Seeing is Believing: Good Eye Health Important for All Ages

Thirty-eight percent of all kids ages 10-18 wear some type of vision correcting lenses. Think about the number of people you know who wear glasses or contact lenses to help them see their world better; your friends, teachers, parents, neighbors, brothers, and sisters. Each of them would tell you how important good vision is to things like reading the board, doing your homework, hitting a baseball, driving a car, and lots more! Some of the key signs to look for if you think you might need glasses are: having trouble reading the board/overhead at school, getting headaches when reading, finding that one eye is blurry when the other eye is covered, having trouble seeing the ball in gym or PE, or even tired eyes at the end of the day. If you are having any of these problems you should let your parents or your teacher know so they can help you find an optometrist and get your eyes examined. As I mentioned earlier, poor vision can affect how you play sports too. Sixty-five percent of all middle school and high school students play some type of sport. Can you imagine how crazy it would look to see a court or field full of players not able to see the ball or their teammates? Poor vision can affect your reaction time, depth perception, eye-hand coordination, and even your peripheral vision. Not only is it important to see well, it is also important to protect your eyes from injury. Thousands of eye injuries happen each year, many of which could have been prevented if the individual had been wearing protective eyewear.

Protecting your eyes from injury while playing sports isn't the only time you need to protect your eyes. Shielding your eyes from ultraviolet light, or sunlight, is very important as well. UV radiation is found in sunlight and there are three types of UV light: UVA, UVB, and UVC. UVC is blocked by our ozone layer and doesn't reach our eyes. UVA and UVB are the types that cause damage to our eyes. Just like you wear sunscreen outside to protect your skin, you should wear sunglasses outside to protect your eyes. Not all sunglasses block both UVA and UVB light, so check before you buy and make sure they protect against both. Think of sunglasses as sunscreen for your eyes, preventing damage is key
to healthy eyes!

Remember to take care of your eyes and your eyesight by having an eye
exam once a year.

For more information you can go online to the American Optometric Associations website .

Dr. Elizabeth Gunst

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