Especially as you get older, you need all kinds of medical professionals that you might not have needed when you were younger or a child. Although even children need a good doctor for their eyes, many may wait until they’re older or actually in need before they go. As with anything health related, it’s always a good idea to get regular checkups and be as preemptive as possible, but when you are in the market for one, do you know how to choose an eye doctor in Buda Texas?

Your eyes are extremely important. It’s also very important to make sure your eye doctor is the best you can find. One good idea is to simply ask other medical professionals such as your own doctor or even a pediatrician. Not only will that most likely know many in the area, but they could also make a good recommendation based off of you and your family. Also, ask your family. If you’ve never asked, it’s possible there is a good family eye doctor who would most likely have your family history and an understanding of it. If not, then co-workers and friends could make some good recommendations (especially if they have glasses or contacts)

Outside of just asking around, check with specific professional organizations. Many have websites with ways to filter out exactly who or what you’re looking for.

Generally speaking, there are two types of eye doctors:

• Optometrists – This doctor can treat select eye diseases, prescribe medication, but do not perform any eye surgeries. An optometrist would go to college, followed by going to Optometry school. Optionally, many will participate in programs where they learn about specializing in specific eye diseases.
• Ophthalmologists – Eye M.D. This particular eye doctor specializes in eye and vision care, with specialty training in all aspects of eye care. Not only can they prescribe corrective lenses, but they can also provide eye surgery (simple to complex). This requires going to medical school, an internship, and a few years of hospital-based training (residency). While in residency, ophthalmologists receive special training in all that they do.

Depending on what you have going on with your eyes, you might need one over the other, so it helps to know which type of eye doctor you need to seek. If you’re just looking for a general eye exam or an overall checkup, you can go to either one and receive the care and attention that you need. If you’re looking for assistance with a certain type of eye disease, then you’d want to start looking for an ophthalmologist. When getting fitted for a corrective lens, or just getting more information on whether glasses or contacts are right for you, you would typically search for an optometrist.

When trying to figure out how to choose an eye doctor, one last thing you’ll want to look for is simply availability. When are they open, and does it work with your schedule? Are they open late, or on weekends? How far out are they scheduled? Some practices require weeks if not months in regard to scheduling a visit. Make sure if you might need emergency attention that they offer some sort of service that caters to your specific needs, otherwise you’ll be doing yourself a disservice.…

Eye care doesn’t have to be complicated. There are many things that you can do in order to protect one of your most precious senses, your sight.

Even though there are many things you can do if your eyesight does in fact go bad, you still want to do everything you can to keep your eyes as healthy and as sharp as possible by consulting an optometrist. After all, being able to see is an extremely important part of being independent and enjoying many things in life. It is imperative to have your local eye care professional check your eyes on a regular basis with tests and exams from a Buda optometrist.

There are several things you can do on a regular basis to keep your eyes as healthy as possible. Eye care doesn’t just involve your eyes necessarily. Eye care starts with things as simple as how you eat and how you treat the rest of your body.

When caring for your eyes, make sure you’re hitting all of the following points:

• Keep your diet healthy and balanced – Just like you probably heard growing up, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Deep yellow and leafy green help keep your eyes keen. Also fishy foods high in omega-3s is very beneficial
• Watch your weight – Keeping a healthy weight is just good for everything health related, and this also applies for your eyes. Being overweight puts you at risk for developing diabetes which can lead to glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy. This goes hand-in-hand with the next point as well.
• Exercise regularly – With watching your weight, regular exercise helps reduce your risk of obesity along with developing diabetes. Your cholesterol and blood pressure also benefit by helping keep these in check. All of these issues can lead to blurred vision, and permanent damage depending on the severity.
• Sunglasses – Too much exposure to the sun will ultimately damage your eyes while raising risk associated with macular degeneration and cataracts. You generally want sunglasses that offer protection from 99-100% from ultraviolet radiation
• Wear your PPE – Personal protective equipment for your eyes such as glasses or goggles with the correct rating for what you’re doing. Not all safety glasses are made the same, and what you wear depends on the type of work that you’re doing. Protecting your eyes from certain types of impact or chemicals can make all the difference in keeping your vision and your eyes in great condition. One simple mishap can affect the rest of your life.
• Smoking – Smoking can damage your optic nerve as well as cause issues with early disease development, including cataracts.
• Understand your family’s medical history – Certain issues and diseases are inherited, so you’ll want to know what to look for as early as possible. Some things cannot be helped, but other things, with early treatment, can significantly help.
• Rest your eyes – Follow the 20-20-20 rule when using electronics (look 20 feet away for 20 seconds for every 20 minutes of activity)
• Be mindful of your contacts – Keep them clean and listen to your eye doctor for proper eye care involving your contacts

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Making sure you’re getting a least an annual eye exam is crucial to the health of your vision. Just like with anything that requires maintenance, routine checks help find issues and other things that you may or may not realize exist or can even be a sign of an issue. There are also health issues that could affect your vision as well, so it’s imperative that you have a qualified expert give you a full analysis to keep your eyes and your vision in check. 

