The hormonal changes caused during pregnancy affect many aspects of your body. While most of these changes are temporary and return to normal after the pregnancy's conclusion, they can be pretty significant. It is essential to know what changes to expect, how to cope with the impacts, and when you might need to seek further medical advice.

Characterized by the body's inability to use and store sugar properly, diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the entirety of the body. Over time it can cause severe damage throughout the body, including damaging small blood vessels and capillaries. 

When this damage to blood vessels affects the retina (tissue at the back of the eye that senses light), it can cause blood and other fluids to leak out, leading to swelling of the eye called diabetic retinopathy. 

No two eyes are the same. They are a literal visual fingerprint for our unique look and how we look at the world. Affected by a host of genetic markers, hormonal changes, and environmental factors, their development and health can vary widely from individual to individual. 

A large share of those differences comes down to your biological sex. In other words, men and women do quite literally see the world differently.

While some individuals develop vision issues early in life, either due to genetics, environmental factors or eye injuries, pretty much every adult will begin to develop some degree of visual loss beginning around age forty. This gradual loss of near vision is called presbyopia and occurs due to the natural hardening of the eye’s lens. 

This hardening means the eye cannot easily focus on things close up or far away as easily, narrowing our clear visual scope.

Symptoms progress gradually but are marked by needing to hold reading material further away and developing headaches when focusing on objects close up for extended periods. One of the most common fixes is the use of corrective lenses, especially in the absence of any other visual problems.

And the go-to for many people is to grab a pair of reading glasses from the drugstore or supermarket. But are they safe, and do they work?

Glaucoma is one of the most common eye diseases among adults. Three million Americans have the disease, and it is the second leading cause of blindness. 

It encompasses a range of conditions that cause damage to the optic nerve due to increased pressure in the fluid of the eye. This fluid drains typically where the iris and cornea meet through mesh-like tissue. When the body overproduces fluid or drainage is inhibited, pressure builds up.

The gradual damage to the nerve is painless, with vision problems developing very slowly. With little to no symptoms at the onset of the disease, nearly half of the people affected do not know they have the disease.

Nearsighted or farsighted, corrective lenses can easily manage most vision problems. 

However, contact lenses require direct contact with the eye and can cause serious eye injuries if not used and treated correctly. For this reason, glasses are considered ideal for patients of younger ages rather than contact lenses. The first step in selecting an appropriate pair is determining if your child does need glasses. 

The rising costs of healthcare is a popular topic of conversation and debate for political pundits, but for individuals and families in western North Carolina, it’s a very real concern. People are scrambling to figure out how to pay for housing and necessities, so it is of the utmost importance to minimize the costs of their health and wellness. 

Unfortunately, many find they are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to paying for medical care. Families can feel like they have to choose between general wellness, dentistry, and eye care. Vision and eye health may seem like they should take a backseat to other medical care. 

However, it is vital to protect your eyes and preserve your vision. Neglecting eye health can lead to degenerating vision and other issues. In this article, we want to make sure you are maximizing your insurance benefits for the sake of your eyes, so you don’t have to choose what parts of your health and wellness deserve attention. 

Today, you can shop for pretty much anything online. It was not all that long ago that the items for which you could shop on the internet were limited. One, if you live in a city like ours, you can even have fresh groceries delivered right to your door. 

If there is any question about how prevalent online sales are, this shocking statistic about Amazon clears up all doubt:

“In the third quarter of 2021, Amazon.com saw an increase in global net revenue across all segments, the leading category being online stores with net revenue of roughly 49.9 billion U.S. dollars.”

Amazon’s net revenue for just the third quarter of 2021 was just shy of fifty billion dollars. 

Many people look online first for any of their shopping needs, and glasses are no exception. There are several companies that allow shoppers to purchase corrective lenses from the comfort of their own homes. In this article, we are discussing some of the pros and cons of shopping for glasses online. 

It is the most wonderful time of the year in Asheville, NC. On the heels of an incredible, memorable autumn season, with some of the best fall colors we have had in years, our area has already been transformed into a holiday wonderland. 

Lights and decorations have taken the place of the fallen leaves, and you can feel the kindness, optimism, and cheer that comes with the falling temperatures of early winter.

Western North Carolina is known for kindness and good cheer year-round. It is one of the many factors that draw so many millions of visitors to our area annually. During the holiday season, we will see even more neighborly goodness spread through our communities. 

At Asheville Vision and Wellness, we are grateful to be part of this amazing area. People here are second-to-none when it comes to goodwill toward others. We want to encourage our readers to include giving the gift of sight to their holiday lists this year. 

The effects and havoc the spring pollen and summer dust can cause on our eyes often overshadow the other seasons. We can become so focused on those seasonal changes and subsequently forget that cooler temperatures and winter weather especially can have just as significant an impact on our eyes. Unfortunately, this can lead to neglect of eye care for a substantial portion of the year.

To help with this, we have come up with a few helpful tips that might enable you to protect your eyes throughout this winter season!