February 2017 - The Eye Surgery Institute

Eye Health

Carrots are the food you probably think are best for eye health. In fact, there are many foods that are healthy for your eyes. Foods that are rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, zeaxanthin, zinc and the omega 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA are important for both the health of your eyes and your body in general. It is never to early to maintain a healthy diet!

Eating a diet with these vitamins and nutrients may decrease your chances of developing or worsened age related macular degeneration, cataracts and dry eyes. It is still important to maintain regular comprehensive eye examinations to check the health of your eyes even if you maintain a healthy diet. Dr. Stanley Grandon, Dr. Cindy Wang and I can evaluate your eye health and check you for all eye diseases.

AREDS 2

Nutrition and eye health| Alaina Kronenberg MD| Eye Surgery Institute

AREDS stands for the Age-Related Eye Disease Study. This was a large study that showed specific vitamins can delay or reduce the risk of developing advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The AREDS formulation includes:

500 milligrams (mg) of vitamin C

400 international units of vitamin E

15 mg beta-carotene

80 mg zinc as zinc oxide

2 mg copper as cupric oxide

Taking these vitamins can reduce your risk of developing advanced AMD by about 25% over 5 years. These vitamins are typically recommended in patients with either intermediate or advanced AMD. You can continue your multivitamin if you are taking AREDS vitamins.

These vitamins were not shown to prevent you from developing early AMD. It is not possible to get enough of the vitamins in your diet if you have intermediate or advanced AMD. If you are taking AREDS vitamins, it is important that you make your primary care doctor aware to ensure it is not interacting with other medications you are on.

Headaches and the Eye

Headaches can very frustrating and you may wonder if you should have an eye examination if you suffer with headaches. It is important to discuss your headaches with your primary care provider (PCP).

There are many causes of headaches. It is important to understand what is associated with your headache. Your PCP may want to know how often you have headaches, where they are located, what they feel like, how severe they are and what makes them better or worse. Your PCP may recommend an eye examination.

Eye Examination

Dr. Stanley Grandon, Dr. Cindy Wang and I will perform a comprehensive eye examination including checking your need for glasses. If you have an need for glasses that has not been diagnosed, you may be experiencing eye strain or eyes that feel tired and sore. It is rare that a need for glasses causes a severe headache.

Occasionally, you may have a “hidden” need for glasses. This means that although you can read the eye chart well without glasses, your eye muscles need to work really hard. This is called latent hyperopia.

Sometimes you may feel discomfort only after a period of time such as reading or using your computer. You may be suffering from dry eyes as the cause of your discomfort.

It is also possible that muscle imbalances of your eye can contribute to eye strain and headaches when reading. This is called convergence insufficiency. We can check for this during your eye examination.

Could My Eye Examination Find Something Serious?

It is unlikely that your eye examination will find a serious problem relating to your headaches. It is important that Dr. Stanley Grandon, Dr. Cindy Wang and I perform a comprehensive eye examination with dilation. This allows us to look at the back of the eye including your optic nerves.

Alaina Kronenberg, M.D.
Cataract Specialist
Comprehensive Ophthalmologist
Dearborn, Michigan 48126