As the summer season begins, most people focus on soaking up the sunlight, planning vacations, and other fun activities. At Easy Pay Optical we want to make sure that while you are enjoying your summer plans, you also focus on summer eye care throughout the season. In reality, the summer can have a drastic impact on your eyes, and most of the issues can be surprisingly common. As your trusted Auburn eye doctor, we want to provide you with some tips to protect your eyes this summer!
1. Wear Sunglasses
While you are at the beach, doing yard work, or going on a walk, the bright sun is sure to be shining down on you during summer days. Due to this, it is extremely important for everyone to take proper precautions against sun damage to their eyes. This can be done by wearing full-spectrum UV protective sunglasses. Wearing protective eyewear can reduce your risk of eye injury by 90%. Harmful UV rays can lead to corneal flash burns, which result in symptoms such as pain, light sensitivity, blurry vision, and others. It is highly important that if you begin to have these symptoms this summer, you should schedule an ophthalmology consultation immediately.
2. Be Careful With Sunscreen
As you are keeping your skin protected from the sun, be mindful to not hurt your eyes. While sunscreen will not cause any permanent damage to the eyes, it can cause a chemical burn to the eyeball. These chemical burns can leave you feeling pain and sensitivity in your eyes for multiple days after the first impact. Avoid putting sunscreen on your eyelids or too close to your eyes. After applying sunscreen, be sure to wash your hands of the excess before touching your eyes.
3. Protect Your Eyes From The Water
Whether you are diving in the pool, jumping in the lake, or catching waves in the ocean, we all want to spend our summer cooling off in the water. Wearing protective eyewear when swimming is a great way to practice summer eye care. A small amount of water getting in your eyes will not cause damage, but opening your eyes under water can cause pain and irritation. Pool water and sea water can cause eye dryness due to the components of the water. With eye dryness such as this, you will find your eyes red, dry, itchy, and irritated. If you wear contacts, be sure to take them out before submerging underwater, because your contacts can harbor bacteria and lead to an infection. Overall, the best practice for eye safety in the water is to wear goggles that form a tight seal around your eyes to keep water from getting into them.
4. Keep Your Eyes Moistened and Cool
There are many ways that your eyes can become dry in the summer season. Dryness can occur from summer allergies, smoke from summer grilling, and using cool air-conditioning or fans. When blasting cool air from the air-conditioning or fans after escaping the outside heat, the cool air can actually significantly dry your eyes out. It is important to take the necessary action to keep your eyes cool and moisturized. If you suffer from dry eyes in the summer, keep a bottle of artificial tears with you. For artificial tears that contain preservatives be sure to limit your usage of them to up to four times a day. If you need to use artificial tears more than four times a day to relieve your dry eyes, then be sure to get a bottle that explicitly has no preservatives in it. You should also find time to relax and place a cold damp towel over your eyes to relax your dry eyes and moisturize them.
5. Eat Healthy
There are many healthy foods that can help protect your eyes this summer. Fresh produce rich in nutrients is a great example of summer foods that are especially good for your eyes. Healthy vegetables to eat include kale, spinach, and broccoli. You can also enjoy some sweet oranges, grapefruit, strawberries, and papaya because they are all rich in Vitamin C.
6. Stay Hydrated
Another simple way to practice summer eye care is by staying hydrated. Staying fully hydrated can help you this summer with dry eye irritation. Your eyes rely on lubrication in the form of tears. When your body is not hydrated enough, there is not enough water to produce tears. Without tears, your eyes cannot become moist enough to remove bacteria and small particles that get in the eyes throughout the day.
7. Regularly Schedule Eye Appointments
To maintain your eye health, you should schedule eye doctor appointments, not only in the summer but in every season. Throughout the summer, your eyes can go through a lot. They can face serious eye conditions that include corneal flash burns, dry eye syndrome, and photo-keratitis. Conditions like these are a great reason to take summer eye care very seriously. If you are facing any symptoms of eye health concerns this summer, visit your local ophthalmologist to get your eyes checked.
