People get contact lenses for different reasons. For some people, eye contacts are a cosmetic choice, while for others, they are lifesavers. If you find the right contact lenses, they immediately improve your quality of life. Choosing the right contacts is important. The right choice depends on a variety of things.

Did you know that sports related eye injuries are the leading causes of blindness in children and young adults? Keeping your eyes protected during sports and recreational activities is essential to ensuring no eye related injuries like eye lacerations, broken blood vessels and blindness. Here are 3 surefire ways to keep your eyes safe:

Did you know that blindness affects women more than men? The National Institutes of Health reports that 2/3rds of the people with blindness or visual impairments are women. Often, hormones, and especially life changes such as pregnancy and menopause, cause changes in women’s eyes.

During the golden age of cigarettes—sometime between the roaring twenties and early sixties, vintage ads featured doctors touting the many “health benefits” of smoking. Most of us now know enough about the harms of cigarette smoking to roll our eyes at that. It’s well known that smoking causes lung cancer.

The colored part of your eye is called the “iris”. This part of your eye is pigmented depending on your genetics, which will determine what eye color you have. Many babies have blue eyes when they are born and for most of their first year of life. However, that might not be the eye color that they will always have, as pigmentation in the eye can change over time.

Low vision generally means impaired vision, and it can happen whether you are young or old. Many people have low vision (meaning they can’t see well) due to hereditary conditions, eye diseases or eye injuries. Some people don’t see well at sunset with changing light and others have vision that deteriorates slowly as they age.

You may have had a stye (sty) at some point in your life and not realized it. Styes can happen easily if you wear makeup around your eyes or if you don’t wash your face often. A stye is an infection along your eyelid caused by bacteria. You may notice a small, red bump near the edge of your eyelid that may even look like a pimple.

Did you know that the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) estimates that more than 43 million Americans will eventually develop eye diseases? The most common eye problems are either refractive errors of the eyes or are age-related diseases. However, your daily habits can determine if you are at risk for developing eye diseases or not.

The childhood years are a time of crucial eye development. A child’s eyes continue developing up through their pre-teen years. This is a critical period for eye problems to manifest and for vision problems to be corrected. You can correct a child’s vision problems by choosing glasses for them.

Your retina is one of the most important parts of your eye and one that is vital for clear vision. The seeing process is very complex and involves many parts of the eyes working together correctly. The retina is key for interpreting light and telling your brain what you are seeing.