Eye Health Basics

Taking great
care of your eyes

Whether you clock long hours in front of a screen or you prefer exploring the outdoors until sundown, keeping your eyes healthy can help keep you happy.

Young man doing sports with a gray t-shirt, looking to his right side.

See your eye doctor yearly

Eye exams are about more than vision. In fact, an eye exam can detect over 270 different medical conditions from diabetes to heart disease.

Protect your eyes from the sun

Eyes are vulnerable to UV rays just like your skin. That's why knowing ways to protect them, like with sunglasses, a wide-brimmed hat, and UV blocking^# in your contacts lenses, is so important.

Eat eye-healthy foods

Certain foods can support your eye health now and even help prevent vision damage later in life, reducing your risk of serious chronic eye conditions like cataracts or macular degeneration. Include foods with these key vitamins and nutrients in your diet:

Lutein & Zeaxanthin

These nutrients may reduce the risk of eye diseases like cataracts and can be found in kale, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, raspberries, papaya, peaches and mangoes.

Vitamin C

This vitamin may lower your risk of developing cataracts, and when taken with other nutrients, it may slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration and visual acuity loss. Vitamin C can be found in oranges, grapefruits, kiwi, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli and red and green peppers.

Vitamin E

This vitamin helps protect your eyes and can be found in almonds, sunflower seeds, vegetable oils, avocadoes, wheat germ, and sweet potatoes.

Essential fatty acids

Omega-3 fatty acids help with visual development and retinal function, and can help reduce inflammation and enhance tear production. Sources of essential fatty acids include fish such as salmon and tuna.

Zinc

Beans and lentils, seeds, meat/seafood, dairy, and eggs are all sources of zinc, which helps bring vitamin A to the retina to help produce a protective pigment in the eyes.

Women conversing while seated in the living room.

Parents: Help your child meet the demands of school

With more and more learning going digital, students are swamped with screen time. Learn how this could impact their eyes and tips to help keep their eyes healthy.

See Tips

Doing eye-intensive tasks at work?

Video conferencing, emails, spreadsheets—as work has become more digital, it's especially important to take care of your eyes.

Working Professional Tips

What should I learn next?

Now that you know the basics of how to help keep your eyes healthy, it can be helpful to be proactive and learn not only about the anatomy of the eye itself, but also vision issues and eye conditions to look out for over your lifetime.

The anatomy of the eye

Your eyes are made up of many intricate parts that each play an important role in helping you see.

_{Images are for illustrative purposes only and may not be anatomically accurate.}

Sclera

The protective outer coating of the eyeball, also known as the white of the eye.

Cornea

The clear, dome-shaped part of the eye in front of the pupil, responsible for focusing light.

Conjunctiva

The delicate membrane that covers and protects the surface of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelid.

Iris

Gives the eye its color and expands or contracts the pupil to manage incoming light.

Pupil

The small, black spot in the center of the iris, which allows light to enter the eye.

Lens

The flexible tissue behind the iris and pupil that focuses light on the retina.

Retina

The layer of tissue at the back of the eye that reacts to light and sends messages to the brain through the optic nerve.

Macula

A small area at the center of the retina densely packed with the majority of our eye's cone cells. The cones enable our color vision and their arrangement in the macula enables our fine central acuity.

An illustration showing where the aqueous humor is in the eye.

Aqueous Humor & Vitreous Humor

The fluids inside the eyeball that help give them shape.

What else can affect my eyes?

An eye doctor checking vision using a phoropter on a patient.

Vision issues explained

Are distant objects blurry? Having trouble reading? Learn about the issues that affect your vision and how you can correct them.

See Issues

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Common eye conditions

From "pink eye" to glaucoma, it's important to know the basics of eye health conditions so that you know when to see an eye doctor.

Read About Them

Footnotes

#Helps protect against transmission of harmful UV radiation to the cornea and into the eye.
WARNING: UV-absorbing contact lenses are NOT substitutes for protective UV-absorbing eyewear such as UV-absorbing goggles or sunglasses because they do not completely cover the eye and surrounding area. You should continue to use UV-absorbing eyewear as directed. NOTE: Long-term exposure to UV radiation is one of the risk factors associated with cataracts. Exposure is based on a number of factors such as environmental conditions (altitude, geography, cloud cover) and personal factors (extent and nature of outdoor activities). UV-blocking contact lenses help provide protection against harmful UV radiation. However, clinical studies have not been done to demonstrate that wearing UV-blocking contact lenses reduces the risk of developing cataracts or other eye disorders. Consult your eye care practitioner for more information.

Important information for contact lens wearers: ACUVUE Contact Lenses are available by prescription only for vision correction. An eye care professional will determine whether contact lenses are right for you. Although rare, serious eye problems can develop while wearing contact lenses. To help avoid these problems, follow the wear and replacement schedule and the lens care instructions provided by your eye doctor. Do not wear contact lenses if you have an eye infection, or experience eye discomfort, excessive tearing, vision changes, redness or other eye problems. If one of these conditions occurs, remove the lens and contact your eye doctor immediately. For more information on proper wear, care and safety, talk to your eye care professional, call 1-800-843-2020, or download the Patient Instruction Guides.

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Taking great care of your eyes