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TAKE CARE OF YOUR EYES

YOUR EYES ARE YOUR BREADWINNERS

Poor Eyesight
Means
Poor wages, Discomfort, Disease
And is often due to
Lack of care or to Improper care of the eyes

GOOD EYESIGHT
Means
A fair chance 1. To earn a good living 2. To enjoy life healthfully
And demands
Good care of the eyes

THIS LEAFLET IS ISSUED TO SHOW HOW TO CARE FOR THE EYES, TO PROMOTE GOOD EYESIGHT, AND TO PREVENT DISEASE BY THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS 130 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK

THE EYE The eye is one of the most important organs of the body. It is also one of the most delicate. It is a willing servant, but easily abused. Much disease and poor eyesight are due to trouble which can be prevented by proper care of the eyes.

ACCIDENTS

Dust, splinters, bits of steel and other fine particles endanger the eyes of persons engaged in some occupations. Prompt removal is important. Never rub the eyeball; never touch it with anything hard or anything that is not perfectly dean. Go to the oculist if the foreign body does not come out within a few hours after it has got in. An oculist is a medical doctor who has made a special study of the eye and its diseases.

DISEASES

Some eye diseases are contagious, and are spread from one person to another by carelessness. To escape eye diseases it is essential that the eye should not be bathed or touched with anything that is not perfectly dean. Go to an oculist if your eyesight begins to fail, or if your eyes are inflamed or sore. Home treatment is dangerous. No inflammation of the eye, however slight, should ever be neglected. In babies, inflammation of the eyes (Ophthalmia Neonatorum, or babies' sore eyes) may cause blindness in a very few days unless treated by a physician experienced with the disease, and helped by a trained nurse. Older children, with watery and inflamed eyes (suffering from various forms of Keratilis, so called), may lose good eyesight unless skilfully and steadily treated. And people in mid-life, whose vision begins to fail in either eye, may have some serious disease and become totally blind. They should put themselves in an oculist's hands without loss of time.

HOW TO USE THE EYES

Poor lighting and bad position in reading strain the eyesight. When reading or writing or doing any close work, have as good a light as you can get. Never work with a light that shines into the eyes, or that reflects from the table or desk and dazzles your eyes. The light ought to come over the left shoulder for right-handed people; over the right shoulder for left-handed people. Then it does not make troublesome shadows.

EYE-GLASSES Defects of vision are sometimes due to eye diseases, or, more often, to defects which prevent the rays of light from being focused properly in the eye. Proper eye-glasses or spectacles will correct the trouble. Properly fitted eye-glasses enable a person with defective vision to see clearly, and they may improve the general health. The proper fitting of eye-glasses requires knowledge and great care. Eye-glasses whose lenses are not adapted to the eyes, and frames which do not hold the glasses in the right position on the nose, may do great harm. When the eye is diseased, glasses which seem helpful may only lead the wearer to postpone medical treatment until too late to prevent blindness. The inside of the eye, or the fundus, should always be examined, to see whether the trouble of which the patient complains is due to disease. Only an oculist can make sure of this. Not only young people but adults should, therefore, have the advice of a trained oculist and wear only glasses made according to his prescription.

WARNINGS OF EYE TROUBLE

Improperly fitted glasses, or Lack of glasses, or Eye diseases cause many symptoms which are warnings that something should be done; for example, Headaches, Eye aches or Tired feelings on using the eyes, Blurred vision, Inflammation or soreness of eyes or lids, Watery eyes, Swelling, puffiness or drooping of lias. These symptoms are warnings.

WHAT TO DO

Consult an oculist. If you do not know one, any eye-clinic or hospital will give you the names of competent oculists whose charges are according to your means. If you live in a city where there is no hospital or in a rural community, ask your regular physician to advise you how to secure the services of a competent oculist. Above all, do not delay to get good care for your most precious possession -- your eyesight.

YOUR EYES ARE YOUR BREADWINNERS