Seven habits we should practise to protect our eyesight

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Eilish O'Regan Twitter Email

October 31 2022 01:03 PM

As a major conference on eye health is about to get under way in Dublin what good eye habits should we practise? And what are the routines we should avoid? Almost 272,000 children and adults in Ireland are blind or visually impaired and too many of us take good eyesight for granted.

Dr Ellen Moran, research manager with the charity Fighting Blindness, has developed these top tips to help keep our eyes healthy. Remember, if you’re worried about your eyesight, always consult your ophthalmologist.

Feast for the eyes

A healthy diet full of nutrients like the minerals zinc, copper, and selenium, and antioxidant vitamins A, C and E, can help to maintain eye health. Examples of nutrient-rich foods are: leafy green vegetables, such as spinach, collard greens, kale and brussels sprouts; coloured fruits such as berries; and fish with omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, mackerel and cod.

Easy on the eye

Regular exercise can help to reduce eye pressure and keep blood flowing to the nerves of the eyes, but some intense activities can increase it suddenly if the heart rate is raised. Examples of recommended moderate activities are walking or jogging at least three times a week. Always remember to talk to your doctor about what is the most appropriate exercise programme for you.

Eagle eye

You can set up reminders on your phone or watch to help you remember to take your eye medications on schedule and at the correct dosage. This will help you benefit fully from a therapy and prevent your eye condition from getting worse. Take care to continue taking your medication as prescribed and consult with your doctor if you feel your medication regime needs to be changed.

Sight for sore eyes

Protect your eyes from injury by wearing protective eyewear when undertaking potentially hazardous activities at work, at home and at leisure. Wear quality polarised sunglasses to protect against the sun’s harmful rays. Make sure to use anti-allergic products around the eyes if wearing make-up and don’t forget to replace them frequently.

Smoke gets in your eyes

Smoking raises blood pressure and eye inflammation, increasing the risk of developing several eye conditions. Talk to your doctor about the support available to help you quit smoking. It’s never too late to give up.

Don’t turn a blind eye. Prevention is always better than the cure and if you have a family history of a particular eye condition that places you at risk, talk to your doctor as to how often you should have eye exams. If identified in the early stages, blindness can be prevented in some eye conditions. A regular eye test can also identify other health issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

In your mind’s eye

Vision loss can seriously affect your mental health and so it’s really important to try and stay connected with your social networks as much as possible. Technology is now widely available that can help you keep in touch with your loved ones and your community even if you live in a remote area. Receiving a diagnosis can be overwhelming for anyone, but this is not a journey that you have to make alone. For support, visit www.fightingblindness.ie/how-we-can-help/support-services

Dr Moran was speaking ahead of the annual Retina conference for people with sight loss and their families, organised by Fighting Blindness. It returns to Dublin next Saturday November 5 for its first in-person event since 2019.

It brings together the sight-loss community together with leading experts to hear about the latest treatments revolutionising eye care, to learn of the range of supports people can access, and to share stories and gain support from others on a similar journey.

It will give attendees a chance to quiz the experts as to their own conditions and to find out about the promising developments taking place across a range of disease areas.

With latest figures showing that there are approximately 272,000 people in Ireland living with blindness or vision impairment, this event will be of huge interest to the sight loss community who will be able to attend both in-person, and remotely should they so choose, a spokesman said.

Registration for the conference, which is taking place in the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin 2, is open at www.fightingblindness.ie

Among the speakers headlining this year’s event will be Ben Shaberman, from Foundation Fighting Blindness USA, who will provide an overview of some of the cutting-edge clinical trials underway, including new gene therapies that are enabling people to put away their canes and see stars in the sky for the first time. Also speaking will be Dr Nikolas Pontikos, from Moorfields Eye Hospital in the UK, who will share details of his work on the “Eye2Gene” artificial intelligence medical device to accurately diagnose and personalise treatments for eye disease.

Other high-profile speakers include consultant ophthalmologists Prof. David Keegan, from the Mater Hospital, and Dr Emma Duignan, Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, on looking after our eye health, and Avril Daly, CEO of Retina International, who will address the importance of clinical trials being firmly focused on the patient. In addition, there will be talks on peer support and supporting partners in their role, as well as a discussion on living with sight loss at different life stages.

The day will begin with an opportunity for attendees to appreciate the musical talents of the Visionaries Choir, Ireland’s only choir for people with sight loss, who will undertake their first in-person recital at Retina since 2019.

Hope and Promise

For Ben Shaberman, vice president science communications at the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the future for research is very exciting with new therapies coming down the tracks that have the potential to restore vision to people who are blind.

“There are more than 40 clinical trials underway for retinal degenerative diseases with many more emerging therapies on the doorstep to the clinic,” he said.

“Some of the approaches, like optogenetics, hold promise for restoring vision to people who are completely blind. Other ‘gene-agnostic’ approaches are aimed at slowing vision loss so no one ever goes blind. This progress is bringing tremendous hope and real promise that we will have more vision-saving and restoring therapies cross the finish line in the next five to ten years.”

For Anna Moran, interim CEO of Fighting Blindness, Retina is an important event in bringing the sight-loss community together to gain support from each other.

Ms Moran said: “This year our renowned Retina conference reverts to an in-person event, providing a return to much-needed engagement and social interaction between clinicians, researchers and the sight loss community. It is vital to ensure that there is common purpose and understanding in the goals and outcomes that serve those living with sight loss.”