One thing aimed toward parents is that eye exams help children with success in schools. In order for your child to learn most things that are taught in a classroom, they need to be able to see what they’re being taught, and they need to be able to see it well. Statistically speaking, 80% of what they’ll interact with in learning requires the ability to see it clearly. The only way to make sure your child is seeing the best that they possibly can is by making sure they get eye exams at least once a year. This can also help to make sure they’re able to see in sports and the other extracurricular activities they participate in as well. 

Myopia (nearsightedness) is becoming worse and worse it seems. Nearsighted children seem to be growing at an alarming rate, and this can affect them more profoundly as they go through life. They have a higher risk of things such as retinal detachment, cataracts, and glaucoma just to name a few. When this is caught at the early stages, it’s possible to take measures then in order to slow myopia progression so that the risk of issues later in life are significantly reduced. 

While passing a vision screen at school or the DMV is good, it’s absolutely not a substitute for a professional eye exam. These typically are based off assumptions because you answered a few things correctly, but there are no specialty tools, equipment, or items used to examine the eye such as with an eye doctor in Buda. 

Glaucoma is a dangerous eye disease in that it has no real noticeable symptoms in most cases. Without regular eye exams, it’s generally going to be caught too late. Once glaucoma has settled in, it will cause permanent vision loss and can be incredibly difficult to control. Things such as detecting high blood pressure and some of the other associated risks can really only be done through professional eye exams. 

If you’ve ever heard the expression that eyes are the windows to our soul, then there’s a little truth to it. Your eyes can give insight to other medical issues such as Alzheimer’s. Diabetes can also be detected just in how your retina blood vessels are. They serve as a predictor of sorts when it comes to their health throughout the rest of the body. Research is currently underway to create a specific eye test that will shed light on your risk factor of developing Alzheimer’s. 

As with anything, do not put this important test off. Schedule your appointment today, whether it’s for your kids, or for yourself, it’s too important to ignore. …

A cataract is a vision impairment that basically creates a cloudy vision issue. Check it out with your optometrist in Buda if needed. If you can imagine trying to look out of a foggy window or mirror, then this is essentially what the individual experiences with a cataract. As with a foggy window, it will make it a little harder to make out what you’re attempting to read, driving a motorized vehicle (especially in the dark), or seeing any distinguishing characteristics on anything.

In most cases, these cataracts will develop over time and at a very slow rate, so there’s no real noticeable disruption to your eyesight in the early stages. Eventually, you will start to notice a more pronounced impairment to your vision. You can get them checked by a Buda eye doctor.

In the early stages, better lighting and a good pair of eyeglasses can help combat the issues created by cataracts, but eventually it can get worse and create the need for surgery. Luckily, the procedure is not only effective but safe.

There are multiple signs that you can observe if you feel like you might have cataracts. As always, it is in your best interest to have a qualified professional look at your eyes for this and other issues.

Some symptoms include:

• Clouded or film-like vision that affects your ability to focus
• Your night vision progressively gets worse
• Higher sensitivity to any glares or light in general
• Inability to see well without more light than usual
• Halo effect around a light
• Consistent changes to your corrective lens prescription.
• Faded colors and/or a yellowish tint
• One eye experiencing double vision

There are also many factors that can increase the risk of developing cataracts:

• Increasing age – This is a factor for nearly every issue that is known, but increasing age can be a factor
• Diabetes
• Too much exposure to the sun
• Smoking – A general catalyst in many health-related problems
• Being overweight/obese
• Blood pressure being too high
• Other eye injuries, inflammation, or previous eye surgery
• Corticosteroid medication being used for an extensive amount of time
• Too much alcohol

Many people also ask about how you can possibly prevent such an issue. The truth is, there are no studies that have actually scientifically proven that you can prevent cataracts or help slow the development. However, when asking several doctors, they all seem to agree that there are many things that could potentially be helpful:

• Regular eye exams – Detection at the early stages can help take preventative measures early on. While annual exams tend to be the general consensus, make sure you ask your eye care provider for what’s best for you and your eyes
• Quit smoking – It’s a known factor, so removing the factor should help
• Manage your overall health – Any medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or others can factor into the development of cataracts. Getting these issues in check can drastically help (or should)
• Eat a healthy diet – This helps with the other medical issues. Diets rich in vitamins and nutrients are very beneficial to the health of your eyes.
• Sunglasses – Helps keep UV exposure down, potentially aiding in blocking fuel to the fire of cataracts
• Cut back on alcohol – Less is better in regard to cataracts

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It Even Has Watermark is back with the latest content about optometrists and dog breeders! We’re so thrilled to get our blog started again and hope you will enjoy it as much as we will. Here is a small youtube video while waiting for the new posts to come up which should be within the next week. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’d like and if you have any new questions about everything that’s going on!…