June – Fireworks Eye Safety & Cataract Awareness Month

 

June is Fireworks Eye Safety Month and Cataract Awareness Month, so now is a great opportunity to focus on your eye health. As the Fourth of July approaches, eye care professionals are urging families to have safe celebrations while simultaneously increasing awareness of cataracts, one of the major causes of vision loss in the United States. Knowing about these eye health problems can help you avoid preventable accidents and keep good vision for many years to come.

 

What is Fireworks Eye Safety Month? 

Fireworks Eye Safety Month is an annual awareness effort to inform the public about the serious eye injuries that can occur from consumer fireworks. “Americans spend hundreds of millions of dollars on fireworks every year,” said the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “But these celebrations result in more than 9,000 injuries each year, many involving the eyes.”

Fireworks are not toys; they are explosive devices, and sparklers burn at over 2,000 degrees. These extreme temperatures can cause severe burns to the eyes, injuries to the cornea, damage to the retina and permanent vision loss. Children, teenagers and even onlookers can get hurt at fireworks shows.

 

How to Protect Your Eyes from Fireworks?

Making safe decisions is the first step in preventing fireworks eye injuries. The best thing is to go to professionally organized fireworks displays and not use consumer fireworks at home.

To minimize the risk of eye injury:

• Keep fireworks and sparklers away from youngsters.
• Be sure to use appropriate safety glasses while near fireworks.
• Do not get too close to any fireworks shows.
• Don’t try to relight defective fireworks.
• Do not point fireworks at people, houses, or cars.
• Do not rub or rinse the eye if an eye injury occurs. Seek medical attention immediately.

Prompt treatment by an eye professional can help lessen the chance of permanent eye damage.

 

What is Cataract Awareness Month?

June is also Cataract Awareness Month, which aims to educate people about cataracts and the significance of early detection and treatment. Cataracts are still one of the main reasons people go blind around the world, and older people are especially likely to get them.

Even though cataracts develop slowly, waiting too long to get treatment can make it much harder to have surgery and greatly worsen vision. Comprehensive eye tests should be done regularly to find cataracts before they get in the way of daily life.

 

What Are Cataracts?

When the natural lens of the eye gets cloudy, light can’t get properly to the retina. It is called a cataract. This clouding creates impaired, dim, or hazy vision over time.

Typical symptoms include the following:

• Blurred or foggy vision
• Night driving difficulty
• Increased glare from headlights and sunshine
• Colors look faded or yellow
• Often changing specs for glasses
• One eye has double vision

Cataracts usually develop slowly, so it’s important to have frequent eye exams to detect them early.

 

Who is at risk for cataracts?

Glaucoma is most commonly caused by aging. Several variables enhance the chances of acquiring cataracts and include the following:

• 60 years or older
• Diabetes 
• Smoking 
• Prolonged ultraviolet (UV) exposure
• Past eye injuries
• Chronic usage of corticosteroids
• Family history of cataract
• Prior eye surgery

People with these risk factors should have frequent eye exams to check their eye health and detect cataracts early.

 

How do you keep from getting cataracts?

While some age-related cataracts cannot be prevented, healthy lifestyle choices may help decrease your risk or halt their spread.

Among helpful preventive measures are:

• When outdoors, wear sunglasses that block UV.
• Quit smoking.
• Control diabetes and other chronic health issues.
• Eat a diet full of leafy greens, bright fruits and antioxidants.
• Keep a healthy weight and do regular exercise.
• Have regular comprehensive eye exams, especially after age 60.

This action improves eye health and might lower the risk of other eye diseases that can damage vision.

 

How do you treat cataracts?

In the beginning, stronger glasses, better lighting, or new specs may help your vision for a short time. cataracts don’t go away by themselves

When cataracts get bad enough to make it hard to do normal things like read, drive, or recognize faces, surgery is the best way to treat them. The cloudy natural lens is taken out and replaced with a clear artificial intraocular lens (IOL) during this safe and very successful outpatient surgery. Most patients’ vision gets a lot better after they get better.

Early treatment often improves vision the most and lowers the risk of problems related to advanced cataracts.

 

Expert Eye Care at Texoma Retina & Glaucoma in Sherman, TX

To protect your vision, you need to get regular eye exams and treat cataracts and retinal diseases as soon as they show up. At Texoma Retina & Glaucoma, people with retinal diseases that can affect their vision before or after cataract surgery get advanced diagnostic tests and specialized care. The skilled staff checks for diabetic eye disease, macular degeneration, retinal tears, and glaucoma in Sherman, TX, Denison, North Texas, and the greater Texoma area to help people keep their eyesight. If you have blurry vision, are worried about cataracts, or need a retina specialist in Sherman, TX, schedule an appointment at Texoma Retina & Glaucoma right away. They can help protect your eyesight with personalized, evidence-based care.