One of the most common conditions affecting older Americans is age-related macular degeneration or AMD. It’s the leading cause of blindness in adults over age 55. AMD results from the breakdown of the macula or small area in the retina at the back of the eye. Contributing factors to AMD include exposure to sunlight, smoking and even everyday contaminants in your environment.

One preventative solution to AMD are antioxidants. Research over the past decades has shown that eye health is linked closely to diet and lifestyle. Being overweight, diabetic, smoking, eating a high-fat diet and consuming alcohol excessively can all contribute to poor eye health. Eating a diet low in fruits and vegetables is also shown to be detrimental.

So, what should you eat?
We all grew up hearing that carrots were important for eye health, but there’s actually more evidence that other color foods may have an even bigger impact on our eyes. Specifically, foods that are naturally green and yellow in color have been shown as more effective at reducing the risk for AMD and cataracts than orange-colored foods.

Why does color matter?
Green and yellow fruits and vegetables are packed with two chemicals — lutein and zeaxanthin, nutrients that seem to protect the retina against oxidative damage and decrease the risk for AMD.

Lutein and zeaxanthin are found in foods containing natural fats, such as egg yolks, pistachios and avocados. Corn, spinach, squash, collard greens, kale, tomatoes and lettuce are all also good natural sources of these two nutrients.

While there is no current recommended amount of lutein and zeaxanthin to ingest to help protect your eye’s health, eating the recommended five to eight servings of fruits and vegetables a day will help to ensure that you get enough. If you have a family history of eye diseases or have any questions, please be sure to give Dr. Frank or Dr. Marczewski at call at (815) 758-1039. They would be happy to answer any of your questions.

They’re a clouding of the lens inside the eye. They’re detected during a normal eye exam and are somewhat common with adults over the age of 40 (and increasing as we age). As they are so common and tend to progress slowly, your eyecare physician should monitor their progression as you grow older.

One of the first symptoms of a cataract can be glare, especially when looking into lights at night. They may appear as haze, but actually they represent a loss of clarity of vision or loss of sharp perception of images. It’s hard to remember what good vision is like compared with gradual acuity loss that occurs with a cataract. This is especially true when cataracts develop in both eyes at the same rate — there’s no good standard of comparison in this case.

Cataracts can be successfully treated in about 98% of cases. In fact, cataract surgery is the most commonly-performed surgery in the United States with an average age for cataract surgery of 73 to 75 years old. During surgery, a small incision is made, a tiny instrument is inserted to break up and remove the lens, then a intraocular lens is replaced in the eye.

There is now the technology to even insert a lens that has progressive properties. When this type of lens is used, the patient often does not have to wear corrective eyeglasses — the bifocal corrective lenses are actually integrated into the prosthetic lens in your eye!

The surgery is normally not painful and takes 20 minutes or less to perform. Recovery begins immediately, but you must have someone to drive you home from the surgical center. You’ll be given a pair of sunglasses to wear when you leave — wear them even if it is not sunny out.

You’ll also have a protective shield placed over your eye after the procedure. Your physician will give you instructions on the recovery process and answer any questions you may have.

Interested in learning more about cataracts and corrective surgery? Contact Dr. Frank or Dr. Marczewski at Spex Expressions at (81) 758-1039 or by visiting www.SpexExpressions.com/cataracts.

Allergies, metabolic by-products, anxiety, emotional distress, genetic and metabolic disorders, excessive fat, sugar or protein in one’s diet, nutritional deficiencies, environmental poisons, heavy metals, infectious agents, smoking, lack of sleep and other noxious agents are all toxic components in everyone’s daily pattern of living that increase an individual’s susceptibility to a variety of maladies, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and stroke. These factors bring oxidative stress and depress the immune system.

Harmful manufactured substances that remain unrecognized by the body tend to linger in the cells of our body, lodged in organ tissues as noxious elements. These poisons tend to lie dormant while they accumulate and the human body has no real way to remove them on its own.

Detoxification, such as through an ion treatment, will rid the body of actual physical pollutants including toxic metals, harmful industrial chemicals, dead cellular materials and other bodily waste products.

The ion treatment generates alternating positive and negative ions that helps to eliminate the toxic overload in your body. These toxins are attracted out of the tissues through the feet and go into the water’s ionic components. The foot bath changes color as the body’s cells are flushed.

