Aug

17

Vision Supplements

Filed Under Eyewear Knowledge, Designer Sunglasses | 1 Comment

au0817.JPGIn addition to buying the best designer eyeglasses, contacts and sunglasses for your eyes from top brands like Ray Ban, Nike or Ralph Lauren, you should also supplement your eye care regime with a healthy diet, exercise and vitamins. Some supplements target the health of the eye specifically, and are beneficial to people intent on maintaining or improving eye health. Some of these supplements are listed below, but all should be taken after talking with a doctor, and in tandem with a healthy lifestyle. For healthy eyes, just remember your ABCs:

Vitamin A is necessary for healing wounds in the body, which would otherwise lower your immune system. Meanwhile, A is also used for increasing night vision

Vitamin B complex (a compellation of various B vitamins) is useful in reducing inflammation and preventing vascular problems associated with the retina. B vitamins are also useful for energy boosts as well as healthy blood flow and stress relief.

Vitamin C not only promotes a healthy system with an infusion of antioxidants, but can also help reduce the risk of cataracts. If you are genetically prone to cataracts then supplement your diet with vitamin C, or eat fruits rich in C.

Vitamin D is essential to skin health, and hordes of people suffer from vitamin D deficiencies, especially in the winter when time outdoors is less frequent. Increased but safe amounts of vitamin D are associated with lower cases of macular degeneration, which can lead to blindness.

Vitamin E helps to reduce the risk of Cataracts, as well as promotes healthy skin and hair. A healthy immune system is always beneficial so weaknesses elsewhere in the body detract from your body’s maintenance on your eyes.

So, for healthy eyes, just remember your ABCs.

Aug

10

Vision Injuries on the Rise, Sports Primary Culprit

Filed Under Eyewear Knowledge | 4 Comments

au0810.JPGWith eye-related injuries on the rise, many are turning to the root causes of the increase in retina damage caused by high-impact sports like paintball, boxing, biking, shooting and martial arts.

It is important to prepare for full contact to the eye in any of the above-mentioned sports, even when incidents are unlikely. Off-road Biking, for example, causes several dozen eye injuries a month when bikers pedaling through the forest get a twig or branch snapped into their eye. Retina damage can be irreparable if severe enough, and can severely decrease your efficiency. Boxing and martial arts are high-impact sports where a knuckle or finger in the eye can cause rupturing, severe bruising or even blindness. Shooting without eye protection has led to damage and blindness when shrapnel is propelled or the recoil on the rifle hits the eye socket, causing rupture or retina damage.

Paintball is one of the most damaging sports to the eye, as several participants a year are blinded by a direct shot to the eye. The paint can propel at high speeds, causing the eye to rupture and be infected with paint, which can even shoot behind the eye if the shot was close range. Full, sealed eyewear is not only recommended, it should be required. A recent study showed that 80% of all sports-related eye injuries occur in men, with ruptured eyeballs the most common occurrence with detached retinas the second most common eye injury related to paintball. Nearly 90% of all injured require surgery with permanent damage, and even blindness. Proper protection could have caused almost all of reported eye injury cases to have been avoided, doctors say.

Aug

4

Video Gaming may Improve Eye Contrast Sensitivity

Filed Under Eyewear Knowledge | 1 Comment

au0804.JPGGood news for men everywhere! Video gaming has proven scientific benefits to one’s contrast sensitivity in the visual cortex of the brain, a vital aspect of one’s vision, alertness to detail and eye health. According to scientists in Tel Avaiv, video gaming may not only be good for your vision, it may even be a prescribed treatment for some eye ailments. This comes into stark contrast with earlier scientific estimates, which assumed prolonged video gaming would decrease vision. Gamers are more likely to notice minute differences in contrast, such as the differences between gray and black movement at high speed. Especially useful are video games like “Call of Duty” which are fast-paced games requiring concentrated focus and coordination of the eye. IN addition to increasing hand-eye coordination, video gaming is now scientifically proven to increase contrast sensitivity.

Scientists in Tel Aviv tested the contrast sensitivity of two groups over nine week. The first group played high-speed games for 50 hours over the test period while the other group did not play games at all. Gamers were not only more likely to notice details, but they could distinguish between more colors and shapes.

Gaming helps train the brain to notice these differences, something we hardly encounter in day to day life unless we do highly vision related jobs like truck driving or piloting. The gaming participants in the study improved 43% over the non-gamers, results which lasted for months after the initial gaming period. Scientists believe gaming trains the visual cortex in high-stress situations that help it to respond better in daily life. Funded by the National Eye Institute, the study shows that gaming has some positive benefits, and doctors will begin prescribing gaming to patients with lazy eye.