How to Maintain Good Eyesight

An eye dilated after a routine eye exam

While you can't protect yourself from certain vision disorders and diseases, there are many methods that will help an average person maintain healthy eyesight for a long time. These methods are not particularly difficult and require little more than a constant vigilance. Here's a list of the different ways you can help yourself to maintain good eyesight throughout your life.

Things You'll Need

• Good sunglasses
• Protective eye gear (for sports)
• Multivitamins

Instructions

1. Get your vitamins. While eating healthily is best, to make sure you maintain good eyesight it's even better to add a daily multivitamin to your diet that contains plenty of vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene. Many of the other vitamins and minerals in the multivitamin will be beneficial to your eyes, as well.

2. Keep your blood sugar low. If you have any reason to believe that you may be suffering from diabetes, or are at an elevated risk for developing it, see your primary-care physician and get tested often. If you develop diabetes, it's crucial for your eyesight that you keep your blood glucose levels under careful control. Highly elevated blood sugar levels can damage blood vessels and nerves in the eyes, leading to blindness in some cases.

3. Control your blood pressure. If you suffer from elevated blood pressure, it's vitally important that you keep it under control through medicine, diet and exercise. High blood pressure is devastatingly damaging to the small blood vessels in the eyes. It can make glaucoma worse, and it's bad for all of the body's vital organs. So, get you blood pressure checked often, especially if you're at risk for developing high blood pressure.

4. Protect your eyes from the sun. Most people know that it's a good idea from a health perspective to protect their skin from the harmful UV radiation in direct sunlight, but fewer remember to also protect their eyes. Wear good, dark, reflective sunglasses that are rated to reflect 100% of UV radiation whenever you're exposed to bright sunlight. This will help immensely to protect your eyesight.

5. Guard your eyes from physical damage. If you participate in any sports, outdoors events or other activities that could result in a serious eye injury, wear protective gear to make sure that you don't end up with a debilitating eye condition. Remember the old phrase: It's all fun and games until someone gets an eye poked out.

6. See your ophthalmologist (eye doctor) often. Schedule regular eye exams at least once or twice each year, particularly if you're at risk for a serious eye condition, have noticed any problems with your vision or have other relevant risk factors.

Tips & Warnings

• Beta-carotene is better for you than other forms of vitamin A, because it is non-toxic in larger doses.

• Don't wait until it's too late to get help if you're having problems with your eyesight. Even most serious conditions can be treated if they're caught early enough.