April is Women’s Eye Health and Safety Month

By: Red Hot Mamas

Published: April 13, 2017

Did you know that more women than men face vision problems?  Two-thirds of blindness and other visual impairments worldwide occur in women. Some of the reason being that women statistically live longer than men and women have hormonal fluctuations during their lives that may negatively affect their eyes. Glaucoma, cataracts, and Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) are more likely to be an issue for women.

The good news is that there  are ways to lessen or even prevent future visions problems, including:

  • Receive an annual eye exam: Regular dilated eye exams help monitor your vision status.
  • Pregnant women should definitely see their eye doctor regularly! If you are pregnant, discuss any vision changes with your eye doctor so you can get the correct prescription  change, if needed.
  • Eat a healthy diet: Eating a diet rich in water intake, vitamin C, vitamin E, beta carotene, lutein, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, and zeaxanthin will help you maintain healthy vision. Also remember to keep your diet low in sodium and caffeine.
  • Quit smoking today: Smoking vastly increases your chances of eye disease.

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Source: https://www.nei.nih.gov/sites/default/files/health-pdfs/tipsforeyehealth.pdf