Brief Summary
This episode of The Diary Of A CEO features Dr. Joseph Allen, a board-certified optometrist, who discusses various aspects of eye health, common misconceptions, and practical advice for maintaining good vision. He emphasizes the importance of regular eye exams, lifestyle choices, and dispels myths surrounding eye care.
- Regular eye exams can detect systemic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.
- Lifestyle factors, including screen time and diet, significantly impact eye health.
- Sunlight is good for the eyes, but staring directly at the sun can cause permanent damage.
Intro
Dr. Joseph Allen, a board-certified eye doctor, aims to clarify misconceptions about eye health and provide insights for achieving sharper and healthier vision. He addresses common concerns such as the inevitability of vision loss, the effects of blue light, and the increasing prevalence of nearsightedness. The discussion also touches on the importance of lifestyle choices and dispels myths surrounding eye care.
Who Is Dr. Joseph Allen?
Dr. Allen is an optometrist who diagnoses and manages various eye conditions, from nearsightedness and astigmatism to fitting contact lenses and treating eye diseases. He also shares educational content on social media to help people understand their eyes and vision, aiming to help them see their best both today and in the future.
Is Our Eye Health Improving?
More people are becoming interested in eye health, possibly due to noticing more vision problems. There's an increase in issues like eye strain and dry eye, and children are developing nearsightedness more rapidly. Additionally, metabolic diseases like diabetes are causing more eye health conditions.
How The Environment Impacts Your Eyesight
Several factors contribute to worsening eye health, including an aging population, poor diets leading to conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, and lifestyle changes. Increased screen time, focus on education, and time spent indoors all affect eye health, raising the risk of diseases and potential vision loss.
Why We Don't Value Our Eyesight Until It's Too Late
People often don't appreciate their eyesight until they start experiencing problems. Many only see an eye doctor when something is already wrong, which is often too late. Regular eye exams are crucial, even if vision seems fine, as they can detect over 270 systemic and vision conditions through non-invasive evaluations.
Surprising Conditions Dr. Allen Finds During Eye Exams
Eye exams can reveal various undiagnosed conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, through observing damage to blood vessels in the eye. They can also detect signs of strokes, autoimmune conditions, and even brain tumors. Dr. Allen shares a story of a young patient whose life was saved when an eye exam revealed a rare blood disorder.
Does Everyone's Eyesight Deteriorate Over Time?
While some vision changes are inevitable with age, such as cataracts and presbyopia, lifestyle adjustments can help prevent or slow the progression of more severe eye diseases. Research is increasingly focused on identifying these preventative measures.
Why The World's Eyesight Is Getting Worse
Nearsightedness is becoming more prevalent globally. By 2050, it's estimated that 50% of the world's population will be nearsighted, compared to 30% currently. Genetics play a role, but lifestyle factors like urbanization, emphasis on education, and increased screen time are significant contributors. The eye elongates as one grows, and even a small change of 1-2 millimeters can lead to severe myopia, increasing the risk of eye diseases.
How Much Screen Time & Reading Is Safe For Your Eyes?
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting screen time for young children due to impacts on both eye and neurological development. For adults, the rate of myopia development slows down after age 25, but prolonged near work can still worsen vision. Spending 90 minutes to two hours outdoors daily can offset the effects of near work.
The Role Of Vitamin D In Eye Health
Vitamin D, athletics, and motion in daily activities are theorized to play a role in eye health. A policy in Taiwan requiring 90 minutes to two hours of daily outdoor time has shown a decrease in childhood myopia development.
Can Short-Sightedness Be Reversed?
True myopia, caused by the elongation of the eyeball, cannot be reversed. Claims of reversing nearsightedness often involve pseudomyopia, where eye muscles are strained, causing temporary vision issues. Relaxing these muscles can improve vision, but it doesn't reverse the underlying elongation of the eye.
Do Eye Exercises Actually Work?
Eye exercises cannot strengthen the internal eye muscle (ciliary body). However, vision therapy can improve the coordination between the brain and eye muscles, benefiting binocular vision disorders like convergence insufficiency.
Can Your Parents' Eyesight Predict Yours?
Genetics and the aging process of the eye can provide clues about future vision. The lens inside the eye thickens with age, eventually leading to presbyopia and potentially cataracts. Cataract surgery is an effective procedure that can replace the clouded lens with a new plastic lens, often correcting vision issues.
Can We Really Do Eye Transplants?
The first whole eye transplant was recently performed on a patient who sustained electrical damage to his face. Although the transplanted eye has connected to the optic nerve and shows electrical activity, the patient cannot yet detect light with it. This marks a significant step forward in eye care.
How To Make Better Choices For Eye Health
Cataracts are often caused by oxidative stress, so avoiding smoking and excessive drinking can help. Sunlight also plays a role in aging the lens, so wearing sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats is important. While vitamin C is beneficial, excessive intake won't further delay cataracts if you already have proper nutrition.
Best Phone Features To Protect Your Eyes
Phone manufacturers now include features that track how closely devices are held to the face and send notifications to encourage users to hold them further away. Moving the phone back even a few inches can significantly reduce blue light exposure.
Causes Of Eye Bags & Dark Circles
Dark circles and under-eye bags are different, but under-eye bags can worsen the appearance of dark circles. Dark circles can be due to skin pigmentation, vascular changes, or orbital shadow effects. Under-eye bags can result from allergies or high salt content in the body.
Do Cucumbers Really Help With Eye Bags?
