You may not realize that your overall health can be affected by the health of your eyes. There are several things that you can do in your daily life to improve your eye health and decrease your chances of having problems later in life.

At Brooks Eye Associates, we recommend scheduling an appointment so we can help you determine the overall health of your eye. During this appointment, we will evaluate your eye’s health, determine if you have any risk factors for any eye diseases, and test the reflexes of your eyes’ muscles.

Once you have a baseline of your eye health, there are several things you can do to maintain and even improve your eye health. These are simple choices that can help protect you from eye cancers, macular degeneration, and glaucoma, which can cause vision loss.

Here are some helpful ways to take care of your eyes:

• Always wear UVA/UVB protective sunglasses
• Find out your family eye history as some conditions can be genetic
• Eat right – carrots, dark green, leafy vegetables, and foods with omega-3 fatty acids can be good for eye health
• A healthy weight can help protect you from diabetes which can cause vision loss
• Don’t smoke
• Rest your eyes; especially if you’ve been staring at a screen for more than 20 minutes, take a minute to rest them
• Protect your eyes during recreation
• Protect your eyes when doing home improvement or operating machinery that requires eye protection
• Take steps to keep your hands and contact lenses clean when putting them in and taking them out

If you live in the Dallas or Plano area and would like to schedule an eye exam to determine your eye’s overall health, please contact Brooks Eye Associates. We have the experience to help you with current visual issues and to help prevent future ones to arise.