One of the best ways to make this a Happy New Year is to take better care of your eyes. While it is not a common resolution, improving your eye health is always a worthwhile goal. Here are four resolutions you can make for healthier eyes in the next year.

If you have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Healthcare Spending Account (HSA), you probably already know that they are convenient and can save you money in taxes. You also likely know that they may expire and that you might forfeit any money you don’t use at the end of the year. So what is the best way to spend your hard-earned dollars before the end of the year? On eye care, of course!

At EyeCareToday, our Peoria eye doctors answer a wide variety of questions, both about eye care and about our office. Here are a few of the most commonly asked questions and their answers.

Frequently Asked Questions about EyeCareToday

What is EyeCareToday?

EyeCareToday provides same-day access to eye care for patients who are ages 5 years and up that have acute/urgent eye care or routine vision exams.

Finding the perfect frame usually involves trying on several different pairs of glasses, but traveling to an eye center can sometimes be a hassle. Fortunately, technology steps in to save the day with Illinois Eye Center’s new Virtual Try-on.

Virtual Try-On lets you see how you would look in different eyeglasses frames, and is as easy as looking in a mirror. Illinois Eye Center offers two try-on options that allow you to “try on” glasses from the comfort and convenience of your own home.

At the end of a long day on the farm, Aaron likes to look out over the fields to see what he has accomplished. To appreciate the view fully, though, Aaron relies on contacts for sharper vision.

Like many of us, Aaron never liked wearing glasses, even as a kid. He was an active young man who likes to play golf and other sports; glasses always seemed to get in the way. Fortunately, his parents agreed to let him try contacts while he was in high school. Contacts never posed a problem for Aaron, so he ditched his glasses almost completely for several years.

You might be surprised to learn that some little habits can have a big impact on the health of your eyes. In fact, some habits can contribute to discomfort, pain, and even vision loss. Identifying these bad habits – and making an effort to break them – can help save your vision.

A woman’s hormone levels fluctuate throughout life, changing with puberty, pregnancy and menopause. These normal hormone changes, and hormone changes associated with certain health conditions, can affect mood, skin, and weight. Hormone changes can also affect a woman’s sight.

Taking good care of your eyes is important during childhood, of course, because that is when your eyes and your vision are developing. Proper eye care is essential to prevent age-related sight problems, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts, when you get older. But what about when you are in your 20s and 30s?

If you are like most young adults in this age range, your eyes are probably in good overall health – you might even have perfect 20/20 vision, with or without the use of eyeglasses or contact lenses. By taking the right steps to maintain good eye health, you may expect great eyesight for the next decade or longer.

The average American spends about seven hours a day on a computer, either at home or on the job. Especially during these uncertain times where many of us are working from home, we are spending more time than ever on our screens. Not only are we doing work on our screens, but we are also participating in meetings virtually, meeting with friends virtually, taking class virtually, and depending on our screens for entertainment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many worry about what all that screen time will do to their eyes.

Held every March, Save Your Vision Month is a great opportunity to learn more about protecting your eye health.

Approximately 12 million people aged 40 and over have some form of vision impairment that prevents them from seeing as well as they should. About 1 million American adults are blind, and 3 million still have vision impairment even after correction with glasses, contacts, or other treatments. Another 8 million people have uncorrected refractive errors, such as nearsightedness (myopia) and farsightedness associated with age (presbyopia).