We hear a lot about how eating right and getting regular exercise are good for you – good for your heart, good for the brain and bodily functions, good for overall health. But what you may not realize is that they can also greatly affect the health of your eyes.

I’ll explain why this is, but first let me give you a little background about myself. I’ve been a practicing ophthalmologist for more than 12 years, the last seven of which have been at the University of Utah.  Most of our current patients are from eight states in the Intermountain West, but we are certainly open to seeing patients from further away if their condition is particularly challenging and warrants the travel. 

The patients I see have problems in the front of the eye, which usually means cataracts or diseases of the cornea – the front window of the eye – which can be caused by infections or injury, or even cancer or certain genetic disorders. I also see patients looking for a therapeutic remedy, such as vision correction surgery, to wearing glasses or contact lenses. 

Additionally, I have a research lab dedicated to developing new drugs to improve the treatment of eye conditions, and I volunteer overseas to serve patients in desperate need of cataract surgery, cornea transplant surgery, and the like.

But patients from all over the world can also come to me for information, at: http://www.doctorambati.com/ – an educational resource site for people to learn about conditions that can affect the front of the eye, such as cataracts and corneal diseases, and the treatment options available to them should they have any of these health issues with their eyes. Though the priority is to provide a portal for those not well-versed in ophthalmology but with a keen personal interest in learning about the eye, primary care physicians and medical students also will find it useful, as we provide training resources for them, upcoming events of interest, and updates on our humanitarian outreach efforts.

As I alluded to at the beginning, a lot of eye problems can be prevented by making better lifestyle and nutrition choices.  This is particularly important when you have a chronic condition that can affect the eye, such as diabetes or hypertension, both of which can damage the retina by causing bleeding or leakage in the back of the eye. This can damage cells – called the rods and cones – that convert light into sight. Even something like sleep apnea, where people have trouble sleeping at night, can cause problems for the eye; in this case, worsening glaucoma and affecting the optic nerve.

To date, there hasn’t been a lot of data on nutritional supplementation that can reduce risk to the eye. This is true even for well-known eye problems, such as macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness in this country, and for chronic conditions that can affect the eye, such as diabetes, which is the leading cause of blindness in the working age population. 

But here’s what we do know, and some steps you can take to protect the health of your eyes:

• Improve your nutrition by switching from processed and refined foods to whole foods and whole grains.  Also: increase the good fats in your diet, which are high in omega 3 fatty acids. These types of changes that you make in your diet (and also adding regular exercise) can have a positive effect on your weight, your metabolism, how your body responds to sugar, the amount of medicine you need to take – and from what we are learning, the health of your eyes. 
   
• Get a regular eye exam. The eye is the only place where a physician can see nerves and blood vessels.  As such, it provides a window through which we can diagnose and monitor diabetes, high blood pressure, MS, lupus, and any number of other diseases that can affect the nerves or blood vessels. Children should be screened when they’re 3 or 4 years old; young adults every five years or so; those over 40 every two or three years; and at least once a year if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or another chronic disease or disease of the immune system. 
   
• Know your numbers. The biggest cause of diabetic eye damage is uncontrolled blood sugar.  We know based on many years of clinical trials and research that fasting blood sugar should be under 125 and hemoglobin A1c – which is a measure of how well patients control their sugar over time and that’s monitored every three months – should be under 7.  Whether you have diabetes or want to avoid it, keep an eye on these target goal numbers.