Routine Eye Care - Leesburg, Eustis, Clermont

Routine eye exams serve to maintain the health of your eyes, update prescriptions for corrective lenses, and ensure early diagnosis of disease. Total Eye Care Center doctors encourage you to practice routine eye care in Leesburg, Eustis, and Clermont. Here, we offer advice on how to proactively care for your eyes and protect your vision.

DR. MICHAEL P. PENNACHIO: Routine eye care is important for many reasons. As in general medical care, most of what's done as far as a routine physical is screening for bad things. In ophthalmology, one of the bad things that we routinely screen for is glaucoma. But also, discussing with patients things that can affect their eye health, eye safety, general nutrition, things like that, are all part of a routine eye exam. It's not just getting a prescription for glasses. It's not just getting your eyes checked for eye diseases. But also, it's part of a general health program. DR. JEFFREY A. SHERIDAN: It's very important to maintain healthy eyes because as we mature, cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration become much more common. Diabetes can affect the health of the eyes. In fact, diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in the United States. And thing you can do at an early age to reduce your risk of developing some of these things, diabetes and diabetic damage to the eyes, cataracts even, are maintain a healthy lifestyle. Don't smoke. Smokers have a higher incidence of cataracts and macular degeneration, particularly at a younger age. So don't smoke. If you smoke, quit. That's another reason to think about quitting smoking. Healthy diet, lots of fruits and vegetables are probably very helpful for the long-term health of the eyes. And there's certainly some studies that indicate the association of the healthy diet and healthy long-term vision. Number three is wear sunglasses when you're outdoors. Sun does damage. The ultraviolet does damage. The intense sunlight that we get here in Florida, it does damage to all areas of the eyes. So the earlier you start wearing sunglasses, the better off you're going to be. And then finally, there may be some benefit of taking a multivitamin. So we've been recommending that as well to reduce the rate of cataract progression and the risk of macular degeneration.