Your eyes are an important part of your health. Most people rely on their eyes to see and make sense of the world around them.
But some eye diseases can lead to vision loss, so it is important to identify and treat eye diseases as early as possible.
You should get your eyes checked as often as your health care provider recommends it, or if you have any new vision problems.
And just as it is important to keep your body healthy, you also need to keep your eyes healthy.
Get in Touch Find Out What’s Involved in an Eye Test & How Often You Should Get Your Eyes Checked.
There are things you can do to help keep your eyes healthy and make sure you are seeing your best:
Eat a healthy, balanced diet. Your diet should include plenty or fruits and vegetables, especially deep yellow and green leafy vegetables. Eating fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, tuna, and halibut can also help your eyes.
Maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight or having obesity increases your risk of developing diabetes. Having diabetes puts you at a higher risk of getting diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma.
Get regular exercise. Exercise may help to prevent or control diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. These diseases can lead to some eye or vision problems. So if you exercise regularly, you can lower your risk of getting these eye and vision problems.
Wear sunglasses. Sun exposure can damage your eyes and raise your risk of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Protect your eyes by using sunglasses that block out 99 to 100% of both UV-A and UV-B radiation.
Wear protective eyewear. To prevent eye injuries, you need eye protection when playing certain sports, working in jobs such as factory work and construction, and doing repairs or projects in your home.
Avoid smoking. Smoking increases the risk of developing age-related eye diseases such as macular degeneration and cataracts and can damage the optic nerve.
Know your family medical history. Some eye diseases are inherited, so it is important to find out whether anyone in your family has had them. This can help you determine if you are at a higher risk of developing an eye disease.
Other risk factors. As you get older, you are at a higher risk of developing age-related eye diseases and conditions. It is important to know your risk factors because you may be able to lower your risk by changing some behaviors.
If you wear contacts, take steps to prevent eye infections. Wash your hands well before you put in or take out your contact lenses. Also, follow the instructions on how to properly clean them, and replace them when needed.
Give your eyes a rest. If you spend a lot of time using a computer, you can forget to blink your eyes and your eyes can get tired. To reduce eyestrain, try the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, look away about 20 feet in front of you for 20 seconds.
It’s great for you to be familiar with what good eye health feels like.
So if your eyes don’t feel quite right, you know what to look out for, what you can do, and when to seek help.
Your eyes can also indicate signs of more problematic issues to do with your general health like diabetes and high blood pressure.
Symptoms of these conditions are not always obvious, so regular eye tests are an essential part of maintaining your health.
Like short- or long-sightedness, astigmatism is a very common and treatable cause of blurred vision.
Red and swollen eyelids – particularly around the edges – that can be caused by an infection or a skin condition. It’s not serious but it can lead to further problems.
Blurry vision can be a symptom of an existing eye condition, or a sign that you need a new pair of glasses.
Cloudy patches in the lens of the eye, causing blurry, misty vision. Usually more common in people over 65.
Sometimes confused with a stye, a chalazion is often a painless swelling or lump that develops in your eyelid. It’s not serious, and will usually disappear on its own.
Unlike blurry vision, cloudy vision is when objects appear as if you’re looking through a cloudy piece of glass. It can also result in colour dullness and halos.
Or colour vision deficiency, happens when people find it diffiult to distinguish between certain colours. You’ll know it as colour blindess, but it’s very rare to be totally colour blind.
Computers are a big part of our everyday lives, but they can have quite an effect on our eyes. See our tips on how best to manage and reduce computer eye strain.
Inflammation of the membrane that covers the eye and inside of the eyelids, making the eye look red with a burning or itchy feeling.
A painful sore on the cornea (the clear layer at the front of your eye). It might feel like you have something in your eye and looks like a grey or white spot.
A condition caused by diabetes that affects the small blood vessels in the eye, damaging the retina, which is vital for sight.
Pupil dilation is normal and happens when light levels drop. However, fixed dilated pupils can be a sign of something more serious.
Double vision, or diplopia, happens when you see two versions of the same image. There are two types: monocular and binocular.
Occurs when your eyes don’t make enough tears or they evaporate too quickly causing dry, red and irritated eyes.
Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that can have an impact on vision by causing problems with reading, writing and spelling, making text appear blurry or jumbled.
Inflammation of the tissues inside the eye. This is a rare eye condition, but potentially serious, so it is usually treated as an emergency.
An involuntary muscle spasm in the eyelid, usually in one eye. It can be bothersome, but it’s completely harmless and painless, and will go away on its own.
Feel like there’s something in your eye, even if there’s not? We look at some common causes for gritty and sore eyes.
