Medical Monday: Vision Health

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) - Healthy vision can be something you don’t think about until you start having issues. Technology can affect your eye health. D.O. Meredith Marcincin, Comprehensive Ophthalmologist at Northern Light A. R. Gould hospital says there is a trick, no matter their age, everyone should be doing to keep dry eye and nearsightedness down.

Marcincin says, “Something that we do try to encourage our patients to do is take frequent breaks away from the screen. Whether it’s their computer, or their tablet, or their smart phone. So the main rule of themb that we talk about is the 20-20-20 rule. So we tell our patients every 20 minutes take at least a 20 second break and look at an object at least 20 feet away. So I tell my patients find the nearest window and even find the the furthest distant object that you can find, let your eyes relax, look away for a little bit and than get back to your screen and what you’re doing.”

Marcincin recommends setting a timer for 20 minutes to help remind you to take a break. “The other thing coming into spring and summer that’s super important that we talk to all of our patients about is eye protections. So both talking UV radiation protection with sunglasses as well as just eye protection for yard work, car repair, home repairs, sports, all of these things that you might not think it poses a risk to the eye and you don’t realize it really until it’s too late. So, what we really encourage people to do is have a couple good pairs of protective glasses basically everywhere.”

Marcinin adds it’s important to have regular check ups with your ophthalmologist. Marcincin says, “We see and we try to prevent is people waiting to come see us until there is a problem, or they can’t see or somethings painful. So we’re always better off you know having a baseline exam. Having a comprehensive exam at least every one to two years. So we can be identifying potential problems and preventing them. So really it’s just a focus on preventative medicine.”

If you have questions or are concerned about your vision reach out to your primary care physician or your ophthalmologist.

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