I recently started playing a trivia game on my phone and was thinking back at different questions patients have asked me over the years about truths vs. myths about eyes.
Here are the top 3 truths vs. myths my patients are usually curious about…
1. Eating carrots improves your vision
Mostly a MYTH. A healthy diet, high in antioxidants, is good for your eye health, especially for the macula (a part of the retina). Carrots are high in vitamin A, which contributes to a healthy diet. However, eating carrots will not reduce your astigmatism, nearsightedness, farsightedness, or presbyopia.
2. Wearing glasses will make your vision worse
MYTH. Using the correct prescription as prescribed makes your vision more clear and comfortable. Vision deteriorates from natural aging, as well as environmental and genetic factors.
3. Crossing your eyes often will make them stuck that way
MYTH. That’s the same as saying if you bend your arm often, you won’t be able to “unbend” it. We naturally cross our eyes to look at things up close. If you hold a crossed eye position, those muscles will eventually get tired, but once you relax your eyes again, everything goes back to normal.
Did you get those trivia questions right? If you have more eye trivia, feel free to email me or ask me at your next eye exam!