Seeing black dots in your vision, also known as floaters, are common and usually nothing to worry about. Find out more about their causes and symptoms here.
A group of diseases affecting the optic nerve often associated with a build up of pressure in the eye. There are two types: chronic and acute.
An introduction to the causes of glaucoma: designed to answer all the questions you may have.
Understanding how glaucoma is diagnosed can be challenging. Here, you’ll find what you need to know about the diagnosis process, including what tests to expect.
Also known as allergic rhinitis, hay fever is an allergic reaction to pollen – a fine powder released by plants during their reproductive cycle
An inflamation of the iris that can result in pain, redness, light sensitivity and blurred vision.
A common symptom of certain eye conditions and allergies, itchy eyes are generally short-lived and easy to treat.
This condition causes the usually round cornea to weaken at the centre, changing it to a cone-like shape. This can affect the way the eye focuses and can lead to blurred or distorted vision.
Also known as amblyopia, this condition is very common in children, and usually means that one eye is weaker than the other.
If you’re long-sighted (also known as hyperopia), you’ll find that you can see objects far away clearly, but those close by will be out of focus. It’s quite common and very easy to treat.
Affecting the macula, which is in the retina, macular oedema refers to a fluid build-up that results in blurry vision.
Affects your central vision and your ability to focus on things like driving, faces and reading. There are two types: dry and wet.
A hole that forms in the centre of the retina – where we process detailed and central vision. It may lead to reduced vision, but in many cases can be treated with an operation.
More commonly known as short sight, people with myopia can see things clearly up close, but things far away are blurred.
Night blindness (nyctalopia) is a symptom of various eye conditions that make it difficult to see at night or in low light environments.
Nystagmus, or ‘dancing eyes’, is the involuntary movement of the eyes. It usually looks like the eyes are constantly moving, either side to side, up and down, in a circle or a combination of all three.
Ocular herpes, also known as eye herpes, is an eye condition caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV) or the varicella zoster virus (VZV).
Raised eye pressure caused by issues draining the fluid inside the eye. Although symptomless, people with ocular hypertension are more at risk of developing glaucoma, a more serious eye condition.
Ocular migraines are temporary visual disturbances, which usually occur in one eye. They’re quite common and symptoms will normally disappear on their own.
Caused by an inflammation of the optic nerve, optic neuritis, can disturb the messages going from your eye to your brain and therefore disrupt your vision.
Also known as light sensitivity, photophobia is a symptom of light intolerance that causes uncomfortable and sometimes painful eyes when exposed to bright light.
A common age-related condition where yellow bumps develop on the white of your eye. It’s usually harmless and typically follows from long-term exposure to UV light from the sun.
An age-related condition that causes an increase of floaters in your vision. It’s usually nothing to worry about, but can be linked to retinal detachment.
A natural loss of elasticity of the lens from around the age of 40 that affects your ability to focus on things close-up, like reading.
A pterygium is a noncancerous growth that develops on the white bit of your eye.
Ptosis, also known as droopy eyelid, is a condition where the eyelid starts to fall down below the normal level.
As the name suggests, puffy eyes look like your eyes are puffed up or swollen. This can be caused by a number of things, including lifestyle factors, but it’s usually nothing to worry about.
It may look alarming, but it’s usually a sign of a minor condition like conjunctivitis. But it may be a more serious issue if you feel any pain.
Occurs when the retina, which lines the back of the eye, pulls away from the blood vessels that keep it healthy.
Retinitis Pigmentosa, also known as RP, is a genetic condition that affects peripheral and night vision.
Known as a corneal abrasion, a scratched eye is a pretty common complaint but it can range in severity.
Also known as photokeratitis, this is a temporary but painful eye condition where the cornea becomes sunburned due to overexposure of UV light.
A squint, or strabismus, is prevelant in young children but can occur at any age. It is noticeable in the way the eyes do not align correctly.
Other wise known as a hordeolum, a stye is a small, often painful lump developing on the inside or outside the eyelid.
Although this condition sounds and looks a bit worrying, it’s a painless and usually harmless condition where one of the blood vessels on the surface of the eye bursts.
Just as the sun can harm your skin, it can also affect your eyes and potentially impact your vision. Make sure to protect your eyes from UV damage on sunnier days.
Learn about some of the possible causes as well as what you can do to relieve any eyelid swelling you may experience.
This happens when your peripheral vision (or side vision) worsens or is lost. As the name suggests, it can seem like you’re looking through a tunnel.
A rare condition, uveitis causes the middle layer of the eye to become inflamed, which can therefore cause pain, redness, and swelling.
