-Day Acuvue” contact lenses with a “dry eye” version that
will let your eyes breathe better and get more moisture. Right now
contacts suck in all the tears from your eyes like sponges. The new
contact lenses will not steal so many tears.
4. If you wear contacts you must use rewetting drops at least three
times a day to help your eyes battle the tears-stealing lenses.
5. Blinking every few seconds is important to eye health. When we
concentrate we don’t blink enough. The worst non-blinkers who usually
only blink two or three times a minute are: Writers and truck drivers.
Writers because we stare at a computer all day thinking and truck
drivers because they are barreling down the road at high speed for
hours at a time and they must always remain alert to avoid accidents.
On a personal note:
I had my eyes “color tested” in high school. I was subjected to various
images and I had to name all the colors in the images. It was more
in-depth than a test for color blindness. Was there green in the image?
How many shades of yellow do you see? Does that red image have orange
or blue in it?
I tested so well I was off the chart. Less than 1% of
others tested had a higher score.
I value my eyes over my hearing and taste and I know I can see things
other don’t and that’s why I have resisted getting laser surgery —
even though I have really thick corneas — because you have no
guarantee your eyesight will improve and there is a risk, however
slight, you may do more damage than good. I’ll keep my contacts and
glasses, thank you!
That explains it. I’m a long haul trucker and late at night my eyes get so itches I rub. I better get eyes drops and fast.
That’s a good point, Denny.
My doctor said when we rub our eyes we are really trying to generate tears.
Instead of rubbing, my doctor said, use re-wetting drops instead.
I haven’t tried contacts yet. I’ve been wearing glasses for about five years now, and I’m actually overdue for an eye exam. I just can’t make up my mind. The sunglasses I have are prescription too because I’m a major squinter in sunlight, and I know if I get contacts, I’ll have to replace the lenses in my sunglasses.
But then what if I can’t wear my contacts on a particular day, then I don’t have any prescription sunglasses. I could get another pair of regular sunglasses, but finding the right pair is like hunting for weapons of mass destruction, or the pair I like costs more than the national debt.
So, anyway, that’s my quandary. Thanks, David, for getting me all worked up!
🙂
Hello Carla!
I love my contacts. My eye doctor loves contacts because he feels we can see better than with glasses alone.
I hate my glasses because I can’t see “everything.” Wearing my contact lenses allows me to have an entire world view without any dead spots — you wear glasses so you know what I mean — everything is in focus all around with my contacts.
If my eyes decline I would keep my contacts for far distances and put on reading glasses if I need them. Some people put far viewing in one eye as a contact and “up close” viewing in the other contact lens. I don’t think I could do that. You’d lose a bit of stereo vision.
If you decide to go with contacts I urge you to use Acuvue 1-Day lenses. Sure, they’re most expensive, but you use them one day and have a whole new pair the next day. They are delightful. You don’t have to clean them. You don’t have to fuss with them. Divine!
If you get contacts, think about getting new glasses where the lenses darken in bright light. That way you can have a safe backup for the sun on days you don’t feel like wearing your contacts.
Be sure you go to a good Ophthalmologist. Don’t play around with Optometrists or other eye professionals. Go with the eye surgeon if you care about your eyes because they are trained like no other to look deep into your eye and recognize problems before they emerge. My doctor hints that in 5-10 years I’ll probably have a cataract and he always mentions the signs for a torn retina and that I should come in immediately if that happens so — reading between his bold lines — I know there’s heavy stuff for me in my eyeball future. 🙂 I’d rather know now though, and not be surprised and scared later.
Interesting you should say that about writers and truck drivers. In the 60s, some tests were conducted on F1 race car drivers in an attempt to establish what made them different from ordinary mortals. In all their tests, the scientists could come up with only one difference: whereas most people blink between 4 and 6 times a minute, F1 drivers blink less than once in sixty seconds. Make of that what you will – it baffled them at the time too!
David,
I have to say that I love my glasses, I’ve had to wear glasses since I was ten years old. I think I would be a little bit lost without them. They are a part of my personality. I don’t think lasiks or any other type of surgery is good for me.
When I was coming over here to Iraq, I went and bought a pair of prescription Wiley X ballistic goggles. They were expensive, because I chose the transistion lenses. They are great.
Wearing contacts for me is not an option. Doing what I do, contacts are a big no-no. If you have never seen a contact fused to an eye it ain’t a pretty sight. I’ve also seen someone who got sand under their contact and scratched their cornea.
I’m with you though, your eyes are important to take care of. I use all my senses, except smell. I haven’t smelt anything in years, because of bad sinuses. Around here that is a good thing.
Kev
Clive — Interesting news! I find myself staring so much I have to remind myself to blink. Sometimes I just close my eyes for a few seconds to try to rebuild the moisture evaporating from my eyes. I find contacts, even though they are a sponge, better at protecting my eyes from dry environmental conditions. Contacts can help re-wet the eye by releasing some of the stolen moisture. When it’s your bare eye against the world you really are stuck with a dry eye until you can re-wet them again with drops or a more humid condition. Steaming in a shower is a good overall solution.
Kev — I understand your glasses need. Contacts are precious and a bit precocious so you have to be careful where and when you use them. Contacts certainly would not fit in your life. Thanks for the tip on the Wiley X goggles. I visited their website and the photos are graphic demonstrating how the goggles save eyes. Have you tried a Neti Pot for your sinuses?
Hi, David! I wear contacts too and find that when I’m in air conditioned air my eyes get dry faster. The comfort of the cooler air is sometimes not worth the tradeoff for me. I already have itchy eyes from allergic reactions. Good info here. you are a hero. 🙂
Hiya Paula —
Air conditioning is a big problem for eyes, I agree. It does nothing good for your nose or throat, either! 🙂
Itchy eyes are tough to solve and they usually need eyedrops. I’ve been on Acular and it burned. Patanol was not strong enough. Optivar is working, I guess, though it doesn’t feel like it is working very well. My favorite is Alrex. Put that stuff in your eye and an hour later you have great relief. I’m told, however, that you can’t use Alrex every day because it can raise the pressure in your eye but for emergencies there is nothing better than getting rid of all that itchy gunky! :)Hiya Paula —
Air conditioning is a big problem for eyes, I agree. It does nothing good for your nose or throat, either! 🙂
Itchy eyes are tough to solve and they usually need eye drops. I’ve been on Acular and it burned. Patanol was not strong enough. Optivar is working, I guess, though it doesn’t feel like it is working very well. My favorite is Alrex. Put that stuff in your eye and an hour later you have great relief. I’m told, however, that you can’t use Alrex every day because it can raise the pressure in your eye but for emergencies there is nothing better than getting rid of all that itchy gunky! 🙂