How is the health of your eyes? Are you taking care of your eyes? Prevention is always the best medicine. Did you know that macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness for North Americans who aged 55 years and older? If you’re younger than 55 and don’t think you need to concern yourself with prevention, you should take a moment to stop and think about your eye health. No one else is going to care more about you and your eyes than yourself. Take the necessary steps to care for you eyes now by using preventive measures.

Macular degeneration negatively affects the small center area of your retina. In turn, this can cause blindness. So as you’re trying to use preventive measures to care for your eye health, what are the risk factors you should be aware of? First of all, you’ll notice that your eyes will experience a gradual blurring spot in the center of your vision. There are cells in your macula which become damaged and this causes the blurring of your vision. So what is the macula? That is the part of your retina which is the light sensing part.

Now let’s take a look at how this issue and what the risks are which can negatively affect your eyes and cause macular degeneration. Did you know that those who smoke negatively affect their eye health? Others with high blood pressure and heart disease are also at risk of getting this eye disease. Another factor in negatively affecting your eyes is going to tanning salons or being exposed too much to excessive UV light from those tanning beds or from the sun.

Is there a bright side to this situation? Prevention is always the best medicine and even with your eye health, there is a way to prevent this disease. If you live a healthy lifestyle, you have a much better chance of maintaining your eyes. Living a healthy lifestyle includes daily exercise but also eating a healthy diet. In order to maintain eye health, it’s good for you to eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Eating broccoli, spinach and vegetables as well as red and orange fruits are good for your eye health. Also, remember that not smoking and staying away from excessive exposure to UV light also helps in maintaining healthy eyes.

Don’t forget that even if you don’t need glasses for a vision problem, you should continue to see an eye care professional every few years. Prevention is always the best medicine. If you are seeing an eye care professional regularly through the years, this doctor will be able to find out if you have macular degeneration in its earliest stages and provide immediate treatment.