Five Summer Eye Care Tips

As eye care professionals in the South Sound, we know you’re looking forward to our beautiful summers. But longer days and more sun exposure mean you need to keep your eyes happy and healthy.

Here are our top five summer eye care tips.

Avoid a Sunburn

That’s right, your eyes can get sunburnt. And it’s pretty uncomfortable. When the sunlight bounces off highly reflective surfaces, like the water, and into your eyes, it can cause a sunburn. The medical term for this is photokeratitis, and symptoms include pain, blurred vision, redness, and an itchy feeling.

Choose Sunglasses with Full UV Protection

Because Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is much stronger in summer, you need to wear a pair of sunglasses that offer full UV protection. You want to make sure the glasses you pick will block both UVA and UVB rays, so look for glasses labeled either UV400 or 100 percent UV protection.

Wear a Wide Brimmed Hat

In addition to being a fashion statement, wide-brimmed hats offer additional sun protection for not only your eyes, but also your face, neck, and ears by blocking the sun from above and from the side.

Protect your Eyes from the Water

Pools, lakes, and oceans are a great escape, but they can be tough on your eyes. Chlorine in pools, which helps to keep the pool clean, affects the natural tear film that keeps our eyes feeling moist and healthy. And lakes and oceans do expose your eyes to contaminants.

To help avoid dry eye, and unnecessary exposure to contaminants, we strongly recommend you wear a pair of goggles.

And if you wear contacts, we recommend you ditch your contacts before you take a dip. But if you do wear them while swimming, dispose of them afterward because contacts can harbor bacteria from the water.

Eye Safety

If you’re spending more time outside working or playing, eye safety needs to be a priority. This is especially when you’re mowing your lawn or trimming shrubs. Get yourself a good pair of safety glasses that wrap around, which help to protect your peripheral vision.

Summer is such a treat here in the Pacific Northwest, so please be sure to take care of your eyes. If you need the perfect pair of sunglasses, visit us today. Our retail store offers a wide variety of sunglasses with full UV protection.