Sight is one of the many important senses people have. For that reason, eye health is as important as the health of the rest of the body. Unfortunately, it can sometimes be looked over. As a result, you may be making some mistakes that are negatively impacting your eye health. Some may be more obvious than others, but they are all important aspects in keeping your eyes healthy. Whether you’re getting too much screen time, you have an old prescription, you’re using old makeup, you’re not washing your hands, or you’re not staying on top of your allergies, you could be making mistakes that can negatively impact your eyes.
Getting Too Much Screen Time
As technological advances grow, so does our tendency to up our screen time. This means time looking at computers, phones, and televisions. Unfortunately, that much screen time can have a negative impact on eye health. Eye strain can cause eye fatigue, dry eye, irritated eyes, or headaches. For this reason, it’s important to be aware of your screen time and work to spend some time away from the screen. Social media can be a positive or a negative, but work to spend less time with social media and your phone in general. You might try other activities instead of watching television. If you stare into a computer for work, spend some time off work away from the screens.
Sticking With an Old Prescription
There are plenty of reasons why people choose to stick with an old vision prescription. It may be because of time, money, or simply forgetting to make an appointment. Using the wrong prescription can cause eye strain and be dangerous for driving or taking part in many other activities. If your issue is time, make an appointment, even if it’s for months down the road when your schedule clears. At least the appointment is made. If the issue is money, remember that many medical professionals will work with you on a payment plan if you can’t pay your medical bills. If you keep forgetting to make an appointment, leave yourself reminders every day to call until you do.
Using Expired Eye Makeup
It can be easy to forget that makeup has an expiration date, but it does. Many items will have a little container figure on the label with a number inside. It may say “6M,” or “12M.” Those dates mean “six months” or “twelve months” and refer to their expiration. Using those items past their expiration dates can be harmful for your eyes. If you continue to use these items, bacteria may cause eye irritations or infections that can become dangerous for your eye health. For that reason, you should be paying attention to your makeup’s labels and avoid using mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, etc. that is past its expiration.
Not Washing Your Hands
Washing your hands is important for a lot of reasons. Not only will it help you to avoid a cold, but it can also help you to keep your eyes healthy. You should always be washing your hands before touching your eyes, especially before putting in or taking out contact lenses, but washing your hands regularly can help for the times that you touch your eye without thinking about it. Extremely contagious eye infections like conjunctivitis can be spread by touching your eye after touching something with your hand that was touched by someone else who has conjunctivitis. For this reason, washing your hands often can help you to fight off contagious eye infections or many other eye irritants.
Exposing Yourself to Allergies
If you have allergies, you know that sometimes your eyes can be affected. Things like pollen, pet hair, and dust can all have an affect on your eyes. Allergies can cause your eyes to become red, itchy, watery, dry, or sensitive to light. Instead of taking a Benadryl and calling it good, take some time to take actionable steps to avoid these allergies. Check your pollen forecast for the day before going out; invest in a vacuum that can really get rid of pet hair; or stay on top of your dusting in order to help your eyes that are affected by your allergies.
You only get one pair of eyes, so it’s important to take care of them. Even something as simple as a retinal scar caused by scratching, an irritant, or contacts can mean the difference between seeing and a scar that can impair your vision. Take your eye care seriously and be sure you’re not making these common mistakes for your eye health. It’s not just the obvious eye health concerns that matter, you should also be paying attention to mistakes that may be hurting your eyes that can be overlooked. Limit your screen time, be sure to update your prescription regularly, throw out expired makeup, wash your hands often, and keep your allergies in check and your eyes will thank you for it.