March 2 is Read Across America Day
Mark Your Calendar for the month-long observance of Save Your Vision Month, now in its 80th year. The AOA reminds Americans of the importance of regular, comprehensive eye exams with a month s worth of vision-saving tips displayed on a calendar.
Eye health is intrinsically linked to overall health. Thus Save Your Vision Month, celebrating its 80th year this March, has taken on a greater prominence in the health world with its emphasis on Healthy Eyes Healthy People.
Your eyes are often the best windows to your health. By looking into your eyes, your optometrist can tell a lot about your general health. For example, did you know that some systemic and chronic diseases, especially diabetes, can often be detected by an optometrist during a comprehensive eye exam?
Since over 33 percent of people with diabetes don't know that they have it, an eye examination can be the only clue to detecting this potentially life-threatening disease. By dilating the pupil, your optometrist can see inside your eye using an ophthalmoscope, which lights and magnifies the blood vessels in your eyes. Changes to these blood vessels can signify various stages of diabetic retinopathy. Left untreated, it can cause blindness. For those suffering from diabetes without knowing it, the detection and treatment of this disease can mean relief on many levels.
Other eye diseases, like glaucoma, may cause vision damage and eventually blindness without the patient ever experiencing any symptoms. During a comprehensive eye exam, your optometrist measures the pressure within your eye and examines the optic nerve in the eye, thereby determining the existence of glaucoma.
Save Your Vision Month raises awareness among the general public and targets at-risk groups to remind them of the need for regular, comprehensive eye examinations to detect eye health problems, general health issues, and vision difficulties.
More information is also available at the AOA Website