Eye care should essentially feature as an important health lookout. The vital organ in perception, eyes require professional care and medical remedies, in case there are atrophies. It becomes necessary to know that how to facilitate the process. One should be cognizant of the doctors available, suited to respective needs. Subsequently, self-care steps should be taken to improve the vision. According to WHO, there are four main forms of refractive error, the principal cause of distorted vision. They are: myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (far-sightedness), astigmatism (distorted vision) and presbyopia (near vision impairment).
Depending on the disease a person is afflicted with, eye care options should be tailored. In such cases, it is important to able to distinguish between the types of doctors specializing in the aforementioned arena. Not all ailments can be tended to by the same doctor and often, resulting in ignorance leads to serious health risks. Enlisted below are the three types of doctors who offer their services in enabling vision:
Optometrist: An eye doctor bearing the Doctor of Optometry (OD) Degree. Correcting refractive errors, treating both vision and eye-related health problems comprise his/her job. He/she is authorized to prescribe eyeglasses, contact lenses.
Ophthalmologist: The person bears the MD Degree, to be precise a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO). The doctors undertake eye exams, diagnosis and prognosis of diseases. Medicines and eye surgery- ophthalmologists differ in these two categories from optometrists. Ophthalmologists can also, easily perform the functions of optometrists.
Opticians: The team is without a medical degree. Yet, they too are an indispensable part of the routine exam. As per the prescriptions of the ophthalmologist/optometrist, they customize the patients’ eyeglasses and sell them.
Such prior knowledge results in immediate redress of eye care issues. Once the medical aspect is covered, a person can focus on following the other remedies prescribed by doctors. Essentially, it would require improving one’s daily lifestyle involving correct choices of nutrients and food supplements. It can either be home-made remedies or professional tips as suggested by doctors. A list of eight eye care tips has been compounded for a better overview. They are as follows:
Information about family’s medical history- Many eye diseases are hereditary. It is advised that one should have complete knowledge of such diseases. Therefore, detection and remedial action would become easier.
Resting the eyes- Sedentary workers/office workers saddled with computers round the clock often forget to blink their eyes. This leads to fatigue. The 20-20-20 exercise can help, it being; on an interval of every 20 minutes, focus the eyes away approximately 20 feet in front for a period of 20 seconds.
Hygienic hands and contact lenses- Avoiding infections is imperative. Hence, hands should be clean while handling contact lenses. They should be cleaned as instructed and stored as appropriate or as suggested by the sellers/doctors.
Sunglasses- They are not only accessories. They are also important eye care articles to screen the eyes from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. For better results, blocking capacity of UV-A and UV-B radiation should range somewhere between 99 to 100 percent.
The Healthy intake of nutrients- Macular degeneration, cataracts etc. can be prevented with a balanced diet. Spinach, kale, fish protein and citrus fruits are essential requisites.
Safety wear at workplaces- Contact with hazardous/airborne substances compromise eye safety. Sports like cricket, hockey are equally risky. Protective eye gear, e.g. helmets should always be worn in such situations.
Eye care services need to be government supervised and subsidized. Consequently, an extension of such facilities to the visually impaired therefore becomes absolutely necessary.
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