Eye Care

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KEY POINTS

• Daily eye care is important to help you avoid problems like eyestrain, irritation, infection, and injuries.
• Always make sure that you keep the area around your eyes clean to help prevent infection. Wear sunglasses or other eyewear to protect your eyes from injury.
• Have eye exams regularly even if you do not have eye problems.

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Daily eye care is important to help you avoid problems like eyestrain, irritation, infection, and injuries.

How do I avoid eyestrain?

Some children and adults need glasses to avoid eyestrain when reading or doing close-up work. Some people with dry eyes feel discomfort, tiredness, or strain when they read, drive, watch TV, or look at a computer screen because they blink less during these activities. Glasses, contact lenses, lubricating eye drops, medicines, or surgery may help with these symptoms.

How do I help prevent eye irritation and infection?

• Wash your face regularly to keep the area around your eyes clean.
• Remove all eye makeup before going to bed.
• Do not share eye makeup or brushes with others.
• Avoid touching your eyes with dirty hands. Wash your hands regularly, especially after going to the bathroom, coughing into your hands, or blowing your nose. It is also important to wash your hands after handling food such as raw meat. Also, wash your hands after taking care of someone who is ill.
• If you wear contacts, do not wear your lenses when you sleep, and make sure that you clean them as directed.

How can I help prevent eye injuries?

To protect your eyes you can:

• Wear sunglasses that give 100% UVA and UVB protection from ultraviolet rays when you are in the sun or using a sunlamp.
• Get shatterproof lenses in your regular glasses.
• To help prevent severe eye injuries, wear safety eyewear when you:
  • Do any work around the house that requires hammering, power tools, chemicals, or splatter of any kind
  • Play sports such as paintball, racquetball, lacrosse, hockey, and fast-pitch softball
  • Shoot firearms or use explosives of any kind
  • Are in a high-risk area such as a construction site or shooting range
• Avoid scratching your eye, especially if you use eye makeup.
• Shield your eyes when you use sprays such as deodorant, perfume or hairspray.
• Do not give children toys that shoot, fly, or have sharp edges. Do not let children use fireworks without close adult supervision.
• Keep desk supplies, kitchen utensils, and cleaning products out of the reach of children.

When should I see my eye care provider?

Regular eye exams and vision tests help correct vision problems and can detect eye disease early. Have eye exams regularly even if you do not have eye problems.

See your eye care provider right away if you have any of these symptoms:

• Complete or partial loss of vision
• Flashes of light or floating spots or lines in your vision
• New eye pain or sensitivity to light
• Pain when you move your eyes
• Double vision
• Halos around light
• A pupil that has an irregular shape or is a different size than the other pupil
• Severe redness, itching, burning, or tearing
• Thick yellow, white, or green discharge from your eye
• Blurry vision that lasts more than a few minutes
• Injury to your eye from getting something in your eye, or from burns or chemical exposure