It’s HOT out there. Mama said “pack your sunscreen, your water bottle and bring your sunglasses, and don’t leave ‘em on the table ‘cause your eyes need protection too.”

Our sun puts out all kinds of high energy, not all of which is visible to our eyes.  We put on sunscreen to protect us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, but sometimes we forget about our eyes. Sunglasses are important in helping to prevent or slow the progression of many types of eye disorders like cataracts, macular degeneration, ptyergiums (which is a yellow-white growth onto the cornea), corneal sunburn and even certain types of cancer in and around the eye.

When buying sunglasses, whether they be prescriptive or just the dime store variety, always make sure they have ultraviolet violet or UV protection.  Ultraviolet protection is not the same as tint and that can be confusing. Tinting blocks visible light.  Ultraviolet light is not visible to the human eye and neither is the ultraviolet block that can be put into glasses. Consequently, it is possible to put this block into non-tinted glasses.

When choosing tinted lenses know that not all lenses are created equally. There is always the garden variety grey tint, a common favorite because grey does not distort color.  Less known, but no less well liked, would be blue-blockers. This lens generally has a yellow or amber tint. Blue light is a short wave-length light and the eye can find it annoying in higher amounts. Lessening it can make objects easier to see. Fishermen and hunters often like this lens.  Another great option, my personal favorite, are polarized lenses. These lenses are great at reducing glare because they filter out light which does not come in parallel to the filter. They are great in traffic because they help make sense of the light that bounces off the car in front. I find that folks in the eye care industry often have this in their sunglasses case. Unfortunately, we don't always remember to tell people about them.

For children, I recommend good basic sunglasses, nothing too fancy in case they lose them.  A child’s annual dose of ultraviolet light is typically much higher than that of an adult, sometimes as much as three times higher.  The eye is typically more exposed in a child because the pupil size is larger and the crystalline lens is clearer. We now know that degenerative conditions that typically occur later in life like cataracts and macular degeneration may be made worse from sun exposure during childhood.

There is one other aspect of the warm weather eye care safety that eludes many but which certainly merits honorable mention; a little thing I like to call “foreign body removal season”. Even early into the season my foreign body removal kit has already had a lot of use. So, at home with the projects and “honey dos”, I advise safety glasses and sometimes goggles when working around metal or doing hazardous labor intensive projects. In the event that a foreign body does get lodged in the eye, try to flush it with sterile water, eye wash or saline solution. Then, come in and see your eye doctor because metal rusts in the eye. The foreign body does not usually take too long to remove, but the rust ring that surrounds it gets worse with time and can create more invasive work to get out.

Enjoy this time of year when the weather is so consistently beautiful, and remember to exercise good judgment in this busy time. Vive la summer.

By: Amy Knickerbocker, OD
Hannibal Regional Medical Group
Vision Institute