Living well after 50.

August is Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month

With a large number of states beginning the school year earlier, August is the new September! Along with school supply shopping and purchasing those back-to-school clothing items, it’s time to make comprehensive eye exam appointments for the kids. Conveniently, August is designated as Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month!

A good rule of thumb is to have your children’s eyes examined during well-child visits, beginning around age three. Your child’s eye doctor can help detect refractive errors such as nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism as well as the following diseases:
Amblyopia (lazy eye)
Strabismus (crossed eyes)
Ptosis (drooping of the eyelid)
Color deficiency (color blindness)

If you or your doctor suspects that your child may have a vision problem, you can make an appointment with your local ophthalmologist for further testing. There are some specific warning signs that may indicate that your child has a vision problem. Some of these include:
Wandering or crossed eyes
A family history of childhood vision problems
Disinterest in reading or viewing distant objects
Squinting or turning the head in an unusual manner while watching television

Keeping your children’s eyes safe is another part of maintaining healthy vision. Eye injuries are the leading cause of vision loss in children. There are about 42,000 sports-related eye injuries every year in America, and children suffer most of these injuries. Help prevent your child from being one of the more than 12 million children who suffer from vision impairment by remembering a few basic rules of safety:
All children should wear protective eyewear while participating in sports or recreational activities

Purchase age-appropriate toys for your children and avoid toys with sharp or protruding parts (Source: HAP).

Help your children have a successful school year by scheduling a comprehensive eye exam and taking safety measures to ensure their eyes are free from injury. If you need assistance finding a licensed eye care specialist in your area, click here.
 

WHAT you need to know

STROKE AWARENESS MONTH

Stroke AwarenessMay is American Stroke Month, and to show our support we are wearing red and challenge you to join us and share your photo on Facebook. 

Our goal this month is to raise awareness on risk factors and diseases which can lead to stroke and encourage you to evaluate your own personal risk for such diseases, including carotid artery disease and atrial fibrillation.

We have put together some information on stroke and prevention to share with you throughout the month. Here are a few quick facts on stroke, but be sure to check back each week to learn more!

Quick Facts on Stroke

Stroke is the number 5 cause of death and leading cause of disability in the U.S.1, making it a serious condition.

Studies show that almost 80% of all strokes are preventable and nearly 85% of all strokes that occur show NO warning signs.
Risk Factors 

Risk factors may be hereditary, due to lifestyle choices, health conditions or a combination of all. Some common risk factors that can lead to stroke include:

Family History

Smoking

High blood pressure

High cholesterol

Diseases

Certain diseases or health conditions may increase your risk for stroke, including:

Carotid Artery Disease

Atrial Fibrillation

Diabetes

Heart Disease

Learn more about stroke risk factors and disease that can lead to stroke.

Stroke Prevention

The important thing to remember is there are ways you can minimize your risk of stroke, including:

Healthy lifestyle choices

Proper management of health conditions, like high blood pressure

Knowing and understanding your risks and health

For more information on stroke prevention visit, CDC Preventing Stroke: What You Can Do. – See more at: http://www.lifelinescreening.com/Community/Health-Facts/Health-News/American-Stroke-Awareness-Month

Are you due for a routine exam?

Go Red-Symptoms of a Heart Attack in Women

Well-known heart attack symptoms can include chest pain and radiating discomfort in the left arm. But, as Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum explains, there are several other ways your body may tell you when something isn’t quite right, potentially with your heart.

Read on for details on four silent heart attack symptoms that women should most definitely be aware of.

Shortness of breath

According to Steinbaum, director of The Heart and Vascular Institute at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, women often struggle to breathe a few weeks before experiencing a heart attack.

“If you are used to doing a certain amount of activity and then, all of a sudden, you can’t get enough air, that is when I get concerned,” says Steinbaum.

Back pain

Irregular pain in the lower or upper back can indicate stress to the heart muscle, Steinbaum says.

Jaw pain

“I had one patient who would feel her jaw start to hurt every time she got on a treadmill,” Steinbaum says. “But once she stopped, her jaw pain would go away. She went to a dentist, but there wasn’t anything wrong with her teeth.”

This discomfort continued until the woman experienced a heart attack. When she came into Steinbaum’s office after the event, it was evident that the jaw pain was directly linked to what was happening in her heart.

“Sometimes the heart isn’t able to give a good signal and, instead, the pain can radiate to the neck, jaw and back,” she says.

Nausea

Flu-like symptoms are often reported weeks and days before a heart attack. In fact, as Steinbaum explains, TV personality Rosie O’Donnell reportedly regurgitated a few times before she experienced a heart attack in early 2012.

Advice: Trust Your Gut

If you aren’t feeling normal or are experiencing any of the symptoms above, head to you local emergency room. It is better to take care of yourself and prevent damage to your heart, in the event you are having a heart attack.

“A women’s intuition is a very strong thing; don’t ever discount it,” Steinbaum says.

“Ninety percent of my women patients who’ve just had a heart attack tell me that they knew it was their heart all along. That they just had a feeling.”

Learn more about your risk for heart disease as well as  factors that increase your risk on Go Red For Women.

January is Glaucoma Awareness Month

January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month, an important time to spread the word about this sight-stealing disease. This is very important to me since I am suffering from this.

Currently, more than 3 million people in the United States have glaucoma. The National Eye Institute projects this number will reach 4.2 million by 2030, a 58 percent increase.

Glaucoma is called “the sneak thief of sight” since there are no symptoms and once vision is lost, it’s permanent. As much as 40% of vision can be lost without a person noticing.

Glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness. Moreover, among African American and Latino populations, glaucoma is more prevalent. Glaucoma is 6 to 8 times more common in African Americans than Caucasians.

Over 3 million Americans, and over 60 million people worldwide, have glaucoma. Experts estimate that half of them don’t know they have it. Combined with our aging population, we can see an epidemic of blindness looming if we don’t raise awareness about the importance of regular eye examinations to preserve vision. The World Health Organization estimates that 4.5 million people worldwide are blind due to glaucoma.