It’s a new year! If you already have some health resolutions, grab your pen, you’ll want to add these to the list. We’ve asked some doctors for their insight on what you should NOT do in 2023.
It’s still up for debate whether eyes are the window to the soul, but there’s no question they allow us to see the world around us. For this reason, taking care of your eyes is extremely important.
We reached out to Dr. Xintong Li, an ophthalmologist at Sierra Nevada Eye Center in Reno, Nevada, for some advice on what patients should avoid if they want to keep their eyes healthy throughout their lives. Here, Li lays out five things she’d never, ever do to her eyes, informed by her own expertise.
Never sleep with contacts in.
When someone sleeps with contacts in, they deprive their corneas of oxygen, Li says. This can lead to varying outcomes, including infection. Li advises patients to always take out contact lenses before sleeping, even if it’s just before a nap. “Often, a 10-minute nap can turn into a three-hour nap,” she says.
She also warns against wearing daily contact lenses for more than a day, or monthlies for more than a month.
“The longer you wear the lens beyond the recommended time, the more the material degrades,” she says. “If your cornea cannot breathe or if there’s defective material sitting on your cornea day in and day out, it creates a ripe environment for infection.”
Never touch your eyes with dirty hands.
The eyes are delicate. Li says she avoids touching them with unclean hands, and advises her patients to follow suit. This has been especially important during the COVID-19 era.
“It’s just critical to make sure our hands are clean before touching our face or eyes to prevent transmission of viral illnesses,” Li says. It’s also just more hygienic.
Never rub your eyes.
“We’re all guilty of this to some extent, but in general it’s not recommended to rub the eyes,” Li says.
While it may seem innocuous, rubbing your eyes can cause real damage, like distortion of the shape of the cornea, the transparent part of your eye that protects your iris and pupils. If your cornea becomes too distorted, it can thin and morph into a cone shape, a phenomenon called keratoconus.
“This can have some serious implications,” Li says. “If it’s more severe, it would mean needing a corneal transplant.”
If you can’t resist the urge to rub because your eyes are itchy, Li recommends using an over-the-counter anti-allergy eye drug or a cold compress to ease the irritation.
“Even just refrigerated artificial tears will help to relieve itching by constricting blood vessels,” she says.
Never use eye drops that claim to reduce redness.
Although red eyes can feel irritating and unsightly, Li says she would never use drops that are advertised as anti-redness. Instead, Li encourages patients to find a provider who can help them treat the underlying cause of redness.
While these anti-redness eye drops can help in the short-term, if you use them regularly, they can gradually lose effectiveness.
“Your body gets used to the medication, and so you’ll need a higher dosage for it to have an effect,” Li says.
Never skip eye care appointments.
For most patients, the American Optometric Association recommends getting a comprehensive exam with an optometrist or ophthalmologist every two years or so. Keeping your eye doctor appointments is really important, Li says, adding it’s imperative to follow all instructions from your eye doctor, especially if you have a vision-threatening condition like glaucoma.
“I’ve had a few patients who don’t follow up or aren’t diligent with using medications, and it can even lead to blindness,” she says.
If there are any questions, or barriers to care or obtaining medications, eye doctors are always there and happy to help, Li says.
“Patients should make their concerns known,” Li says. “Patient compliance is key.”