Lehigh Valley Center For Sight

As America’s population ages overall, the number of people with eye conditions and disease will increase. Currently the number of us dealing with vision problems is already staggering. If you’re coping with vision problems, you’re not alone. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology , Nearly 1.3 million Americans forty and older are legally blind. About 8% of men and 0.5% of women with Northern European ancestry have the most common form of color blindness. The incidence is lower in almost all other populations. Cataracts impact more than 24.4 million Americans age forty and older, almost twice the number of people living in Pennsylvania. About half of all Americans will have cataracts by the time they reach 75. Glaucoma affects more than 2.7 million Americans age forty and older. Each year about 2.4 million eye injuries happen in the US. Use of protective eyewear can prevent 90% of eye injuries. More than a third of all such injuries happen to those 18 to 45 ...

How To Protect Your Vision There are no guarantees taking certain steps will prevent vision loss or blindness, but they can reduce the chances of it happening. Once you start these healthy vision habits, hopefully you’ll stick to them and enjoy your vision for years to come. Food is your body’s fuel. Without the proper fuel, it can’t function well. That’s true for any organ, whether it’s your heart, kidneys or eyes. A well-balanced diet and exercise should also help stay at a healthy weight. If you can avoid obesity your reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes , the leading cause of blindness in adults. The dangers of smoking are mostly known for increasing the chances of cancer, heart attacks and emphysema. But tobacco use also increases the risk of suffering cataracts , may damage your optic nerve and cause macular degeneration . If you want to quit but have failed in the past, see your physician to get help. Sunglasses may protect your eyes from ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun. ...

Diabetes can cause a wide range of harmful side effects, including eye problems. All forms of diabetic eye disease have the potential to cause severe vision loss and blindness but they can be treated. If you have diabetes there are steps you can take to prevent or delay these conditions and if you are diagnosed, treatments may be effective. If you have diabetes, we can help you maintain your vision for as long as possible. Diabetic retinopathy impacts the blood vessels in the light-sensitive retina that’s in the back of the eye. This is the most common cause of vision loss for diabetics and the top cause of vision impairment and blindness for working-age adults. Chronically high blood sugar because of diabetes is associated with injuring tiny blood vessels in the retina, which leads to diabetic retinopathy. It can also result in blood vessels in the retina to leak or bleed, distorting your vision. At an advanced stage of the disorder, new, abnormal blood vessels develop on the ret...