Stay Clear of Winter Dry Eyes
Stay Clear of Winter Dry Eyes
This entry was posted in Eye Health & Products on February 2 2017.
Harsh winter weather can strain your eyes – cold temperatures, wind, snow and dry air indoors can all play a role in eye health.
It may be harder for your eyes to focus or you may want to rub them more frequently – but do not give in. This is your body’s way of telling you that your eyes are irritated and that you most likely have dry eyes.
What are the symptoms of Dry Eyes? To name a few:
- Burning Sensation
- Red Eyes
- Watering Eyes
- Light Sensitivity
Learn more about Dry Eyes and Dry Eye Syndrome from All About Vision here: https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/dryeye-syndrome.htm
What are the causes of Dry Eyes?
As the weather cools we keep warm by turning up our central heating and car heaters. These heaters remove humidity from the air which is a cause of dry eyes and eye irritation.
If winter weather means you are outside even more – skiing, snowshoeing or walking your dog, the cold air and winds will dry out your eyes without proper protection which could cause you to notice these dry eye symptoms even more.
During the winter months, there is less direct sunlight. Don’t be fooled though as you still need sunglasses to protect your eyes from the glare and reflection coming from the snow and ice. Dim evening light can also making driving more difficult with light reflection coming from the damp ground.
Headlights may appear with a glare or orb and your vision could be blurred. As roads can be a challenge to drive safely in the winter you don’t want to add glare or eye fatigue on top of this.
With these darker days we also tend to drink more coffee. While the caffeine helps us stay awake it also dehydrates us further, adding more strain for the eyes.
Protect Your Eyes from Winter
Thankfully, it’s not difficult to reduce or even prevent the effect of dry eye. Try these simple remedies:
- Wear polarized sunglasses to protect from glare and manage changing light conditions – even if it’s cloudy. Our Switch Sunglasses come as a 2 lens kit to give you one polarized lens and one low light lens ensuring you have the right lens tint for all light conditions
- If you are active and spending time outdoors also consider Winter sport sunglasses with dry eye technology or Switch removable magnetic eye cups such as the Switch Stormrider or the Liberty Sport Snowblazer. Both of these have removable eye cups to keep out the harsh cold winds.
- Keep a safe distance from heaters and consider using a humidifier
- Blink often to remoisten your eyes
- Drink an additional cup of water for each cup of coffee
- Give your eyes a break! Take your contacts out & let your eyes moisten