That sensible advice to eat better, exercise more, and quit smoking also applies to protecting your sight.

Many people feel that of all the five senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell—sight would be the hardest one to live without.

Whether or not you agree, there’s no better time than now to take steps that can prevent an eye disease from stealing your sight. Blindness and other visual impairments are expected to rise considerably in coming years as the U.S. population ages. Yet at least two out of five such cases can be prevented or treated.

Common Eye Diseases
Major causes of visual disability among U.S. adults include these diseases:

• Cataracts. Cataracts are most common after age 55. This clouding of the eye’s lens can bring blurred vision and oversensitivity to glare from lights, especially when driving at night. Risk factors include diabetes, use of certain medications, cigarette smoking, high alcohol intake, and exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
• Diabetic retinopathy. This serious eye condition threatens people with diabetes. Over time, high levels of blood sugar can damage blood vessels in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. The result: blurred vision, poor night vision, or seeing spots (“floaters”). Initially there may be no symptoms. Left untreated, diabetic retinopathy can lead to blindness.
• Glaucoma. A leading cause of U.S. vision loss, glaucoma involves progressive damage to the eye’s optic nerve, which transmits visual signals to the brain. The most common form of glaucoma develops slowly and usually without symptoms, but a comprehensive eye exam can detect it.
• Macular degeneration. Also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), this disease gradually destroys the central vision’s sharpness. We rely on that part of vision for reading, driving, and seeing objects clearly. AMD harms the macula, the part of the eye that lets us see fine detail. Treatment can slow this vision loss.

Best Steps for Protection
You may be surprised to learn that much of the same advice for preventing heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and lung disease also applies to protecting your vision. Some of the best things you can do to prevent or control disabling eye diseases include:

• Have periodic exams. Updating your prescription for contact lenses or glasses isn’t the only reason to visit the eye doctor. A comprehensive evaluation is vital to early detection of problems that could lead to serious vision loss and blindness if left untreated. This is especially true if you have diabetes. Many eye diseases have no symptoms in their early stages, making eye exams critical.
• Control your blood sugar if you have diabetes. Very high blood sugar levels can quickly lead to blurred vision. If they stay elevated over time, they can lead to diabetic retinopathy. Controlling those levels through diet, exercise, medication, or other means can help you avoid expensive changes to prescription lenses as well as more serious vision loss.
• Keep blood lipids under control. A standard blood test can determine the levels of cholesterol and other lipids (fat) in the bloodstream. High lipid levels may raise your risk for cataracts and other eye diseases. In those with diabetes, high lipid levels worsen the risk for diabetic retinopathy.
• Control high blood pressure. Long-term hypertension raises the risk for vision loss from a number of causes. In addition, there’s a strong link between higher blood pressure levels and diabetic retinopathy in people with type 2 diabetes.
• Quit smoking. Smoking is a major cause of heart disease and lung disease—and it has been linked to age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, and diabetic retinopathy, among other eye diseases.
• Limit exposure to ultraviolet light. Even at low levels, UV light has been linked to increased risk for some kinds of cataracts. Wear sunglasses that filter out 99 to 100 percent of both UVA and UVB rays.
• Adopt a healthy lifestyle. A healthy diet, regular exercise, and weight control can help prevent or manage diabetes (and its related vision threats) and may reduce your risk for AMD.

Your doctor can help you determine which risk factors you may need to address. He or she can also help you create a doable plan for managing those risks.

Promising Treatments
Even if you’re experiencing significant vision loss from an eye disease, there’s still hope. Cataract surgery is one of the most common U.S. surgical procedures, as well as one of the safest and most effective. There are eye drops to control glaucoma, laser surgery for diabetic retinopathy, and photodynamic therapy for AMD, to name just a few treatments.

There are also promising advances in the works. Artificial retinas consisting of implanted microchips can electrically stimulate eye tissues, improving vision in people who have lost much of it. And in an experimental gene therapy, an injection to the eye has led to better vision in some people with severe, genetically based vision loss.

The best approach, however, is prevention. Since disease isn’t the only threat to your vision, remember to don safety glasses or goggles when your job or other activities demand eye protection. And follow a healthy lifestyle to keep your eyes healthy for life.

By Polly Turner, a feature writer for Vitality.

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