SEE WELL

Lazy eye is misunderstood. What does having a lazy eye really mean?

A true “lazy eye” is not an eye that is fatigued or has a high corrective prescription. The definition is an eye with reduced vision due to abnormal visual development.

Individuals with lazy eye depend heavily on their normal eye to see, while the weaker (amblyopic) eye will worsen over time from lack of stimulation from the brain. Why is an eye considered lazy?

Lazy eye presents in only 3 out of 100 children. However, it is the leading cause of decreased vision in children. Also, understand you are born with lazy eye. You cannot develop a lazy eye later in life.

Do your eyes ever feel gritty? Sandy? Do they burn? Feel like a foreign body or eyelash is in them at the end of the day? These symptoms are often due to dry eye disease.

It is estimated that dry eye affects nearly 1 in 5 Americans.

Although the negative health effects of drinking alcohol have been well established, nearly 65% of U.S. adults continue to consume alcoholic beverages on a regular basis. Considering there is a direct correlation between health issues and the amount of alcohol consumed, the issue becomes more concerning knowing that over 25% of U.S. adults report binge drinking (having six or more drinks in a sitting) in the last month.

One of the serious, but rarely discussed, alcohol-related health issues is the effect drinking has on vision and overall eye health. In fact, regular consumption of alcohol has been directly associated with a number of serious short and long-term vision issues that range from blurred vision to damage to the optic nerve resulting in permanent vision loss.