Maintaining good eyesight: Eye health test

Just as you exercise for physical health, so should you make every effort to maintain good eyesight and healthy eyes. While some deterioration in sight is expected with age, certain preventative measures can help to slow this down. Your eyes play a vital role in day to day life, simple changes to your routine can have a significant impact on your ability to maintain good vision. Read on to learn tips from our professional optometrists.

Tips for maintaining good eyesight

  1. Make sure your diet includes foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, zinc and lutein. A deficiency in any of these, along with certain vitamins, can increase your chances of developing macular degeneration or glaucoma. Ensuring you’re consuming good levels of these acids and minerals is a proactive way to protect maturing eyes.
  2. Protect your eyes from the sun’s UV rays by wearing sunglasses in bright weather. Choose glasses that block out between 99 and 100% of UVA and UVB rays for the best protection.
  3. If you work for extended periods in front of a screen, factor in breaks to reduce eye strain or dry eyes. We recommend resting your eyes for a few seconds every 20 minutes of work and making sure to take longer breaks when working for longer than 2 hours.
  4. Try to quit smoking.  Regular smokers have an increased chance of developing cataracts - a clouding of the eye’s lens which significantly reduces your vision. Even cutting back can minimise this risk and prolong the health of your eyes.
  5. Visit your Opticians regularly, ensuring you have the right prescription and the right eyewear for your needs.

The importance of eye health tests

We recommend that you book a full eye examination every two years. During your booking, the optician will perform several eye health checks to better understand the condition of your eyes. A normal eye examination will include a host of health tests, including:

  1. The ‘eye chart test’, also known as the Visual Acuity Test, where you identify a series of letters on a Snellen Eye Chart.
  2. A Visual Refraction eye test that analyses the way light bends as it passes through your cornea and lens.
  3. A Visual Field test that checks your peripheral vision
  4. A Slit-lamp exam that allows the Optician to examine different sections of your eye in detail.
  5. A glaucoma test which measures the pressure inside your eye and the thickness of your cornea.

All of these eye health tests are designed to help your optician identify early signs of disease and deterioration. That way, the right treatment plan can be implemented before the problem becomes too severe. As with general eye examinations to check your prescription, health tests are a vital part of overall eye health and shouldn’t be ignored.

At our Kensington opticians, we have a team of highly skilled vision experts on hand to answer any questions and provide guidance for all your sight needs. If you need an eye examination or simply want to choose a new pair of glasses, contact The Eye Establishment today. We have a variety of designer glasses and sunglasses that will suit your needs, as well as offering one of the best eye tests in London.

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