Beauty and Personal Grooming

If you've seen ads claiming pinhole glasses can cure myopia naturally, you're probably wondering if they actually work. After weeks of skeptical research and personal testing, here's my honest experience with these controversial eyewear alternatives. My Journey to Discovering Pinhole Glasses Many years ago, I used to read the blogs of a conspiracy theorist who churned out batshit-crazy essays fueled by his wild imagination. I didn't believe everything he wrote, but his bizarre, hallucinatory takes on just about anything under the sun made for entertaining reading. In one of his posts, he praised pinhole glasses, claiming they could cure myopia, presbyopia, hyperopia, and just about every other vision problem. At the time, I was intrigued but didn't take it seriously—until years later, when I saw multiple infomercials and YouTube videos making the same grand claims about these "miracle" glasses. As someone who wears glasses for myopia, I decided to try pin...

We are all familiar with the golden yellow spice called turmeric ( haldi ), which is  used in everyday cooking by almost all families in India. It's for sure a  miracle healer from the kitchen. Turmeric is used in a wide variety of therapeutic preparations for both prevention and treatment of many ailments.The presence of an active substance called curcumin in turmeric imparts it with several medicinal properties. For instance, there is this Turmeric Milk / Turmeric Latte or the quintessential Haldi Doodh that is used as a remedy for sore throat , colds and coughs and is known to most people all over India. Turmeric milk is a highly potent beverage and its efficacy is unmatchable to OTC medicines for the same ailments.   Do check for more medicinal uses and home remedies with turmeric in this post. Turmeric, with its antiseptic and antibacterial properties is widely used in skin care, to treat acne , hyperpigmentation etc. Read all about it in Turmeric a...

Walking in bright sunlight can be torturous for those wearing contact lenses, as it reportedly makes many wearers ultra-sensitive  to strong light. Yes, it's always a better idea to wear protective sunglasses when you are out in the bright sun with contacts in your eyes. But its even better if you get to wear contact lenses which get darker when you are out in the sun similar to some of those transition prescription eye glasses which get darker. The good news is that such type of transition lenses may soon become reality with the US FDA  having  approved of transition contact lenses.

Raising children is a wonderful and exciting part of life. However, your child's health care needs your overwhelming attention.  Even the smallest of things matter and that's why you should pay utmost attention to what your toddler or child is up to in his / her leisure time.  For instance you need to keep a tab on details like your child's TV watching hours. Why, you may ask?

Bina asks: On every hair-removing cream container, there is a warning that, it should not be used near the eyes. However I find it very convenient to shape my eyebrows by removing the extra hairs with the cream. Will it affect my skin, later on?

Puffiness or dark circles around your eyes , also known as bags, are not harmful and do not require any medical attention, however they can be unsightly and make you look older. Now that's something nobody wants! Bags under the eyes occur when tissue around the eyes weaken, leading to fluid accumulation beneath the eyes, which causes a swollen appearance. Sleeping face down, seasonal allergies, water retention, and eczema can all aggravate the condition. Heredity also plays a role. Additionally, smoking, alcohol, and drugs can lead to bags under the eyes. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to get rid of those unsightly bags and look younger again.

Most women are desirous of possessing long, dense eyelashes. And why not! After all, long, fluttering eyelashes do look attractive, don't they?  To achieve fuller this, they use false eyelashes or falsies.  While falsies work their magic for a short-term, to get permanently fuller and longer lashes one may opt for eyelash transplantation.  The price is as steep at $2500 for both eyes, but the experts claim that the extensions are permanent, which means like head hair, they keep growing. Here scalp hair is used and sewn into the lash line!

Many spectacle wearers feel that glasses mar their looks and switch to contact lenses or go in for Lasik to get rid of glasses altogether. While contact lenses definitely provide a more superior vision than glasses, they are not very comfortable to do close work like reading, knitting, sewing or working on the computer. On the other hand, Lasik has its share of after-effects like dry eyes , poor night vision, halos and such. Now I'm not exactly extolling the virtues of glasses over contact lenses or Lasik, but I would like to point out that glasses aren't that bad as they are made out to be and provided the frames you choose suit your face , you can look great in glasses too. Do take a look at these hilarious ads on how glasses may transform / enhance your personality.

Regular exercise has enormous health benefits and it's great for your mind as well as it improves your mood and memory. It improves the overall stamina and strength, improves blood circulation, helps reduce stress and tension and provides a better quality of life.  Some mentionable health benefits of exercise include reduced risk of heart diseases, hypertension, osteoporosis, some cancers etc.  Thus it's the key to the prevention of numerous illnesses and in the maintenance of a fit and agile body.Studies have found that elderly people who indulge in regular exercise have improved immune systems, good bone density, improved flexibility of joints, decreased blood pressure , better heart health, improved metabolism, better quality of sleep and a lower risk of dreaded diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's.

Contact lenses are worn by nearly 40 million Americans, so it's safe to assume they're not dangerous. But they do require a certain amount of responsibility, because if you don't care for your lenses or adhere to the right rules when it comes to wearing them, you could cause damage to your eyes. Most people understand the basics of contact lenses - you must keep them clean and disinfected and replace them on schedule. But not everyone really understands what the risks are for improper use. Here are a few hard and fast guidelines for protecting your eyes long after you've ditched your glasses.

Almost everyone today wears sunglasses at one time or another.  You can use them to accent your casual outfits or formal wear with style and sophistication.  You can combine a good quality with an attractive pair of sunglasses to achieve your practical needs and fashion desires. There is a wide variety of designs from which you can select a pair that will polish-off your wardrobe and make your natural beauty more noticeable.  There will be designer styles available in a myriad of vibrant colours and with varying frames for you to choose. Sunglasses do protect your eyes from harmful UV rays and glares that can cause eye problems; make sure that the sunglasses that you select are fashionable with a practical purpose as well.