Detoxification usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes and multiple procedures over a period of weeks are recommended to completely flush your body’s cells. We are currently featuring a special on ion treatments: The first one is $20 or two for $40. These are normally $30 procedures. If you’re interested in feeling better and helping your body to regain a natural metabolic stability, please call our office to make an appointment at (815) 748-3900 or visit www.BarratChiropractic.com.

You may be a survivor and in various stages of recovery or remission. You may be a caregiver, family member or a friend of someone affected by cancer.

Cancer was once considered a deadly, incurable disease. For many, cancer is now survivable and curable. Still, it is the second leading cause of death in the United States.

DeKalb County has several wonderful events that help raise awareness as well as funds for cancer research. Ladies Night Out in downtown Sycamore on June 9th draws large crowds — dress in pink! Relay for Life is another annual event (held this year, June 17th and 18th).

Make plans to attend and enjoy these events.We all can help make a difference.

Extended exposure to UV rays has been linked to eye damage, including these conditions:

Cataracts: Lab studies have implicated UV radiation as a cause of cataracts. It has also been shown that certain types of cataracts are associated with a history of higher ocular exposure to UV — and especially UV-B — radiation.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD): Exposure to UV and other types of intense visible radiation is damaging to retinal tissue. It has been speculated that chronic UV exposure may contribute to degenerative processes in the retina.

Pterygium: This is a non-cancerous growth of clear, thin tissue that lays over the white of the eye and can extend onto the clear cornea where it can block your vision. While the cause is unknown, it is more common in people with excess outdoor exposure to sunlight.

Photokeratitis: This is a reversible sunburn of the cornea, resulting from excessive UV-B exposure. It can be extremely painful for one to two days and result in a temporary loss of vision.

Fortunately, adequate eye protection is an effective preventative for eye damage caused by the sun’s rays. Quality sunglasses should block out 99% of both UV-A and UV-B radiation. There are other options for everyday eyewear, including UV-blocking lens materials, coatings and photochromatic lenses.

For more information and resources about safeguarding your vision from UV rays, please visit our web site at www.SpexExpressions.com/uv or call Dr. Frank or Dr. Marczewski at (815) 758-1039.

Each year, neglected maintenance leads to more than 2,600 deaths, nearly 100,000 disabling injuries and more than $2 billion in lost wages, medical expenses and property damage.

Most mechanical failures can be traced to neglected maintenance. For example, the U. S. Department of Transportation reports the leading cause of mechanical breakdown on our nation’s highways is overheating, a condition that is easily avoidable. Other deficiencies that are simple to detect include low antifreeze/coolant, worn or loose drive belts and defective cooling system hoses.

Checking tire pressure and inflating a tire costs nothing, yet an average of 21 percent of cars inspected in check lanes during National Car Care Month have under inflated tires. This can lead to a blowout and a serious accident.

The Car Care Council offers these fuel-saving tips:

• Vehicle gas caps. About 17 percent of the vehicles on the roads have gas caps that are either damaged, loose or are missing altogether, causing 147 million gallons of gas to vaporize every year.
• Under inflated tires. When tires aren’t inflated properly it’s like driving with the parking brake on and can cost a mile or two per gallon.
• Worn spark plugs. A vehicle can have either four, six or eight spark plugs, which fire as many as 3 million times every 1,000 miles, resulting in a lot of heat and electrical and chemical erosion. A dirty spark plug causes misfiring, which wastes fuel. Spark plugs need to be replaced as recommended by the manufacturer.
• Dirty air filters. An air filter that is clogged with dirt, dust and bugs chokes off the air and creates a “rich” mixture — too much gas being burned for the amount of air, which wastes gas and causes the engine to lose power. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve gas mileage by as much as 10 percent, saving about 20 cents a gallon.

Fuel-saving driving tips include:

• Don’t be an aggressive driver. Aggressive driving can lower gas mileage by as much as 33 percent on the highway and 5 percent on city streets, which results in 10 to 66 cents per gallon.
• Avoid excessive idling. Sitting idle gets zero miles per gallon. Letting the vehicle warm up for one to two minutes is sufficient.
• Observe the speed limit. Gas mileage decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph. Each mpg driven over 60 will result in an additional 10 cents per gallon. To maintain a constant speed on the highway, cruise control is recommended.

For more information, visit www.CarHospital.net, call (815) 758-7425 or send an e-mail to carhospital@comcast.net.

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