A discussion about the habits and life style for general eye health

[xiushan]

Since people in this community are all somehow concerned about their eye health, we all want to have healthy eyes no matter what has happened in the past: retina degeneration, high myopia, glaucoma, cataract, laser treatment, and etc. And Special thanks to Doctor Hagan, an honorable and helpful gentleman, who has given us a lot of valuable information and advices.

I have learned some eye health knowledge in the past two months because of an improper laser treatment and failed ICL surgery. It seems that in order to have healthy eyes in our lives, retinal detachment, macular degeneration and glaucoma are the very three diseases we should be careful about.

Therefore, I want to have a discussion about general eye health in this post, how to prevent or slower down the progression of the above three disease.

For retina detachment, a regular check seems the most important way to deal with.
For glaucoma, a good healthy diet and exercise to keep blood pressure seems a way to deal with.
For macular degeneration, enough supplement of lutein and zeaxanthin seems a good way to deal with.

Is there any other eye disease we should be careful about? Any other eye health habits we should stick to? All advices and discussions are welcome.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

In general the things that are good for your general health are good for the eye with almost no exceptions: Do no use tobacco or cannabis products in any form, eat a healthy diet (frutis, fiber, fish, berry, nuts, dark leafy greens), avoid obesity which in turn will reduce the risk of diabetes, hypertension and arteriosclerosis all of which can damage the eye, wear proper eye protection for contact sports and tasks with high risk of eye injury, (welding, metal on metal hammering, fireworks, fire-arms), Protect the eyes and body from excess sun exposure and wear uV blocking sunglasses, especially if there is a family history of eye disease like glaucoma have regular eye exams when young and yearly after 40.  There is a world wide epidemic of myopia,  primary cause is prolonged near work (phones, computers, videos,) and inside activities.  Studies have shown that in children the development of myopia or slowing its progression can be lessened by outdoor play 1-2 hrs/day. The prolonged near focus for books/video screens is a driver of myopia. For the myopic and very myopic avoid activities that jerk the head/eyes around or have high G forces (e.g. amusement rides, hanging everted)  Keep good mental health, have a good social network. For those young and developing progressive high myopia low dose atropine drops have been shown to slow myopia down. In eclipse years and every year do not stare at the sun.

[Ron_AKA]

There was a recent study which found low dose atropine did not slow the development of myopia.
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/low-dose-atropine-eyedrops-no-better-placebo-slowing-myopia-progression

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

There is always a study that proves something one way or the other. At one time there were studies that showed that tobacco used did not cause cancer, and coffee did cause cancer. The preponderance of published studies do suggest (no single study proves anything) that low dose atropine is helpful. If I had a grandchild that had progressive myopia I would want to use low dose atropine.

[xiushan]

Hi, Doc, I have learned recently that the laser treatment, no matter for diabetic retinopathy or retinal degeneration, will increase the risk of tractional retinal detachment? Is that true? If true, is there anything we can do to lower the risk of retinal detachment except for avoiding activities that jerk the head/eyes or have high G forces?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I think perhaps you are reading too much.  If you read the side effects of any prescription medicine, indeed of aspirin, you would probably be afraid to take anything.  The statement you presented is like saying "Getting in a car can cause your death"  TRUE but the risks are low and acceptable especially if driving carefully.

[xiushan]

And, for people concerned about their eye health affected by laser treatment, there is a paper published on nature which would be helpful to quantify the effects of the laser treatment on their general retina health.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32487-y.pdf