I recently started a new job where sitting at a computer screen for hours is the norm.  As time progressed, I seriously felt the retinas in my eyes burning –okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. However, I often find myself, head in hand, trying to figure out ways to divert my attention away from the screen.  It reminds me of the neon bug zappers – every time I meet the computer’s gaze … ‘zap!’ my once-perfect sight loses more strength.

It's quite commonplace to put the blame on your eye makeup when you end up with irritated, swollen, and itchy eyelids, while the real culprit could be the least suspected one, a nail polish .     While it's true that cosmetics for the eyes can cause irritation, even if a person has used the same product for a long time, irritated eyelids and  rash can also happen when you accidentally touch your eyelids with stained or unsanitized fingers.    The skin on your hands is quite tough and can endure the harshest of chemicals, but not so in the case of eyelid skin.    Even a tiny speck of an irritant can bother the delicate  skin on the eyelids, be it your eyedrops, your contact lens solution, tiny droplets of hair spray, hair dye, shampoo, conditioner or a tiny speck of wet nail polish. 

A lot of people get puffy eyes during different phases of their lives. A teenager can wake up with puffy eyes after strenuous hours of studying overnight, an adult due to water retention, too much salt in the diet, improper sleep , consumption of excess liquor, certain medications or improper ventilation. Allergies, skin disorders like dermatitis are also common causes of puffy eyes. Other causes include Blepharitis, eyelid edema, swollen eyelid, glaucoma , conjunctivitis, corneal ulcers and sinusitis. Dust or other irritants could also cause flare-ups that swell the eyes. Stress can also cause problems with your eyes. Physical manifestations are common among individuals experiencing high levels of stress in their lives. Crying is a cause of puffy eye syndrome, too. You can also get bags from genetics or heredity as well. Age is no barrier , so don’t lose heart over this; there are cures and remedies. Whatever be the reason for puffiness, first identify the cause and then take rem...

While advances in healthcare have extended human lifespans and improved quality of life across most body systems, our eyes present a unique aging challenge. Unlike many other organs that can repair and regenerate throughout life, the eye ages in fundamentally different ways that make vision loss seem disproportionately dramatic as we get older. The Irreversible Nature of Eye Aging The most striking difference between eye aging and aging in other organs lies in regeneration capacity. The mammalian retina displays no intrinsic regenerative capacities, unlike many other body systems that continuously repair and replace damaged cells throughout life. When we lose photoreceptors – the light-sensing cells responsible for vision – they're gone permanently. Müller glia display latent regenerative properties in teleost fish, however, their capacity to regenerate new photoreceptors has been lost in mammals. This stark contrast with organs like the liver, skin, or intestinal lining, which reg...

 These days at the Beijing Olympics, sports-persons are using red contacts to prevent glare and for increased visibility in the hazy atmosphere. Co-developed by Nike Inc. and Bausch & Lomb over a period of 7 years, these fully tinted lenses — which are now known in the retail world as MaxSight use Light Architecture technology that only allows certain wavelengths of light to pass through the lens and enter the eye.

If you have a tendency of waking up with swollen, puffy eyes in the morning, then this sweet, warm minty mask is just right for your delicate eyes. In addition to eye exercises and some habitual practices to keep your eyes in a good condition , application of this mask will surely help relieve puffiness. It soothes and calms the undereye area and helps drain the lymphatic fluids that causes the puffiness. Chief ingredients include Tulsi (Basil) which acts as a refreshing tonic and mint that has the elements to soothe and cool.

Many who undergo Lasik surgery to correct their vision experience dry eyes . The condition usually gets resolved within a couple of months, but for some these symptoms persist and even if they do not experience any vision loss, chronic dry eyes affect their quality of life. They have to resort to artificial tears and other medications to get relief from these symptoms. Now the moot question is: Who is a likely to get dry eyes after Lasik surgery? A recent research has found that people with a certain low level of tear production are more likely to develop a chronic dry eye syndrome after LASIK.   "These findings should help ophthalmologists determine if pretreatment is necessary before surgery or if surgery is appropriate at all for an individual." says Dr. Darlene Dartt, director of the Military Vision Research Program at Schepens Eye Research Institute and the principal investigator of the study. LASIK surgery uses small laser cuts to reshape the surface of the...

If you're tired of glasses and contact lenses and considering LASIK to achieve clearer vision, you may have heard conflicting information about whether pupil size affects your candidacy for the procedure. Let's examine what current scientific research reveals about this important question. The Evolution of LASIK Technology Early LASIK procedures in the 1990s and early 2000s used lasers that treated smaller optical zones (around 4mm) without proper blending zones. Since pupils can dilate to 4-8mm in dark conditions, this limitation did cause nighttime vision problems like halos and glare in some patients with larger pupils. This led to the widespread belief that large pupils disqualified patients from LASIK. However, modern LASIK technology has dramatically evolved. Today's advanced lasers treat larger zones and incorporate blend zones that often extend to 9mm, making pupil size much less of a limiting factor than it once was. What Current Research Shows Recent comprehensive...

No one can deny the fact that eyes are a mirror of general health and the most expressive features of the face. Modern lifestyle wreaks havoc on them and robs them of their luster. They need to be weaned away from television and computer screens forcibly and exercised once in a while to loosen the surrounding strained and contracted muscles to ensure that they get adequate blood circulation and nerve force. This can be achieved by including a few eye exercises in our daily routine. Read about these in Eye-Yoga . Simhamudra or the lion pose is another good exercise for the eyes.