Healthy eye care is essential to your overall health and well being. Perhaps even more important is thinking seriously about your child’s eye health. Teaching your child healthy eye habits makes it easy for them to continue eye safety into adulthood. Here are 10 comprehensive summer eye safety tips from My Eye Dr, a group of stores located in the Mid-Atlantic:
- Evaluate Ultra Violet Projection, Not Price: Don’t assume that expensive glasses provide UV protection and inexpensive ones do not. You need to carefully read the labels and check that the glasses provide 100% UV protection regardless of the price.
- Sunglasses Without UV Protection Can Be Dangerous: When you wear dark lenses without UV protection, your pupils dilate, allowing UV rays to enter the eye. Therefore, wearing dark sunglasses without UV protection does more harm than good.
- Encourage Children to Wear Sunglasses: Don’t forget to put sunglasses on your children. Healthy eye care starts with infants; in fact, children’s eyes are more sensitive to the sun than adults’ eyes are.
- Monitor UV Index: Be aware of the dangers of UV exposure and plan accordingly.
- Increase Quality of Sunglass Use with Altitude: The higher the altitude, the greater the UV exposure.
- Don’t Stare at the Sun: Yes, your mother was right! Staring at the sun can cause damage to the retina.
- Wear Sunglasses Even on Hazy Days: UV rays pose a threat to eyes and skin even on cloudy days. Wear your sunglasses regardless of the weather.
- Select Lens Tint Based on Use: The darkness of the lens is not necessarily an indicator of UV protection. The absorption of the lens is what is most important—not the tint.
- Wear Sunglasses with Contacts: Even if you wear UV-blocking contact lenses you should wear sunglasses. Your entire eye needs to be protected from the sun.
- Schedule Annual Eye Exams: Eye care is an important part of maintaining a healthy body. Schedule an annual eye exam just as you would a physical or a visit to the dentist.
Tips adapted from MyEyeDr.