Jenks Eye Doctor | Best Option
Welcome to Insight Eye care with Dr. Kyle Tate your eyesight doctor. In today’s series, we are discussing UV protection. If you hear some things today and realize you do not have UV protection in your life reach out to us at Insight Eyecare. We offer a variety of UV protection; whether that’s clear prescription glasses, tinted, or polarized sunglasses. Remember Insight Eyecare is your Jenks Eye Doctor.
We treat patients of all ages. We perform newborn baby exams, kid exams, adult exams, and senior exams. We see both Medicare and Medicaid patients. We also take insurance from Blue Cross, Community Care, United Healthcare, Aetna, and many others.
Insight Eyecare is conveniently located just off of Creek Turnpike near the Glenpool IHOP. Located in our clinic is a large eyeglasses boutique with over 1000 frames to meet all eyecare wants and needs. We use the finest labs in the country and try to give you the best vision possible out of your glasses. Our team at Insight Eyecare wants to be your Jenks Eye Doctor for all your eyecare and eyewear needs.
Today we’re really talking about UV protection. First, we must discuss why UV protection is important and what UV protection does for you. Before we dive into the eyecare portion, your Jenks eye doctor will let you know the definition of ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light is a wavelength of light that is stronger than visible light. It is not as strong as X-rays or Gamma rays (radiation). Those may sound familiar to you from movies and nuclear weapons. Ultraviolet light hurts your body’s tissue and causes things like a common sunburn. A little bit of UV protection is not a bad thing and it can actually help vitamin D production in your skin. Your body needs Vitamin D and most Americans are not getting enough vitamin D; because we’re not outside.
If you think about it, we were born and our bodies were developed living outside. Whether you believe creation or evolution, you go back 1000 years ago and people were not sitting in front of computers working all day inside offices. We were working outside with our hands and that’s how the body was designed. The negative side of UV damage is much more concerning.
Excessive UV damage like repeated or severe sunburns from being outside all day can cause skin cancers, melanomas, and many other problems. Now speaking of cancer, cancer is one significant reason why you need a general eye exam; even if you feel like your eyes are fine. If you have cancer in your body, because of the high volume of blood that gets to the inside of your eye, is one of the most likely spots for metastasis especially of a melanoma.
The other big concerns we have regarding what UV can do to the body and eyes is the advancement of cataract formation in the eyes. UV light affects the lens of the eye and it prematurely ages causing it to become cloudy and a cataract. UV’s go deeper into the eye and the lens will affect the eye in such ways as macular degeneration, thermal burns in the retina, and causing permanent scarring. So this is a pretty big concern!
Recently here in 2017, we had a total eclipse. That has not happened since the 1960s. Our concern regarding the eclipse was that people thought it was safe to stare at the sun. Doing so, however, would cause a thermal burn. Now the interesting thing is we at Insight Eyecare, your Jenks eye doctor, did not actually see any damage from the eclipse. However, the following week we did see someone with permanent damage from UV light while cutting metal with a cutting torch. This is a perfect example to show that there are lots of things that cause UV. Usually these things are from bright lights, welding cutting, being outside too much, or general things that cause UV damage to the eyes.
Another likely place that UV’s can come from is tanning. Besides all the cancer stories, tanning is not quite as significant as it was when I was in high school. People were definitely experiencing a lot more unsafe tanning. This actually can cause significant UV to get into the body and the eyes causing permanent problems.
So that’s a brief overview of what UV damage does to the eye and the body. Let’s talk about how to protect yourselves. Protecting the body from UV damage is important and a very simple way to do this is with clothing. You’ll see a lot of people who work outside, a lawn mowing business maybe, actually wearing long sleeve white shirts in tan or khaki pants; even in a hundred degrees outside because it protects the body from UV light.
Sunscreen is also an amazing thing! People want to look tan because that’s what society says is attractive. However, we’re very blessed these days because we have inexpensive and very effective sunscreen that last half the day. In the past, sunscreens needed to be put on every hour or two. Also, as soon as you would have gone into the water the sunscreen would come off. Well, now we have sunscreens that give us a proof factor of SPF 50, 70, or even 100 and will protect the body for 6 to 8 hours.
Another simple thing that people take for granted is the skin on your ears, nose, and around your eyes. The skin in these places is very thin and that makes it more susceptible to UV damage. One thing you can do is wear a big cowboy hat or one with a the large brim that will protect the whole head and face from UV damage.
How do we protect the eyes from UV damage and all the bad things we’ve discussed? UV protection is incredibly important for the eyes. UV protection does not come with all glasses and contacts. You can have two pairs of sunglasses that look exactly the same, one will have UV protection and one will not. The same goes for clear glasses and for contact lenses. So how do you know if your glasses or contacts have UV protection? There is a machine that can check for it but they’re harder to find. So most of the time we have to rely on the manufacturers and where you’re getting your glasses.
Here at Insight Eyecare, your Jenks eye doctor, we make it a point to sell one hundred percent of our lenses for glasses with UV protection built-in. That means all of our clear glasses materials that we sell are either naturally blocking UV light or they have a treatment which blocks UV light, such as a no glare treatment. We even have contacts that will block UV from hurting the eyes, which is a very good thing.
You must be careful when wearing sunglasses. If you’re sunglasses are polarized then they’re going to be a good enough quality to block UV light. However, a cheap five dollar pair of sunglasses will not always have UV blocking ability. So you must make sure they are labeled, especially if you’re getting them from a gas station or a big box retail store.
As your Jenks eye doctor I want you to know that UV damage can hurt your body and eyes. If you have any questions about anything we’ve discussed, reach out to us at Insight Eyecare. As your Jenks eye doctor, our mission is to improve every life at every encounter. This means we want all our patients to have healthy eyes without any worry of cancers, macular degeneration, advanced cataracts, or anything of that nature. If you are in need of anything, come to us at Insight Eyecare, your Jenks eye doctor. We have a highly trained staff, state-of-the-art facility, and advanced equipment in the eyeglasses gallery. We are here to meet your needs as a patient at your Jenks eye doctor. Remember we treat all types of common diseases things like: nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, cataracts, glaucoma, and diabetes. We want you to bring us your irritated, sandy, gritty eyes. We can help improve your life!
God bless you and have a great day!