Protect your eyes from UV rays
As much as we need to protect our skin from UV rays, we need to protect our eyes too. Wearing cheap and inefficient sunglasses when the sun’s out just won’t do.
Last summer may be a distant memory but as we emerge from one of the longest and coldest English winters on record your pupils opening up in the dark behind cheap sunglasses. If your lenses don’t offer suitable UV protection, the harmful light floods in and you would be better off wearing none at all.
UV rays damage the retina and the lens of the eye and lead to long-term damage. Exposure to UV rays has been linked with loss of sight and conditions such as cataracts and photokeratitis – better known as ‘sunburn of the eye’.
A spokesperson from The Eyecare Trust explains: “Our eyes are ten times more sensitive to UV light than our skin and children’s eyes are at the greatest risk of UV damage.
“Cumulative exposure to UV is one of the main risk factors of age related macular degeneration – the leading cause of sight loss in the UK and cataracts, a clouding of the eyes lens, which affects one in three people aged over 65 years.
“Our message is simple ‘Protect it now or lose it later’. UV damage to the eyes is cumulative and totally irreversible.”
James Hunter, director of reglazemyglasses.com, explains the best way to protect your eyes from the summer sun this year.
“Transitions are the market leader for lenses that react in the sunlight to protect the wearer from harmful UV rays. Transitions is available on many lens types, but combined with Essilor’s “Crizal UV” lens coating, an additional layer that protects the glasses wearer’s eyes, we can offer the ultimate in UV protection.
“We would advise people to make sure the sunglasses they are buying have full UV protection. It is a requirement by UK law, however there are plenty of replica versions of top designer brands available online and there is no way of knowing without the proper equipment if these provide the protection they claim to, if any at all. If you do purchase a pair of sunglasses and you are unsure of its origins or quality, most can be “reglazed” by us with optical grade, fully UV protective lenses, even if you don’t need a prescription lens.”
Tagged in Health Sun Protection eye health