Occurs if too many tears are produced or if they can’t drain properly causing sore, uncomfortable eyes with blurred vision
Everyone needs to have their eyesight tested to check for vision and eye problems.
Children usually have vision screening in school or at their health care provider’s office during a checkup.
Adults may also get vision screenings during their checkups.
But many adults need more than a vision screening. They need a comprehensive dilated eye exam.
Getting comprehensive dilated eye exams is especially important because some eye diseases may not have warning signs.
The exams are the only way to detect these diseases in their early stages, when they are easier to treat.
The exam includes several tests:
If you have a refractive error and are going to need glasses or contacts, then you will also have a refraction test. When you have this test, you look through a device that has lenses of different strengths to help your eye care professional figure out which lenses will give you the clearest vision.
At what age you should start getting these exams and how often you need them depends on many factors.
They include your age, race, and overall health. For example, if you are African American, you are at higher risk of glaucoma and you need to start getting the exams earlier. If you have diabetes, you should get an exam every year.
01268 777729 [email protected] Make an Appointment How an eye test at home works step 1 Arranging a home eye examination If you need an eye examination it may be a good idea to contact your usual optometrist to find out if they’re able to visit you at home. It can be useful to see the same optometrist, as they already have a record of your eye problems and will be familiar with your needs and
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01268 777729 [email protected] Make an Appointment About Templeman Opticians ???? Celebrating Over Six Decades of Vision and Care! Did you know Templeman Opticians first illuminated Rayleigh Highstreet over 60 years ago? From those humble beginnings, we’ve grown with one mission in mind: blending state-of-the-art optometry with the warmth of home. Whether you’ve visited our store in Essex, experienced our pioneering mobile optician service, or simply cherished the perfect pair of glasses we helped you find,
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01268 777729 [email protected] Make an Appointment Stay In Touch Don’t hesitate to contact us At our family-run optometry practice, we are dedicated to providing personalized, comprehensive eye care services to our patients. Whether you need an eye exam, contact lens fitting, or eyewear prescription, our experienced optometrists and opticians are here to help. Contact us today to book your appointment or learn more about our services. Office Woodfield farm, Apton hall road, Stambridge, Essex, SS4
Our team of specialist mobile opticians can come to those who can’t visit us in-store unaccompanied due to a physical or mental illness or disability.
have a condition that stops you from leaving your home unaccompanied due to poor health, or
be living with a diagnosed mental health condition that prevents you from leaving your home without the assistance of another person, or
be housebound or bedbound due to a physical disability
There are many conditions and reasons why someone might not able to leave their home unaccompanied. It’s best to talk to us about your situation so we can determine if you do meet the criteria, but to try and help make it a little clearer, here are a few examples.
Conditions may include (but aren’t limited to):
Whatever the reason is, if you or someone you know can’t leave the home without the assistance of another person, then get in touch to find out if you’re eligible to have a home eye test.
Those who have a physical or mental illness which prevent you from leaving your home unaccompanied.
Those who are eligible for free NHS-funded eye tests by checking the criteria below.
The majority of our customers qualify for a free NHS-funded eye test.
See if you do by checking if you meet at least one of the following criteria:
*You’re also entitled if you or your partner (including civil partner) receive, or you’re under the age of 20 and the dependant of someone receiving: Income Support, Income-related Employment, and Support Allowance, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Pension Credit Guarantee Credit.
Our team of specialist mobile opticians can come to those who can’t visit us in store unaccompanied due to a physical or mental illness or disability.
have a condition that stops you from leaving your home unaccompanied due to poor health, or
be living with a diagnosed mental health condition that prevents you from leaving your home without the assistance of another person, or
be housebound or bedbound due to a physical disability
There are many conditions and reasons why someone might not able to leave their home unaccompanied. It’s best to talk to us about your situation so we can determine if you do meet the criteria, but to try and help make it a little clearer, here are a few examples. Conditions may include (but aren’t limited to):
Whatever the reason is, if you or someone you know can’t leave the home without the assistance of another person, then get in touch to find out if you’re eligible to have a home eye test.
Those who have a physical or mental illness which prevents you from leaving your home unaccompanied.
Those who are eligible for free NHS-funded eye test by checking the criteria below.
The majority of our customers qualify for a free NHS-funded eye test. See if you do by checking if you meet at least one of the following criteria:
*You’re also entitled if you or your partner (including civil partner) receive, or you’re under the age of 20 and the dependant of someone receiving: Income Support, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Pension Credit Guarantee Credit.
No matter what condition you have, if you are physically able to leave your home on your own without needing help or assistance of another person, you will not qualify for a free NHS-funded home eye test.
We are also unable to visit patients in hospital.
