5 Eye Health Myths Debunked: What Every New Yorker Should Know
Everyone wants healthy eyes, but there is a lot of misinformation about how to keep them healthy. Here are 5 Common Myths about eye health every New Yorkers should know about.
1. Visine is safe to use everyday.
FALSE! Visine is a type of medicine called a vasoconstrictor. The way it works is by temporarily shrinking the size of the blood vessels in your eyes. This has two negative effects.
First, your eye becomes addicted or dependent on the medicine to keep your eyes white, and with regular use your eyes will be EVEN MORE RED than they would have been without the Visine. The eyes then NEED the medicine to look normal.
Secondly, Visine and other vasoconstrictors do not treat the source of the redness, but only the symptom. If your eyes are red on a regular basis, you need an eye exam with an optometrist to diagnose the cause of the redness and we can prescribe the necessary treatment to fix it the right way!
At Eyebox we use digital technology to document and can show you the causes of your red eyes. We can help your eyes look normal again.
2. I see perfectly clearly… right?
Not so fast! Our eyes are masters of covering up and hiding focus and blur problems. Even if you think you are seeing perfectly, oftentimes there are focus issues under the surface that we can correct and help with strain, glare, and vision problems down the road.
For example, one of the leading causes of glare is untreated astigmatism. When your cornea has an uneven curvature, you may think your vision is clear, but small distortions in your vision cause glare at night as well as eye strain with fine vision at distance and near.
Exams at Eyebox are designed to be ultra-accurate and can find underlying causes of eyestrain, glare and eye fatigue.
3. Eye exercises are essential for eye health.
False. There is no evidence that eye movement exercises are necessary to keep a normally functioning eye healthy. Often my patients are told by family members that every morning they should move their eyes in a circular pattern to keep the eye muscles limber and fit. This is simply a waste of time and does not maintain eye health in any way.
In rare cases, children are unable to move their eyes properly, but this is a different condition altogether and should be treated by a vision therapy specialist. If you experience symptoms of double vision or eye fatigue, come see us at Eyebox and we can help find relief for your eyes.
4. Adjusting my contacts with my finger during the day helps them feel better.
Stop doing that! While it is common for contacts to feel dry and irritated during the day, you should NEVER stick your finger in your eye to adjust them. Contacts are designed to position themselves in your eye without your intervention. An ill-fitting lens should be refit by an optometrist, and a dry lens should either have artificial tears applied, or be refit in a superior material.
Your hands are dirty, never put them in your eye unless inserting or removing your contact lens in hygienic conditions. Visit us at Eyebox and we can help you find contacts that don’t bug your eyes!
5. Glasses make your eyes worse
False! Wearing glasses with the correct prescription will never make your prescription worse or harm your eyes in any way. In fact, properly prescribed and crafted glasses can be designed to minimize prescription changes in the long term.
If it feels like your prescription continually goes up, ask your optometrist about prescription control lenses designed to keep your eyes from changing over time. At Eyebox, we love questions like this, and have options to help.