It’s not an uncommon statement, usually from parents to their device-addicted children – “If you’re not careful you’re going to ruin your eyes!” However, is there any real truth to this old wives’ tale? Will watching TV for too long make your eyes square? Will staring at your computer cause you to be short-sighted? Will playing games on your cell phone burn out your retinas?
Short-sightedness, or near-sightedness, is a type of refractive error. It’s that type of refractive error that makes you squint as you try to figure out whether that person over there is your wife or someone different entirely. It’s the type of refractive error that makes children sit at the front of the class or end up copying from their friends’ books if they end up in a seat at the back of the room. It’s also the type of refractive error that can cause permanent legal blindness.
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Depending on where you live, the coffee culture can be a big part of life. Whether you source and grind your own beans or delight in a Starbucks grande apple crisp oatmilk macchiato, once you’re hooked, that caffeinated zing is hard to pass over. In addition to helping humans wake up in the mornings for centuries, caffeine has been used for:
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The onward march of time is relentless and unstoppable. For some, age creeps up slowly; for others, one day you’re loving life in your mid-twenties and the next day you’re waking up with back pain and stiff knees, not to mention those new gray hairs. Unfortunately, even our eyes and vision cannot escape the inevitable, but knowing what are expected changes to vision with age can help you prepare (at least emotionally).
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The phrase “short-sighted” can be used in a variety of different contexts. For example, “Purchasing that bright purple couch before seeing the finished house was a rather short-sighted decision”, or “My grandpa is so short-sighted that I can stand a foot away and he’ll think I’m my sister. But I’m actually John.”
Myopia, the medical term for short-sightedness, is a type of refractive error of the eye that involves the focusing point of the eye falling in front of the retina, meaning a blurry image ends up hitting the actual retina. In other words, the length of the eyeball is too long for the focusing power of the eye. Myopia is typically addressed using minus powered spectacle or contact lens, which alters the path of light entering the eye such that it focuses properly onto the retina to form a clear image to the brain. Without optical correction, a myopic person would have difficulty with seeing distant objects clearly; the amount of blur in the distance would correspond to his/her degree of myopia.
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When it comes to parts of your eyeball, you generally don’t want things to detach. Usually, attached is a better situation. …
Grandpa Norman had cataracts, Grandma Joan had cataracts, your mom is booked in for cataract surgery next week, and we all …
In all likelihood, you’ve heard of cataracts before. Depending on how well-versed you are in the field of ophthalmology, …
