A friend’s mom recently came in her for annual eye exam. She complained about blurry vision. 

She had stopped using her cell phone and iPad because she thought electronic devices was the reason for her bad vision. On top of that, she had deep concerns that something was “wrong” with the health of her eyes.

So you can imagine she was shocked when I told her she had healthy eyes.  She proceeded to ask, “But why am I seeing so blurry?”

“It’s because your glasses prescription has changed and you need new glasses with an updated prescription to see better,” I said.

Then she posed an interesting question to me, “So my assumption is wrong? My bad vision doesn’t mean I have unhealthy eyes?” 

Yup. That is a false assumption.

Bad vision does not mean unhealthy eyes. These are two completely different concepts. Let me explain.

Bad vision, like nearsightedness, astigmatism or farsightedness, is correctable with glasses, contact lenses or even LASIK surgery. These vision problems do not correlate with unhealthy eyes.

Eye health problems are related to eye conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma or macular degeneration.

Unhealthy eyes can certainly be the reason for bad vision and could sometimes be permanent. Scary. 

So how do we keep our precious eyes healthy?

Good question, it’s actually very simple. Here are 3 tips for healthy eyes in 2020. 

1. eat well

“You are what you eat.”

It’s true. Our body, including our eyes, are a reflection of what we put into our stomachs. 

For example, diabetes (specifically type 2) is a body condition in which there is improper regulation of the movement in sugar. Complications of diabetes can affect major organs such as your heart, blood vessels and of course your eyes. 

Personally, I have come across many cases where patients had significant vision loss due to diabetic complications to their eyes. Unfortunately, for most, the vision loss was permanent. 

To avoid such eye health complications, eating healthy is the first step. 

Consider eating foods with high fiber content such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Avoid consistently eating foods with high sugar, fat and calories. 

Changing our diet is hard. Food is cultural, it’s also habitual.

But for healthy eyes, and more importantly, a healthy body that holds up well against time, it’s definitely an investment worth making. 

Tip #1 was written with Bright Vision Optometry’s very own eyewear stylist, Michael in mind.

Michael has been eating vegan (brusselin’) since the start of 2020. 

2. sleep well

“Sleep is the best meditation.”

One of the most underrated factor for healthy eyes is sleep. 

Good sleep is a key player in our general health and well being. Sleep helps our bodies including our eyes, repair, regenerate and recover. 

Numerous studies have shown the importance of good sleep including benefits such as lower weight gain risk, better calorie regulation, greater athletic performance and lower risk of heart disease.

But what does good sleep mean?

It can be generally defined as sleeping 7 or more hours without waking in the middle of the night. 

For good sleep, create a routine where you are sleeping around the same time each night. Consider exercise (see tip #3) as a sleep aid. 

Tip #2 was written in dedication to my wife Elaine. Shout out to her ultra-consistent 8 hours of sleep per night. 

3. exercise consistently

“When mind, body and spirit are in harmony, happiness is the natural result.”

Anybody and everybody can benefit from consistent exercise. 

The benefits of regular exercise have been proven and it include the following; enhance mood, help maintain weight loss, boosts energy, promotes better sleep (see tip #2) and combats health conditions such as high blood pressure, depression and diabetes. If you ask me, all of these benefits promote healthy eyes. 

Reducing your overall stress is important for your health and well being.

Physical exercise is just one part of the equation. The mind and the spirit could also benefit from exercises of their own. 

Consider setting a weekly routine for regular exercise.

Join a community such as a running or walking club for accountability. Take classes such as yoga or start with meditation. 

“The hardest thing about exercise is to start doing it. once you are doing exercise regularly, the hardest thing is to stop it.” 

Tip #3 was written as motivation for myself. Go play some basketball dude, stop being a lazy bum. 

Maintaining healthy eyes is just that simple. 

In short, by setting good habits and routines for healthy living, you are protecting your eyes from degradation and aging. 

Eat well, sleep well and exercise consistently will not only help with your eyes, but also your general well-being and happiness. 

If you are still reading all the way down to here, a big THANK YOU for reading this whole blog. 

