Summer Tips That Will Keep Your Eyes Healthy

With the weather becoming hotter and in some places drier, our eyes can get badly affected. Summers are usually spent trying to beat the heat. From heading to the mountains or beaches or the nearest swimming pool, all of our summer activities involve sun exposure. But while you can lather up with sunscreen lotion to protect your skin, what about your eyes? Incidental sun exposure can help increase our Vitamin D levels, but overexposure can create a lot of strain on our eyes and potentially cause cataracts, retinal damage, dryness, itching and a host of infections.

To get the most out of this season while avoiding the risk to harm your eyes, read through these easy tips that will help in keeping your eyes healthy:

1. Get the right kind of sunglasses

Call it shades, sunglasses, or goggles – the right name does not matter. The correct kind does. While a summer outing is incomplete without putting those shades on, remember that your shades also protect your eyes and are just not for fun. One must choose sunglasses that cover a larger area near your eyes and offer proper protection from UV rays. UVR exposure can cause snow blindness, speed up cataract development, whereas dust is a cause of many eye related infections.

2. Go swimming with Goggles

Summers and pools are almost synonymous to each other. As refreshing as swimming in summer sounds, did you know chlorinated water can cause as much damage to your eyes? Continual exposure to chlorinated water or other contaminants in natural water bodies increase the risk of getting corneal abrasion or eye infections. Hence, it should be a common practice to protect your eyes when you go swimming by wearing underwater goggles or swimming goggles.

3. Wear a hat when going out

While your eyes get some amount of protection with sunglasses, you must add a hat to your outfit. Sunglasses usually have gaps along its sides where your eyelids can be exposed to UVR. This can harm the area around the eyes which is very sensitive.

4. Stay hydrated & eat better

Dehydration is one of the most common phenomena during summers. Drinking sufficient water during this time of the year helps in minimizing the risk of dry eyes. Additionally, fruits such as watermelon, grapes, oranges, and green vegetables contain antioxidants that help you stay hydrated and keep your eyes away from cataract and macular degeneration.

5. Hand hygiene protects your eyes

If you love going out in summers, this is one habit that you must implement in your lifestyle. Make sure you wash your hands before touching your eyes to prevent eye infections because of dirty hands. More so, avoid rubbing and touching your eyes especially when you’re out.

6. Do not let your eyes dry

The dry heat during Gujarat’s summers can be hard-hitting for your eyes and can cause an issue called Dry Eyes. It affects the tear film in your eyes which makes it hard for your eyes to produce tears. You can reverse this by eating the right kind of food, drinking plenty of water or using eye drops to minimize pain and keep your eyes moist. However, in case the issue persists, you must visit and consult an eye specialist without delay.

7. Sleep well

A healthy sleep schedule is extremely important during summers since it has longer days and shorter nights. Without a good sleep, your eyes get dry because of tiredness, which leads to an increase in rubbing the eyes. This exposes your eyes to irritants and diseases. More so, you might have constant pain in your eyes that may lead to underperforming visual tasks such as driving or cooking. Therefore, during summers or even otherwise, you must make sure to have well-rested eyes that help increase cognition on visual tasks.

After reading these tips to protect your eyes this summer, remember you only get one set of eyes. Suffering permanent damage to your vision is not only devastating but tragic— especially if the problem could have been avoided entirely by seeing an ophthalmologist earlier.

We want you to go out and have fun this summer, but make sure you make eye protection a high priority. If you start to notice eye pain, eye strain, or any other potential signs of an urgent eye problem, don’t leave anything to chance.

We at MM Chokshi Eye Hospital are ready to serve patients with any and all eye care needs. We are taking extensive safety measures to protect our patients and staff from unnecessary COVID-19 exposure. So, please, do not risk delaying necessary care!

Look at the world with more clarity. Make an Appointment today.