Cold compresses, like cucumbers, can reduce puffiness by constricting blood vessels. However, prolonged application (over 15 minutes) can have the opposite effect. Sleep quality and stress levels primarily affect one's subjective perception of dark circles, rather than their objective appearance.
Eye Bag Treatments That Actually Work
Eye creams can help with constriction or removing pigmentation, but it takes months to see results. Surgical procedures, such as light therapies, fillers, and blepharoplasty, are also options for addressing under-eye bags and dark circles.
Can Red Light Therapy Improve Your Eyes?
Red light therapy can help with depigmentation around the eyelids. However, caution is advised due to the lack of standardization in red light devices. The wavelength and energy levels are crucial, and improper use can cause eye damage. Red light therapy is being researched for dry eyes and macular degeneration, with some promising results.
Best Ways To Cure Dry Eyes
Red light therapy can help with dry eyes by reducing inflammation and improving tear production. It can also help with meibomian gland dysfunction, where the oil glands in the eyelids become inflamed and stop producing oil.
Can Red Light Therapy Help With Myopia?
Red light therapy is being researched for myopia in children, with studies showing it can slow down the rate of progression. However, there are concerns about the power density of some devices potentially causing damage.
Is It Safe To Stare At The Sun?
Staring directly at the sun can cause permanent damage to the retina, leading to solar retinopathy. Sunlight is beneficial for regulating melatonin production, but it's best to avoid direct sun gazing, especially during peak UV times.
What Is Sun Gazing And Should You Try It?
Sungazing is a practice where people gaze toward the sun, usually in the early morning or late afternoon. While some believe it has spiritual or religious benefits, it still carries a high risk of causing thermochemical damage to the back of the eye.
Is Blue Light From Devices Damaging Your Eyes?
Blue light from digital screens does not have enough power to increase the risk of aging eye diseases. While it may affect sleep, research does not support claims that it contributes to eye strain.
What’s The Best Diet For Eye Health?
A Mediterranean diet, rich in green leafy vegetables and oily fish, reduces the risk of developing macular degeneration. Eating at least 2.7 servings of green leafy vegetables a week can slow down the progression of macular degeneration by 25%.
Do Carrots Really Improve Your Vision?
The idea that carrots improve vision originated as propaganda during World War II. While carrots contain beta carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A (essential for nighttime vision), most people are not vitamin A deficient.
Is Omega 3 Beneficial For Your Eyes?
Omega-3s play a role in reducing inflammation that contributes to dry eye. They are also essential for the retina, with photoreceptors containing a high percentage of DHA omega-3. Diets rich in oily fish are linked to a lower risk of macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
What Is Dry Eye And How To Treat It?
Dry eye disease occurs when there is reduced tear production or rapid tear evaporation, leading to damage on the surface of the eye. Chronic dry eye can cause inflammation, further reducing tear production and damaging oil glands in the eyelids.
The Best Superfoods For Eye Health
Green leafy vegetables are the top food for good eye health, providing beta carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which are beneficial for both eye and brain health.
Does Sugar Harm Your Vision?
High blood sugar levels can cause the lens inside the eye to swell, leading to refractive changes. This can be a sign of diabetes.
Why Diabetics Suffer More With Eye Problems
Diabetes can damage the blood vessels in the back of the eye, leading to hemorrhages, aneurysms, and impaired retinal tissue function. This can result in vision deterioration, macular edema, and, if uncontrolled, retinal detachment.
What Is Happening When Your Eye Twitches?
Eyelid twitching (eyelid myokymia) is often caused by stress, fatigue, and excessive caffeine intake. It's usually not a serious concern and can be resolved by getting more sleep, reducing caffeine, and managing stress levels.
What Is Glaucoma And Is It Preventable?
Glaucoma involves damage to the optic nerve, often due to increased pressure inside the eye. This damage is irreversible. Treatments focus on reducing pressure, but research is also exploring ways to support the health of the optic nerve.
What Are Eye Floaters?
Eye floaters are caused by collagen clumps in the vitreous humor, the gel inside the eye. These clumps cast shadows on the retina, creating the appearance of floating spots. A sudden increase in floaters or flashes of light could indicate a retinal tear or detachment, requiring immediate medical attention.
Can Pineapple Cure Floaters?
A study suggested that bromelain, found in pineapple, could reduce floaters, but the study was not very robust. A more recent study found that a supplement containing vitamin C, E, L-lysine, and zinc reduced floater symptoms.
What To Do If You Get Something In Your Eye?
Rinsing the eye with eye drops or tap water can help remove foreign objects. If a chemical gets in the eye, it should be rinsed thoroughly. If the eye remains red and irritated, it's best to see an eye doctor.
How Often Should You Get Your Eyes Tested?
It is recommended to get your eyes tested yearly, as it is a simple and non-invasive way to detect various medical conditions and prevent more serious health issues later in life.
The Most Important Thing We Didn't Talk About
Diet and lifestyle, including exercise, sleep, and hydration, have a significant impact on eye health and overall well-being. The eyes are an extension of the brain, and what's good for the eyes is also good for the heart and brain. Maintaining good vision is crucial for learning, development, and reducing the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's.
The Last Guest Question
Dr. Allen shares an early memory of making friends through sports, which helped him feel valued and connected. He also discusses how early experiences of feeling unwanted drove him to excel in academics and extracurricular activities. This led him to pursue optometry, inspired by his own positive experience with an eye doctor and the desire to help others experience the world with clear vision and confidence.
