What brings you joy in this holiday season? Is it watching a child open a much-hoped for present? Driving around the neighborhood to look at lighting and decorations? Appreciating a beautiful centerpiece on the dining room table?
These are all visual delights. You want to do all you can to keep your eyes healthy for a long time to come. No doubt you've read that chronic diseases, such as diabetes, have reached epidemic levels. These diseases can affect the eye health of children and adults. Regular check-ups can catch diseases at their earliest stages.
Eye diseases among adults include:
- Age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, affects part of the back of the eye called the macula. AMD can cause the center part of your vision to become blurry or wavy.
- Cataracts are a clouding of the eye's lens, which blocks or changes the passage of light into the eye.
- Floaters (muscae volitantes) are small spots you may occasionally see in your field of vision.
- Dry eye is a disorder in which you are unable to produce enough of the natural tears that protect the eye and keep it moist.
- Retinitis pigmentosa is the name for a group of eye diseases that cause the thin layer of tissue in the back of the eye (the retina) to deteriorate.
Eye diseases among children include:
- Lazy eye (amblyopia) is reduced vision in an eye that has not received adequate use during early childhood.
- Color blindness (or more correctly "color vision deficiency") is inherited and more common among boys than girls.
- Conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, which is the clear mucous membrane covering the white part of the eyeball and the inside of the eyelid. It is the most common eye infection in the United States.
- Strabismus is a word for eyes that are not straight or do not line up with each other.
Read how diet and nutrition can help your vision at the website of the American Optometric Association. Learn about age-related vision problems in this slide show from the Mayo Clinic. 
