Health Watch: Protecting Your Vision

Your vision may change as you get older, but it can also change much sooner than you think if you are not careful. We have some ways to keep your eyes seeing longer.

From looking at TV to looking outside at nature, your eyes focus on 50 different objects per second. But your eyes aren't perfect, and they can run into problems, for example, if you stare at your phone too long.

"That's high energy visible light but it's harmful, and that's what causes the digital eye strain," explained Alan Mendelsohn, MD, Ophthalmologist, Hollywood, FL.

Experts say if you feel weary just take a break. If you are not careful this could lead to red eyes and possibly pink eye.

"Vision becomes blurry, eyes become fatigued, sometimes red, it's very frequent to start getting headaches," continued Dr. Mendelsohn.

To reduce the irritation, take a cool or warm towel to your eyes. But not every cause is so easily fixed. Lazy eye, which causes vision to be weaker requires surgery and so does uveitis cause inflammation in the middle layer of your eye and cataracts.

"It's almost like having a stone inside your eye and breaking that up sometimes requires a lot of energy. That energy is not good to the eye," added Sean Lanchulev, MD, MPH, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.

If you don't take care of cataracts, that could lead to night blindness. Finally, watch out for the sun. Not protecting your eyes could lead to excess tearing or floaters which could be a sign of retinal detachment. So, wear those sunglasses for style and protection.

Contact wearers beware! Do not wet them in your mouth as it could lead to infection and be sure that they fit properly to protect your eyes from being scratched.

Contributors: Keon Broadnax, Field Producer; Jamison Koczan, Editor.