Wearing glasses
Thursday 19 March 2009
Do you find that you have to squint to see the board? Or when you read does the page go all blurry? If so, your eyes might need a bit of help.
Check your sight
The best way to find out if you need glasses is to have an eye test. You can get a free sight test and vouchers for glasses if you are:
- Under 16
- A full-time student under 19
- Getting some types of income support
- There are also other exemptions – have a look on the NHS Choices website for more info.
The test
The person you who will test your eyes is called an optometrist or optician. The test itself doesn’t take long and there’s no pain. It usually involves looking a series of lights and letters, simple as.
Results
The optometrist will tell you the results of your eye test straight away.
If you are short sighted, it means you are fine seeing things up close but not far away things.
If you are long sighted you might get a headache and blurry vision when trying to read but have no problems seeing things far away.
Depending on the degree of your long or short sightedness you may need to wear glasses all the time or just sometimes.
Eyeing you up
So you have to wear glasses. Don’t panic! It’s better to find out sooner rather than later as left uncorrected eyesight can get worse over time.
Also, take a look around. Wearing glasses has become pretty cool. Even people who don’t need glasses now wear them as a fashion accessory – and the bigger the better! Note that if you are wearing them just to make a fashion statement, make sure the lenses have no prescription as this could damage your eyes, or better still have no lenses at all.
There are many different style and shapes of glasses to choose from and you will find one that suits you, so don’t worry.
And if you have some free time, you could even try to impress your friends with a few tricks - watch the vid!
Contact lenses
Contact lenses are small plastic saucers that fit over your cornea – the outside of the eyeball. They are held by surface tension until you take them off.
They are made of really soft plastic and are really comfortable providing you clean them properly and don’t leave them on too long - like overnight for instance!
They can be a good option for certain occasions when it might be tricky wearing glasses. For example, sportspeople often wear contact lenses as glasses can get steamed up or fall off completely.
There is a trend to wearing fashion lenses – like cats’ eyes. Most eye specialists advise you not to wear them unless you actually need contacts and want to make a statement for the night. Either way, if you do decide to wear them try to buy them from a reputable optician as other types could hurt or damage your eyes.
Laser eye surgery
Laser eye surgery is a fairly new treatment to correct vision where an eye surgeon will use lasers to ‘burn’ away some of the eye. It's not recommended for most teenagers as your eyes are still developing and do not stop changing until your early twenties.
Eye health
The old saying is true - carrots are good for your eyesight. That is because carrots contain beta-carotene which the body converts to vitamin A - a crucial nutrient for keeping your eyes healthy. Sweet potatoes, pumpkins, mango, cantaloupe and apricots are all rich sources of beta-carotene too. You can also keep your eyes healthy by eating lots of dark leaf vegetables like courgettes, spinach and broccoli as well as fruit like oranges and kiwis.
Some medical experts also believe that eye exercises can go a long way towards improving eyesight. Ask your optician for some example exercises you could try yourself.
