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| "Eating carrots will improve your vision."
Carrots are high in vitamin A, which is necessary for good sight. Many other foods also contain vitamin A. However, only a small amount of vitamin A is needed for good sight and a good diet, with or without carrots, provides plenty of vitamin A for good vision.
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| "Not using proper glasses will hurt your eyes."
Corrective glasses or contacts are needed to improve eyesight. However, using your eyes without corrective lenses will not physically damage them or make the condition worse.
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| "An eye exam isn't necessary unless you are having some sort of eye problem."
A proper health program for anyone includes regular eye exams. Many eye diseases don't exhibit early symptoms. Regular eye exams can help detect eye disease before it can damage the eyes.
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| "Reading, sewing or doing other close work in dim light can damage your eyes."
Reading in dim light can cause eye fatigue, but it will not damage your eyes. For hundreds of years, reading or sewing at night was done by candlelight, or with gas or kerosene lamps. Good lighting will make reading easier and will prevent eye fatigue, especially for older people whose lenses no longer change shape as easily as they did when they were younger.
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"People with 'weak eyes' should avoid reading fine print."
It is a common belief that people who wear glasses have weak eyes and will wear out their eyes if they read fine print or do a lot of detail work. Compare your eyes to a camera. The camera won't wear out any sooner just because it is used to photograph intricate detail. You can use your eyes without fear of "wearing them out."
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| "Electric lighting is bad for the eyes."
Good lighting is a valuable aid to vision. It doesn't matter if it is electric light, sunlight, or another good light source.
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| "There's nothing you can do about preventing loss of vision."
Regular eye examinations and proper safety eyewear are important and can save your sight.
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| "Your sight will wear out if you use it too much."
Eyesight cannot be worn out by use. Use it as much as you want.
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| "Sitting too close to the television or holding a book too close to your eyes will strain or damage your eyes."
Children can focus up close without eyestrain better than adults can. Some children develop the habit of sitting too close to the television or holding a book too close. There is no evidence this practice will damage their eyes, and the habit usually disappears as the child grows older. Children who are nearsighted often sit close to the TV to see the images better. For people with poor vision, the best way of magnifying the TV is to sit very close to it. Their eyes cannot be strained, although their eye muscles may become strained. If this happens, the person should take a break from watching television for a few minutes.
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| "Using computers can damage your eyes."
Working on a computer or video display terminal will not harm your eyes. You can develop eye fatigue or strain after looking at one for long periods of time, just as you can from reading or doing other close work. To relieve eye strain, take regular breaks and look up or across the room. Looking at objects further away usually relieves eyestrain. If your vision blurs or your eyes tire easily, you should have your eyes examined by an ophthalmologist.
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| "Children will outgrow crossed or misaligned eyes."
 Children don't outgrow crossed eyes, a condition known as strabismus. A child with misaligned eyes may develop amblyopia, which is poor vision in one eye, because the brain "turned off" the misaligned or "lazy" eye. Unless it is forced to work, the unused or misaligned eye will not develop good vision. Patching the stronger eye will force the unused eye to work. In general, the sooner the misaligned or crossed eyes are treated, the better. Children who appear to have misaligned eyes should be examined by an ophthalmologist. Crossed or misaligned eyes can be straightened by using glasses, eye drops, or surgery.
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| "Eye trouble is the cause of learning disabilities."
People often refer to reading, mathematics and other learning problems among children as learning disabilities. There is no scientific evidence that eye trouble causes learning disabilities, or eye exercises cure learning problems. Children with learning difficulties often need extra help from people with special training. However, the child should have a complete eye exam to see if there is a vision problem affecting their reading ability.
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| "Contact lenses can prevent nearsightedness from getting worse."
Some people think wearing contact lenses will permanently correct nearsightedness, and eventually they might be able to get rid of their glasses or contacts. Contacts improve nearsightedness while you are wearing them just as glasses do, but do not reverse the condition or keep it from becoming worse.
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| "Contact lenses can slip back and become lost behind the eye."
The thin tissue connecting the eyelid to the back of the eye keeps this from happening.
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"Eyes can be transplanted."
Because they are connected to the brain by the optic nerve, there is no way to transplant a whole eye. The optic nerve is made up of millions of nerve fibers. The nerve can't be reconnected once it is severed. The eye is never removed from its socket during surgery. The cornea, the clear front part of the eye, has been successfully transplanted for years, and some people may confuse that procedure with an eye transplant.
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| "All 'eye doctors' are the same."
An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor who specializes in the eye and its diseases. An ophthalmologist can provide all facets of eye care including surgery. Optometrists and opticians are also eye professionals. They are trained to provide some aspects of eye care. However, they are not medical doctors and cannot perform surgery.
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