{"id":59102,"date":"2025-08-11T03:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T03:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/59102\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T03:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T03:57:10","slug":"doctors-urgent-warning-about-the-huge-mistake-everyone-is-making-with-their-eyes-you-need-to-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/59102\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor’s urgent warning about the huge mistake everyone is making with their eyes: ‘You need to stop’"},"content":{"rendered":"

An American optometrist has people looking twice after revealing the one bad habit thousands are guilty of, and why it could be putting your vision at risk.<\/p>\n

Dr Fraser, an eye doctor from Detroit, has racked up more than 2.2million views on TikTok<\/a> after interviewing his colleagues about the worst thing patients do to their eyes.<\/p>\n

Their answers were unanimous.<\/p>\n

‘Eye rubbing,’ one optometrist warned in the clip<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘You need to stop. Don’t rub your eyes.’<\/p>\n

However, instead of banning the action altogether she offered a practical, and much safer, alternative.<\/p>\n

‘Please, for the love of God, if you need to rub your eye, instead of rubbing the eyeball, rub the bone,’ she advised.<\/p>\n

‘It’ll scratch the itch, but it will put you at less risk of diseases like keratoconus.’<\/p>\n

\"Dr <\/p>\n

Dr Fraser, an eye doctor from Detroit, has racked up more than 2.2million views on TikTok after revealing that rubbing our eyes is one of the\u00a0worst things we can do<\/p>\n

\"Instead <\/p>\n

Instead of banning the action altogether, he and his fellow optometrist’s offered a practical, and much safer, alternative – to rub the bone around the eye to ‘scratch the itch’<\/p>\n

Keratoconus is a progressive eye condition where the cornea (the clear front surface of the eye) thins and bulges into a cone shape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This can distort vision, and in severe cases requires surgery or corneal transplants.<\/p>\n

Eye rubbing, experts say, is a major risk factor.<\/p>\n

Another optometrist in Dr Fraser’s clinic added that the habit doesn’t just damage the eye itself, it can also speed up the ageing process around them.<\/p>\n

‘It makes your skin loose, don’t do it,’ she said, warning that the delicate tissue around the eyes is particularly prone to stretching and wrinkling.<\/p>\n

A third specialist kept it simple and very direct.<\/p>\n

‘Don’t rub your eyes,’ she said.<\/p>\n

Worryingly, eye rubbing isn’t the only issue Dr Fraser’s team flagged. One colleague pointed out that many don’t blink enough, especially when glued to screens.<\/p>\n

‘Patients will be working on a computer, reading, students will be studying, and they’re just too focused on what they’re doing and they don’t blink,’ he said.<\/p>\n

‘I’m starting to see kids coming in with lid issues and dryness, and I think if you just practice blinking you’ll save yourself a lot of hassle.’<\/p>\n

Experts recommend taking regular breaks from screens, consciously blinking more often, and if your eyes feel itchy, gently pressing on the bony orbital rim rather than the eyeball itself.<\/p>\n

Dr Fraser’s video has struck a chord with viewers, many of whom admitted they were guilty of both bad habits, and others already suffering the negative effects.<\/p>\n

‘Yep, I have keratoconus,’ one wrote.<\/p>\n

‘I can attest that due to allergies and being uninformed, I rubbed my eyes and now my left eye has it and I have zero clue how to fix or if there is a fix.’<\/p>\n

‘As soon as the rubbing was mentioned I had an eye itch. It’s like it knew,’ another added.<\/p>\n

‘Me blinking a million times after watching the video,’ a viewer said in jest.<\/p>\n

‘I have keratoconus, pleeeease don’t rub your eyes.’<\/p>\n