Thank you for everything, Mr. Bryant.

call or text Bright Vision Optometry: (909)627-1111
schedule your next appointment online: CLICK HERE

the content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. please seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding your medical or vision conditions.

Bright Vision Optometry is a family-owned & operated optometry office located in Chino Hills, CA 91709

Parents, do you know what age your child can start wearing contact lenses? This is a question our eye doctors  at Bright Vision Optometry answer often.

Before we get to the answer of that question, let’s think first if your child actually could benefit from contact lenses. 

At Bright Vision Optometry, we believe in the power of contact lenses to provide a more natural way of seeing. There are certain circumstances where traditional glasses will get in the way of comfortable vision. 

Here’s a couple situations where contact lenses may provide better overall vision and comfort:

Does your child play sports? Children who play sports like football, basketball, baseball or soccer could benefit from contact lenses and avoid the hassle and distraction of glasses wear. 

Is your child involved in extracurricular activities such as dancing or cheerleading? Children involved in high movement activities could also benefit from contact lens wear. 

Contact lens is a safe and a great alternative to correction vision over traditional glasses. Especially kids with a higher prescription (we’ll get more into that later). 

So let’s dive into answering our first questions: What age can my child start wearing contact lenses? 

Maturity 

The answer to that question firmly depends on the maturity level and motivation of the child. From our experience, children can start wearing contacts at the age of 10-12 years old. But get this, some kids we see at Bright Vision Optometry start wearing contact lenses at the age of 6. So it really depends. 

One day, Dr. Soong’s wife was showing him pictures of her during her childhood  when she said, “I use to hate wearing glasses, I would take them off and hide them behind my back in pictures.” And she really did that, the proof was in these pictures. 

Back in the day, most children dislike wearing glasses. This dislike is what motivated my wife to start wearing contact lenses at the young age of 7. 

Today’s world is a bit upside down. For reason, more and more kids now a day want to wear glasses even if they don’t have a need for prescription glasses. 

Wearing contact lenses requires responsibilities. Often times, our eye doctors would ask the parents how clean their children’s room is at the moment. This gives our eye doctors a general idea how responsibly the kid is.

Certain modality of contact lenses require maintenance. With the increase popularity of daily contact lenses, the maintenance required has dramatic diminished. Therefore even younger children in elementary school can wear start wearing contact lenses. 

Learning Curve

Putting on contact lenses may sound like a simple skill to learn. However the learning curve of inserting contact lenses may be steeper for some children. 

Our own Dr. Soong found this out the hard way. When he was 16 years old, he tried contact lenses for the first time and it took him a whooping 1 hour and 30 minutes to put on and take off his first pair of contact lenses. He often mentions this personal experience to our first time contact lens wearers. 

Like any process of learning, it could be extremely frustrating especially for a child of young age. Just think about your first attempts of learning how to ride a bike or swim.

Emotions and frustrating sometimes can get in the way of learning. But learning how to wear contact lenses is one of the skills like riding a bike and swimming, that once your child masters, it will be a skill that will be retained for the rest of their lives. 

High Prescription

The reason my wife started wearing contact lenses at the age of 7 was because her prescription was increasing and her glasses started to become too thick to the point where she was embarrassed to wear glasses.

With the aid of contact lenses, she was able to see and excel in school with the confidence that her parents was looking for. As fashionable as glasses can be, a child with a high prescription may not be comfortable with glasses due to lens thickness, limitation of glasses frame selection and distorted peripheral vision. 

So if your child has a high prescription already, it could be another reason to get them into contact lenses for better visual comfort especially for sports related activities. 

Again, children can start wearing contact lenses as young as 5 or 6 years ago. However, there are factors to consider such as the maturity and emotional level of the child, the curve of learning how to wear contact lenses and also the power of their prescription.

Another alternative is something called Orthokeratology or Ortho-k. Ortho-k is a special overnight contact lens which is becoming popular amongst children as well.

Learn more about ortho-k contact lenses: CLICK HERE 

Lastly, contact lenses are a very safe alternative to glasses when properly taken care of. For this new school year, maybe it’s time to consider contact lenses for your child.