Parents and Eye Care Doctor’s Agree

Welcome September!  I can’t believe summer is almost officially over and Labor Day weekend is here.  The month of September marks not only the end of summer but also “Save Your Sight” month.   EyeCare America, a nonprofit that offers eye health services to the medically underserved, has exposed five eye health myths in honor of “Save Your Sight” month and Dr. Tavel’s Vision Blog will take a deeper look into each.

The first up: reading, sewing or doing other close work in dim light can damage your eyes. FALSE!

This is a myth I have believed for most of my life as growing up whenever I would read late Photo courtesy of: https://www.insidesocal.com/bargain/boy_reading_book.gifat night or in dimly lit areas, my parents would comment about hurting my eye sight.  I even have caught myself telling friends to read in better light so as to not to damage their vision.

But eye sight won’t be damaged when reading in dimly lit areas!  Eye muscles will be strained and fatigued though.   Reading or completing close work in full-light helps the eyes become less fatigued especially for older people completing these tasks.  The lenses in the eye age as we do and cannot change shape as easily. So although this myth is FALSE it is important to listen to parents and eye care doctors alike and read or complete close work in lighted conditions to help our eyes become less tired!

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