Eye Myths: Fact or Fiction
There are many myths we’ve heard through the years about our eyes and their health. Are they fact or are they fiction? Read on to understand and get to the bottom of these common eye myths.
Eating carrots will improve your vision.
Carrots have high amounts of vitamin A, which is essential for maintaining healthy eyesight. Yet only a small amount is necessary for good vision. While consuming vitamin A-rich foods can help maintain good eyesight, it won’t improve your vision or prevent you from needing glasses.
If you cross your eyes, they’ll stay that way.
This is something many parents tell their kids when they’re little. However, your eyes cannot get stuck from crossing them for periods of time, nor will crossing eyes cause permanent damage. Just like reading in dim light, crossing the eyes can cause muscle fatigue and a little discomfort, but it won’t cause lasting damage.
Reading in dim light is harmful to your eyes.
As a child, you may have been warned that reading with a flashlight under your covers would weaken or ruin your eyes. Reading in dim light may cause you to overexert your eye muscles, which can cause eye strain, tired eyes or headaches. It won’t cause permanent damage.
You can’t sneeze with your eyes open.
Contrary to what many might have heard, it’s possible to sneeze with your eyes open. However, when you sneeze the brain sends a signal to your eye muscles to close your eyes. It happens automatically without you giving it much thought. If you want, you can try to keep your eyes open and override the automatic reflex … and the good news is your eyeballs won’t fall out of your eye sockets.
Only boys can be colorblind.
While women can also be colorblind, it is a lot more common in men. It is estimated that up to 8% of boys have some colorblindness as compared to less than 1% of females. This is because the gene responsible for colorblindness is passed along X chromosomes. Males have an X and Y chromosome, while females have two X chromosomes. Therefore, females must inherit both X chromosomes with the defective gene to be colorblind, whereas males become colorblind when their single X chromosome carries the defective gene.
People who are colorblind see in black and white.
Having colorblindness does not necessarily mean that people see the world only in black and white. Instead, colorblind people simply have a diminished ability to see colors as they truly are. There are three types of colorblindness.
- Red-green colorblindness is the most common form and makes it difficult to differentiate between shades of red and green. For some it causes green to look redder, for others, it causes red to look greener.
- Blue-yellow colorblindness causes trouble differentiating blue from green and yellow from red.
- Complete colorblindness, a rare occurrence, makes everything look like different hues of gray.
Sitting too close to the TV will harm children’s eyes.
Contrary to popular belief, sitting too close to a TV screen will not damage children’s eyes. However, if your children are spending extended amounts of time staring at TV, videogames, or computer screens, they may blink less and feel eye strain. You should encourage them to take frequent breaks.
Using computers can damage your eyes.
Staring at a computer screen for long periods of time will not harm your eyes. However, it can cause eye strain and tired, dry eyes. Because staring at a screen causes you to blink less than normal, your eyes may become dry. Applying moistening eye drops or artificial tears can help reduce dryness. Also, taking frequent breaks away from your screen can help reduce eye strain. We recommend using the 20-20-20 rule, where after 20 minutes of screen time, you stare at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
Eye exams are not necessary unless you’re having an eye problem.
Regular eye exams are critical to detect any eye problem as early as possible. Everyone should have eye exams periodically, especially individuals with a family history of eye disease or other risk factors.
Wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses will weaken your eyes and make you dependent on them.
You may think that your eyes have weakened but that isn’t the case. The reason that you wear glasses is to correct blurry vision. When you first get eyeglasses or a new prescription, you may find you wear them more often so you can see more clearly. In addition, your vision tends to worsen as you age. This is just a natural progression in life and has nothing to do with eyeglasses or lenses affecting your eyes in any way.
Curious about any other myths you’ve heard? Ask at your next visit with your ophthalmologist or optometrist.
