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Posted by: Georgia Eye Associates in General

We always try out best when it comes to protecting our skin, but not enough of us take the same care to protect our eyesight. Protecting your eyesight is very important and essential if you hope to have good quality vision by the time you are in your 40s.

Your risk of vision loss gets higher and higher as you get older and if you don’t take care of your vision while you are young those risks get even worse.

Here are 4 things you can do to make sure you’re taking care of your eyesight:

1. Avoid digital eye strain: Screens are everywhere we go, so it is hard to avoid them. Staring at screens for long periods of time can result in what is called “digital eye strain.” Digital eye strain can result in your eyes hurting and feeling dry, you can also experience headaches. There is something simple and easy that you can do to help protect your eyes against digital eye strain and it is called the “20-20-20 rule.” What this means is every 20 minutes of time spent staring at a screen you should take a 20 second break to stare at something 20 feet away. It may sound silly, but this will help your eyes reset and prevent symptoms of eye strain.
2. Exercise proper contact lens usage: This means you need to take them out before bed and wash them using only contact lens cleaning solution. Sleeping in your contacts increases your risk of developing serious eye complications such as eye infection. You may be tempted to lick your contact lens to clean it, but this is a terrible idea. Our mouths are full of all kinds of bacteria which don’t belong in our eyes!
3. Get your eyes checked regularly: Make sure to never skip your annual eye exam. Not all eye diseases have visible symptoms right away, so it is important to get your eyes scanned frequently so you can catch these potential eye risks early.
4. Utilize eye protection: Approximately 2.5 million eye injuries occur in North America every year, so it is important that you are taking the necessary steps to protection your vision from possible dangers. Eye injuries most commonly occur while playing sports such as baseball and football or doing DIY projects such as gardening and home repair. Make sure the eye protection you use is always up to ANSI-approved standards so that it can properly protect your vision.